Gameplay
If you’ve played the Call of Duty series (I can’t imagine
many people HAVEN’T) you already know what to expect from a gameplay
perspective. Not a lot has changed
here. Staring down the sights, reloading, running,
and throwing grenades are all smooth and feel like they have in previous
entries. There may have been some
improvements over MW2, but honestly you probably won’t notice them much. For the most part, gameplay is very solid,
albeit for a few hiccups in the form of “curving bullets” (dying after you’re
around a corner), knifing sometimes not registering, excessive shots needed to
down an opponent, and headshots that don’t amount to much. There are a few other small missteps, but
nothing earth-shattering.
Graphics
Graphically, MW3 feels as though it’s getting a bit
dated. I thought that Infinity Ward
might overhaul the graphics and step it up this time around, but there are
times in the game where I actually feel as though MW2 looked BETTER. That’s not to say this game doesn’t look good,
but I remember playing MW2 for the first time and being amazed at the level of
detail and art style throughout the first few campaign levels. That wow factor is just not there this time
and it’s a little disappointing. There
are still some great environments and views, but it doesn’t push the envelope.
Audio
Historically the audio within the Call of Duty series has
been really good and that doesn’t change here.
Every explosion, bullet, grenade, and helicopter whizzing overhead
sounds crisp and clear. It never manages
to get lost in itself, especially with the large amount of things happening all
at once. The voice acting in the
campaign is pretty well done, and the music, in both the menus and in-game is
appropriate to the action on screen. The
only small complaint is that sometimes characters will get stuck on loop and
someone will shout “take down that chopper” ten times without taking a breath in
between.
Campaign
As of writing this review, I’ve completed the campaign with
100.3%, going through twice, once on normal and once on veteran. The story is about what you’d expect (COD4
was amazing and it’s been downhill since), with a jumble of characters thrown
at you, a bad guy they want you to hate, and jumping between locations and
missions on a whim. The first half of
the game feels really disjointed and you’ll often wonder what you’re
doing. It gets better in the second
half, but it never truly feels like a cohesive story. There are some really cool set pieces here,
but many of them feel a bit empty. You
fight in NYC, but not many staple sites make you feel as though you’re really
there…same with Paris and London (although the Eiffel Tower shows up). I found myself missing the lack of stellar
sniping and specialty missions, however, the last few levels are very fun and
the conclusion is definitely satisfying.
My biggest gripe is the omission of co-op. This many games into the series, you need to
start adding some notable new features.
The lack of co-op is almost unforgiveable, regardless of what they may
say about working it in. Just a side note,
for those of you worried about the difficulty of veteran, don’t, it’s not too
tough this time around (expect endless spawning still though).
Multiplayer
In the world of online multiplayer, again, everything is pretty
much as you’d expect it to be…unlockables, a bunch of guns, and a ton of ways
to customize your classes. The addition
of weapon leveling is nice, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t do
much other than make you hear the “leveling up” noise more often. You’ll unlock weapon level “perks” like kick,
range, and focus for the specific weapon you’re working on. The new streak system is nice, catering to
those who can or cannot string together kills without dying. Support streaks keep going even after you
die, but the rewards are more team oriented rather than offense/kill oriented. Assault is the same as previous COD games,
and Specialist enables a player to turn on more and more perks until you’re
running around as a super soldier with everything. These are cool ways to customize the game to
fit your play style. Keep in mind all of
these additions mean more menus and screens to get through, even when simply
choosing a gun, which can become cumbersome at times. As you can see, multiplayer is very feature-rich,
but unfortunately it’s held back by the map designs. After putting 12+ hours into the online
component, I can’t help but feel as though the maps are pretty weak. They are filled with debris, and every room
and hallway has 3+ ways in and out of it.
This translates into getting shot in the back a lot. Some say it discourages camping, which I find
is both true and false. More people seem
to be running around, but I find others sitting behind “that burning car over
there” quite a bit too. I’m not saying
this because I’m bad (I’m almost always positive on my k/d every game) but the
maps just aren’t that FUN. There are no
areas to fight over as a team, and I often find myself running around without a
purpose. The lack of standout maps make
almost all of them forgettable (with a few exceptions) and, to me, they don’t
match the quality of MW1 and 2.
Spec Ops returns and there’s the new Survival mode, which is
fighting off waves of enemies. Spec Ops
saves multiplayer for me, because it’s a lot of fun working together with a
buddy to figure out each scenario. There
could be a few more missions, but the selection in the game is fun to play
through. Survival mode is a good
addition, and is similar to zombies in BO and Horde in Gears…except its only 2
player instead of 4. Again, it probably
wouldn’t have taken much additional time to add this capability.
Summary
In conclusion, MW3 is another solid effort from Infinity
Ward, but this time around the lack of progression in the series is pretty
glaring. From a gameplay perspective, it’s
smooth and quick, it looks good graphically, and the audio is on-point. However, the campaign is short and confusing,
with some good set pieces and scenes thrown in the mix. The online multiplayer is full of great
features, but poor map selection (Bootleg and Downturn may be the worst maps I’ve
ever played, in any game) holds it back from true greatness. Spec Ops and Survival are great modes and a
lot of fun for fans of series. On its
own, MW3 is a good game and will provide many hours of entertainment…but when
taking MW1 and 2 into account, it’s tough to recommend paying the full price of
admission to experience something you have before.
