Game Review: Modern Warfare 3

Christmas is a time of goodwill and peace for all mankind.

Not so in the gaming world. With consumerist holiday number one fast approaching comes the usual release of Big Name Titles, usually with numbers tacked on at the end, where you cut through virtual legions of your fellow man: Skyrim, Arkham City, Gears of War 3, Resistance 3, Uncharted 3, and of course, Modern Warfare 3.

Yes, finally, Infinity Wards’ World War Three epic comes to a conclusion. The story is a continuation from the just-as-creatively titled Modern Warfare 2 and as soon as the single player campaign starts you are thrust into a freshly bombed Humvee and out into Manhattan where the Russians have decided to set up shop with force of arms.

It is up to you and your merry Delta Force squad to rain on their parade, with an assortment of implements of murder including, later on in the game, an AC-130 gunship, which I believe is the military equivalent of God’s own divine wrath.

The vistas are simply jaw dropping and the game takes you everywhere from Manhattan, to London, Hamburg, India and Sierra Leone. That being said you will mostly spend the game frantically running from cover to cover and the only time you can really appreciate the scenery is when it’s being blown to kingdom come in spectacular fashion.

Now I’ll be honest, the realistic shooter genre was never really my cup of tea. I play games to escape reality and forget approaching assignment deadlines for a few happy hours, not to be reminded about the grim horror of war and how quickly a small bit of lead accelerated to 600 kph can cause even the mightiest humans to shuffle off their mortal coil. Which is precisely what Modern Warfare caused me torealise.

I must admit, shifting from Gears of War, where your character is built like a brick shithouse with a constitution that matches, to CoD caused many a frustrating death. Of course if you wait under cover for the hailstorm of bullets to subside the NPC’s will, of course, slide in a snide remark about you not getting to where they want you fast enough. I’m sorry, “Soap” forgive me for not wading into certain death after you at the drop of a hat! Instead of helping me deal with the threat he seems content to call me a lay-about for not possessing his developer-granted immortality.

The whole game does feel like you are playing “Saving Private Ryan”, set in the modern world, with a variety of objectives to accomplish, but despite this you never feel like you have to accomplish the tasks, merely that they were told to do so to progress the campaign, much like a real soldier I suppose.

I must say though that the conclusion was really the most satisfying thing about it all. I’m not going to spoil anything here (and if you are worried about it kindly skim over to the next paragraph) but slipping into the well-worn combat boots of moustachioed wonder, Captain Price, to do away with card-carrying villain Makarov felt so very viscerally satisfying.

Because my editor tells me so, I actually have to review the gameplay instead of rambling belligerently about the fun stuff. The multiplayer, which is what most people buy the game, for is really more of the same so if you played MW2 and liked it, MW3 will hardly disappoint. Gameplay is solid, if repetitive at times, but then the game gives you so little time to think that you hardly notice, what with action being to soldiers in the MW universe what oxygen is to mortals such as you or I. The guns do actually feel different from each other, even within the same class of weapon, which is a nice touch since it allows you to develop a play style which you can fine tune to your liking.

So for those of you who need a Cliff Notes version of all of this: Modern Warfare 3 is a solid title with more of what audiences have come to expect of the series. The lack of innovation bothers me a bit but I know better than to complain about a formula that works. Expect action and explosions and you won’t be disappointed. All in all a good game to pick up for all your cathartic needs.