Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Year: 2011
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
BBFC: 18
Published: 20/07/23
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
BBFC: 18
Published: 20/07/23
Despite the expected criticism of anything popular, for many years it seemed as though Call of Duty could do no wrong. Whilst personally I wasn’t a fan of Call of Duty 3 & World at War, in the grand scheme of things the property hadn’t suffered development issues meaning that my issues stem from creative decisions rather than external factors. But Call of Duty’s eighth mainline instalment was arguably the franchises most problematic entry to develop, rife with interference from Activision and a case of too many cooks. Even worse, it was set to cap off the hugely popular storyline from Call of Duty 4 & Modern Warfare 2, so what went wrong with Modern Warfare 3?
Following their murder of rogue U.S. Lieutenant General Shepherd, the now disavowed Task Force 141 comprising of Captain Price, a gravely wounded Soap MacTavish, Russian informant Nikolai, and now ex-Spetsnaz operative Yuri, face a race against time as the Russian Ultranationalist leader Makarov extends his grasp over the United States and Europe.
Meanwhile the U.S. Delta Force are pushing back on the frontlines of battle in America and in Europe, trying to track down the whereabouts of the kidnapped Russian president.
Following their murder of rogue U.S. Lieutenant General Shepherd, the now disavowed Task Force 141 comprising of Captain Price, a gravely wounded Soap MacTavish, Russian informant Nikolai, and now ex-Spetsnaz operative Yuri, face a race against time as the Russian Ultranationalist leader Makarov extends his grasp over the United States and Europe.
Meanwhile the U.S. Delta Force are pushing back on the frontlines of battle in America and in Europe, trying to track down the whereabouts of the kidnapped Russian president.
Showcased by its marketing as much as possible, Modern Warfare 3 truly is World War III come to fruition. Now whilst war hungry Russian leaders are all too real these days, Modern Warfare 3 was to act as a conclusion to the Modern Warfare storyline; a three-game arc that was the one that redefined military shooters and truly put Call of Duty on the map. The stakes were huge, and anticipation for this game was at an astronomical high. But Modern Warfare 3 failed to hit the mark in almost every area. So what happened behind the scenes?
Rewind to 2007 and the release of Call of Duty 4. Heads of Infinity Ward Vince Zampella and Jason West negotiated contracts with Activision following the massive success of the game, asking for significantly larger bonuses and complete control over the Call of Duty franchise following the development and success of Modern Warfare 2. Activision agreed, and upon completion of Modern Warfare 2 were trying to force Zampella and West out of the company in an attempt to backtrack on their contractual agreements. When Zampella and West sued for unpaid royalties, Activision fired them, and as a result a mass walkout of staff occurred at Infinity Ward just as development on Modern Warfare 3 was starting up. The legal proceedings would go on until 2012, with so many lawsuits being filed around the situation that its become practically impossible to keep track of what actually happened and why. But it can be boiled down to Activision being greedy bastards that make crappy business deals and then don’t want to pay up.
So, what did this mean for Modern Warfare 3? Well development was going to be shared between three studios. The remainder of Infinity Ward (lacking stable leadership as Activision suits would cycle through the studio on a revolving door basis) would handle the campaign and Spec Ops mode, with Activision subsidiary Raven Software doing quality control, and new studio Sledgehammer Games would handle the multiplayer. If this doesn’t scream clusterfuck, I don’t know what does.
But I do enjoy Modern Warfare 3. Significantly less than either of the previous Modern Warfare games, but more than the franchise’s first three games and World at War. The game starts as it means to go on really, by dropping a building on you. Yes, when the bar is set that high from the outset it really should come as no surprise to say that the level of absurd destruction Modern Warfare 3 gets to is completely desensitising. Particularly in the games later missions, it’s genuinely difficult to discern what’s happening at times because of how much mayhem there is. Makes Michael Bay look positively restrained.
It feels like less of a sequel to Modern Warfare 2, and more like a bloated third act. I feel like many of this game’s missions could have been cut out in favour of extending MW2’s short length. That being said, the split between TF141 missions and Delta Force missions is interesting. Because most of the story’s meat is with TF141 yet Delta Force undeniably have the more entertaining and varied missions.
I also feel like the game wraps itself up too quickly, maybe it’s the full speed ahead pacing that ignores traditional act structures, but the rate at which things get wrapped up here seems unrealistically quick.
There are a couple of standout moments though and for me they’re the plane crash and the London mission. Each of these moments pushes MW3’s visuals to their max and provide some of the greatest spectacle seen in the trilogy.
Rewind to 2007 and the release of Call of Duty 4. Heads of Infinity Ward Vince Zampella and Jason West negotiated contracts with Activision following the massive success of the game, asking for significantly larger bonuses and complete control over the Call of Duty franchise following the development and success of Modern Warfare 2. Activision agreed, and upon completion of Modern Warfare 2 were trying to force Zampella and West out of the company in an attempt to backtrack on their contractual agreements. When Zampella and West sued for unpaid royalties, Activision fired them, and as a result a mass walkout of staff occurred at Infinity Ward just as development on Modern Warfare 3 was starting up. The legal proceedings would go on until 2012, with so many lawsuits being filed around the situation that its become practically impossible to keep track of what actually happened and why. But it can be boiled down to Activision being greedy bastards that make crappy business deals and then don’t want to pay up.
So, what did this mean for Modern Warfare 3? Well development was going to be shared between three studios. The remainder of Infinity Ward (lacking stable leadership as Activision suits would cycle through the studio on a revolving door basis) would handle the campaign and Spec Ops mode, with Activision subsidiary Raven Software doing quality control, and new studio Sledgehammer Games would handle the multiplayer. If this doesn’t scream clusterfuck, I don’t know what does.
But I do enjoy Modern Warfare 3. Significantly less than either of the previous Modern Warfare games, but more than the franchise’s first three games and World at War. The game starts as it means to go on really, by dropping a building on you. Yes, when the bar is set that high from the outset it really should come as no surprise to say that the level of absurd destruction Modern Warfare 3 gets to is completely desensitising. Particularly in the games later missions, it’s genuinely difficult to discern what’s happening at times because of how much mayhem there is. Makes Michael Bay look positively restrained.
It feels like less of a sequel to Modern Warfare 2, and more like a bloated third act. I feel like many of this game’s missions could have been cut out in favour of extending MW2’s short length. That being said, the split between TF141 missions and Delta Force missions is interesting. Because most of the story’s meat is with TF141 yet Delta Force undeniably have the more entertaining and varied missions.
I also feel like the game wraps itself up too quickly, maybe it’s the full speed ahead pacing that ignores traditional act structures, but the rate at which things get wrapped up here seems unrealistically quick.
There are a couple of standout moments though and for me they’re the plane crash and the London mission. Each of these moments pushes MW3’s visuals to their max and provide some of the greatest spectacle seen in the trilogy.
Running on a modified version of MW2’s IW4 engine, MW3 looks surprisingly low quality in comparison to its predecessor. Maybe it’s because a lot of the colour has been sucked out of it, MW3 is an incredibly grey looking game. But even then the textures look flatter, and the game often struggles to maintain a smooth framerate. Sledgehammer Games made a statement ahead of release saying they wanted MW3 to be the most technically stable CoD release ever, and in reality, it’s probably one of the least stable. When compared to other games of the time, the Call of Duty IW engine was really starting to show its age with stiff character animations, low-quality textures, and frequent buckling under the demands of the game.
This extends into Multiplayer of course, but thankfully the modes were as good as ever. It didn’t change an awful lot from MW2, likely because of the change in developers but also because MW2’s multiplayer was so beloved. It does introduce a couple of new game modes, most notably Kill Confirmed which was arguably the best game mode on offer for the title, seeing you collect dog tags from your kills in order for your team’s score to increase.
This extends into Multiplayer of course, but thankfully the modes were as good as ever. It didn’t change an awful lot from MW2, likely because of the change in developers but also because MW2’s multiplayer was so beloved. It does introduce a couple of new game modes, most notably Kill Confirmed which was arguably the best game mode on offer for the title, seeing you collect dog tags from your kills in order for your team’s score to increase.
Spec Ops mode returns, but not in the form it was for MW2. This time it conforms to the wave survival trend of the era, hoping to cash in on the Zombies crowd from the Treyarch games. Unfortunately, whilst Spec Ops can be fun, it lacks that certain something to make it really worthwhile. I do personally prefer it to Zombies, but when compared to Gears of War’s Horde mode for example, it really didn’t have much of a personality to it.
Modern Warfare 3 was an underwhelming end to the first Modern Warfare trilogy. I do wonder whether it ever would have lived up to expectations because of how incredible the first two games were, but it can’t be denied that the development issues played a significant role in the unfinished feel of the game.
Difficulties would be far from over with Infinity Ward and the Call of Duty brand however, as MW3 marked the beginning of the steep decline for the franchise.
Modern Warfare 3 was an underwhelming end to the first Modern Warfare trilogy. I do wonder whether it ever would have lived up to expectations because of how incredible the first two games were, but it can’t be denied that the development issues played a significant role in the unfinished feel of the game.
Difficulties would be far from over with Infinity Ward and the Call of Duty brand however, as MW3 marked the beginning of the steep decline for the franchise.