Modern Warfare 3 Review - Xbox 360

8

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 8
Audio: 9
Multiplayer: 8
Innovation: 5

Introduction

The end of the year heralds of course another Modern Warfare title, offering to outdo the last, which is often no easy feat. Activision has upped the stakes just that little bit further in Modern Warefare by putting you no less than in the middle of World War 3.

Gameplay

The events of the game take place directly after those of Modern Warfare 2, where Terrorists helped set off a nuclear weapon, and helped spark off World War 3. Action kicks off hard and fast, with you thrown straight into the battle. Fighters smash into buildings, tanks roll through destroyed city streets, and you have to work your way through the destruction towards your objectives. Most of the action takes place amongst the established cities that now lie in ruins - New York, Paris, Berlin, London.

For most of the game you play as Yuri, although you also get to play as Soap MacTavish and Captain Price for some of the missions. The evil Makarov makes a return appearance as chief bad dude. Without revealing too much, the former Cold War enemies Russia make a daring attack on the allied forces. Why WW3 seems to take place as a ground and air war, rather than a full-blown nuclear armageddon is anybody's guess. Familiar characters from the last MW game make a re-appearance, but it is all a little ho hum for the most part to the end player.

Unfortunately for the single player campaign, there is no getting away from the feeling we've seen this all before. There's similar weapons, similar situations, and similar vehicle sections thrown in. Again, enemies spawn from exactly the same place each time, and well, are frankly stupid soldiers. Much of the action is really just the same as the last few Call of Duty games with a new storyline, shoot stuff, rescue somebody, and watch a multitude of things get blown to pieces around you. The budget and action sure is Hollywood, but for most seasoned players they will be able to breeze through the three Act campaign mode in about 8 hours.

Special Ops is continued over from Black Ops, allowing you to participate in a series of focused missions, with distinct and interesting goals, and is in some ways better fun than the campaign mode. Extras in Special Ops allow you to unlock new extras that are only available through this mode.

Aside from campaign mode, there is a new Survival Mode, where you must face endless waves of enemies, and see how long you can survive. It starts off a little easy, but like the Zombie mode in World at War it quickly ramps up in difficulty. It's good for something to do when you want a bit of a change to the usual modes.

Multiplayer

Sixteen new maps are thrown in to keep players busy for another year in front of the TV, and as usually they're well thought out and have some variety. As players have come to expect, multiplayer is more a slight evolution to ...