Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Singleplayer

By Kyle Mann | November 10, 2011 | Reviews | No comments | Share

The “F” key is a powerful thing. It can rappel a solider down a building, administer emergency medical care to a wounded comrade, or deal a death blow to a reeling terrorist. Anyone who’s played Call of Duty for any length of time will know that the action button associated with quicktime events, character and environment interaction, and setting off cutscenes gets a hefty workout across the series’ short, explosive singleplayer campaigns. But while Modern Warfare 3 tightens things down from time to time to a restrictive, linear experience never short on theatrics, more often than not the game design is simply superb. At its best moments, the game offers the ultimate illusion of choice and freedom while subtly guiding the player down its loud, boisterous rails.

Note: This review contains minor story and gameplay spoilers. I completed the game on Hardened difficulty on the PC build.

While the World Burns

Modern Warfare 3 continues where the last Infinity Ward title left off, with the fate of the world a giant fiery question mark and the scrappy protagonists scrambling to put out the flames. As usual, the campaign rotates among a handful of soldiers’ perspectives, from disavowed military agents to U.S. Army grunts and the elite British S.A.S. operatives. Tackling a tale of espionage, terrorism, and all-out war, the game sends the player to the four corners of the earth as the scope and scale of the bad guys’ intentions are slowly and shockingly revealed.

The story’s engrossing and enjoyable, having been taken down a notch from the excess of Modern Warfare 2 but perhaps tending toward a Michael Bay level of intensity more than Call of Duty 4 ever did. It’s on the very outskirts of plausible without teetering into the abyss of the downright impossible. After all is said and done and the dust settles, the storyline ranks up with the best of the franchise. Old favorite characters, blindsiding twists, epic battles–the Modern Warfare saga ends loudly and masterfully.

Ballet of Bullets

Whether or not the story has merit is only one side of the equation when talking games, of course. The path trodden to experience the twists and turns is of more importance: the action, the gameplay, the shooting and the booming. There’s a combination of reasons Call of Duty is so successful, and at the forefront of these is the battle-tested gunplay. It’s as solid as ever, though in this regard the game innovates very little. If you never cared for the guns or the fast-paced combat of the Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare 3 will do very little to change your mind. Mostly, pacing and feel is spot-on, and the developers nailed down the perfect feel for each area. Battles ebb and flow without feeling like a duck hunt against infinitely respawning enemies, but still offering a decent challenge and the illusion of a real gunfight.

Yet while the basics of the micro-mechanics haven’t evolved a touch, the game refuses to rest on the accomplishments of its predecessors in other regards, pushing the envelope with exciting, new mechanics. A perfect blend of story, setting, and gameplay, the highest peaks of the campaign mode rank among the best the series has ever seen. In one mission, a sandstorm looming ominously on the horizon overtakes the player, downing the only aircraft close enough to provide an hasty escape. The unit then is forced to flee desperately through near-blind conditions, identifying threats only by their shouts, flashlights, and silhouettes. The setpiece is inventive and fresh, and serves as the perfect example for what this game does best for military shooter fans. Likewise, an Operation Overlord-style beach assault with a modern coat of paint provides one of the most thrilling all-out war experiences in the franchise since retaking Red Square in the first Call of Duty.

Guns, Roses, N’ Thorns

Renowned philosopher Bret Michaels once said that every rose has its thorn, and such is the case with Modern Warfare 3. While the middle of the campaign just screams in a beautiful crescendo of bullets and explosions, the bookends to that masterpiece aren’t quite so good. The beginning of the story is as locked on rails as these things come, the game reluctant to relinquish control to the player. As if the game designers don’t trust the Call of Duty gamer, he’s not allowed to go too far, too fast, or the “wrong” direction. While a scripted campaign of course will always by definition guide the player through pre-constructed missions and moments, the first couple of levels often don’t even bother to pretend the player is participating in anything but a glorified cutscene. Hold “W” to swim–but don’t worry about speed control; the game will adjust faster or slower as needed. Steer your boat–but it’s going to collide with this other craft no matter what you do.

Thankfully, by the third mission, level design begins to pick up. The developers integrated verticality into many of the areas, keeping the player on his toes and preventing the action from feeling too much like whack-a-mole. And while I criticized the opening for its linearity, the bulk of the missions provide just enough routes through each area to create the illusion of freedom. Augmenting the gunplay, these sections are finely implemented and are a blast to play–do I go through this building to take the right flank, or charge head-on? Small player choices like these are what made the first couple of Call of Duty games so much fun, and they are a welcome sight in Modern Warfare 3.

Technical Terrorism

Remember playing Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64? That game pushed the graphical limits of the system so far it looked better than most anything else out there–yet it was clearly the very upper limit for the game engine and the hardware. Modern Warfare 3 is kind of like that: it’s gorgeous, but at times the seams and cracks in the engine are starting to show. It’s a very beautiful game, but it’s obviously the caboose of a long line of Call of Duty games using the same (albeit updated) engine. It’s time for something brand new if Activision hopes to be on the cutting edge of technology next time around.

I experienced a few problems with the PC build that marred the otherwise satisfying game. First, I couldn’t get past the opening cutscene without crashing a handful of times, but after some fiddling with the game’s settings, I managed to get it going. Some unhelpful visual settings–one called “Image Quality”, whatever that means–can really screw up the look of the game, either by sending framerates to hell or by making the game look like an upscaled 540p YouTube video. But once I found the sweet spot, I had no further issues in that regard.

I have to mention the horrendous FOV, which appears to be locked between 60 and 65, making the whole game seem as if it were at the far end of a telescope. It was downright sickening after a few hours of play; hopefully a patch or third-party fix will be coming to save the day soon. Apart from this though, the game is a pretty flawless 360 port for the computer, offering the usual full range of resolutions and extensive options. It also controls beautifully with the keyboard and mouse.

A War Worth Finishing

Are you bored of the series? If so, there’s not much for you here. Are you vested in the Modern Warfare saga? Then there’s a very satisfying conclusion to it in this game, and you ought to pick it up. A short burst of intense gunfights and large-scale battles done up with AAA production values and mostly great game design: that’s Modern Warfare 3 in a nutshell. It innovates at times, stagnates at others, but as the credits roll it’s clear that this one will go down as one of the better modern games in the franchise. It’s a fitting swan song for the story arc–sometimes excessive, sometimes powerful, but always true to the Call of Duty name.