Review: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is the game all gamers have been waiting for since MW2 but did  it live up to the hype in its 2 years of development?


The campaign picks up where MW2 left off.  It's officially WW3 on U.S. vs Global Terrorist, and the world is coming apart.  You jump back and forth around the global between various soldiers including Capt. Price taking on Russian Ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov terrorist cells.  MW3 wraps up the trilogy and brings the player to an enjoyable conclusion.  The non-stop blockbusterish single player campaign narrative is anchored by smooth controls that are what we come to expect from the series.  Filled with visuals that aren't as impressive or vital to combat condition as in Battlefield 3, MW3 gets the job done with an old engine.

MW3 has a ton of new improvements and refinements that will make each gamer feel familar with the franchise they have come to love, but at the same time feel like their getting more than an ungrade of MW2.  Modern Warfare 3 features a new mode, called survival mode which  features one or two players fighting endless waves of enemies, with each wave becoming increasingly difficulty that is close to the Nazi Zombies mode, but the difference is the enemies do not spawn at fixed locations like the zombies do; instead, they appear at tactical positions based on the current location of the player.  In the mode, players earn "cash" for items such as weapons, upgrades, ammo, air/ground support and equipment.

Special Ops also returns from Modern Warfare 2. These challenge missions feature up to 48 stars, unlike its previous installment, which featured 69. Some weapons in Spec Ops are exclusive to that game mode, and are not available for play in Multiplayer mode.  It's a good way to learn the maps before you dive into competitive online play. 

Along with revamping the entire Killstreak reward system, Modern Warfare 3 also has a completely modified Ranking and Unlocks system, which does not use a currency system for unlocks. The player's primary weapon levels up alongside the player, and unlocks a number of "Proficiency" perks such as Attachments, (allows two attachments and is a successor to the "Bling" and "Warlord" perks), Kick (reduced recoil while aiming down the player's sight) and Focus (stay focused under fire). Only one Proficiency can be put on a primary weapon.

Another new addition is the ability to equip "Hybrid Scopes" on a weapon, such as a Red Dot Sight and a magnifier similar to an ACOG on the same weapon, and the player can switch between the scopes.

Modern Warfare 3 introduces a new "Prestige Shop" which will unlock only after the player has selected the option to prestige for the first time. The "Prestige Shop" allows Prestige players to use tokens they gain from using the Prestige option to buy exclusive features such as double XP and a extra custom weapon class.

MW3 campaign, multiplayer, and coop gets a mission accomplished from hivegaming. With improved controls and impressive visuals that added a great deal of depth, I give MW3 a 9 out 10.