Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Developed By: Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games

Playable On: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC

What the hell is going on in the story of Modern Warfare 3? Maybe I didn’t understand it because I never played the first Modern Warfare. Or maybe it was because you are constantly playing as different characters in the campaign and I had trouble following all the different narratives. But I will tell you what, the story doesn’t matter because MW3 is one of the prettiest and over the top games I have ever played. You will be much more concerned about watching the Eiffel Tower blow up and collapse than why is the Eiffel Tower blowing up and collapsing.

What I was able to get is that there is a crazy Russian terrorist by the name of Makarov, and for the first two Modern Warfares he has been gaining power. And finally in MW3, he has started World War 3. The game does an amazing job of putting you in these crazy over the top set pieces giving you the same mission: capture or kill Makarov and his associates. Occasionally there is a rescue mission of sorts, but those never pan out well.

What makes these over the top set pieces even greater is that you actually feel like you are in control. I played through the story mode on Veteran (Expert) and there was constantly something going on causing complete chaos. And during all this chaos, the progress you are making actually feels like your doing and not the game just going through automatic motions. One of my favorite set pieces came when you are sitting shotgun in this wild high speed car chase and the car you are chasing turn sideways and the car you are in rams it. The game then goes into slow mo and you have to kill everybody in the car except for the man you are trying to capture. Super epic. Even the stealth missions were nerve racking. MW3 proves that even trying not to be spotted by enemies can be as exciting as a ton of bombs exploding all around you. I want to know why Michael Bay hasn’t directed a Call of Duty yet. I would assume that would be right up his alley. The story mode took me seven hours and 38 minutes to complete it, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

No Call of Duty would be complete without its multiplayer component. If you have played Call of Duty multiplayer in the past then you know what to expect. As you play games you level up gaining access to better weapons, perks and kill streak awards. And it is still as addictive as ever. There are a couple of new games types such as Kill Confirmed and Team Defender. In Kill Confirmed you have to pick up your fallen foe’s dog tags in order for the kill to count and you can deny a kill by picking up a teammate’s dog tags. In Team Defender, you have to capture a flag and see how long your team can hold on to it. Halo owns my multiplayer heart, but COD multiplayer sure is fun.

Spec Ops returns from Modern Warfare 2, in which you are given various missions and you try to earn stars by trying to see how fast and well you can complete them. The new and awesome addition to Spec Ops is Survival. In Survival, you fight endless waves of various enemies. With every kill you get, you earn money which allows you to buy different weapons and air support. The only negative thing about Survival is that it is only a two player mode, whereas Black Ops' Zombie mode allowed four players to play a single game. Gears of War 2 introduced us to this style of gaming and MW3 shows us why it is still fun.

I’m gonna go ahead and say that all the hype surrounding MW3 was well worth it, as well as me standing in line for half an hour at midnight to get a copy of it. I’m pretty sure people are going to be playing this game for a long time to come.

9 out of 10
Trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: