As arguably the most anticipated release of 2011, modern warfare 3 has launched to unprecedented financial success, raking in over 400 million dollars in UK and US day one sales alone. But are those sales figures really justified? Or is the previously pioneering series lacking direction and innovation now more than ever?

The Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer games collaboration picks up just hours after the events of modern warfare 2, with the protagonists tracking ultranationalist Makarov in order to prevent his predictably inexorable plan of launching nuclear warheads across the globe. Inevitably any narrative that you had been capable of following is almost completely abandoned for the sake of big explosions and bigger action set pieces, which take place across a multitude of infamous locations from across the globe, which at the very least ensures that the pace never relents and that your surroundings stay fresh.

Such a heavy action orientation ensures that the player is never exposed to boredom, but this ultimately relegates the story to depths that are completely unengaging. Regardless of how fun a game can be, it detracts from the overall experience when a player isn’t given a particularly interesting story as justification for their in-game actions.

Graphically, this latest entry to the call of duty behemoth is entirely adequate. Apart from a few impressive lighting effects, there hasn’t been a particularly commendable about of work done to MW3′s graphics engine. The pace of the game is relentless and the frame rate stays at a steady 60fps throughout the entire campaign, but unfortunately it lacks the visual finesse of more recent titles such as ID software’s Rage.

In terms of innovation, MW3 feels a little predictable and possibly a little too familiar for some tastes. There’s no doubting that the masses are going to pick it up and feel straight at home, but for those looking for a fresh or inventive experience will be left bitterly disappointed. It’s very much business as usual for modern warfare 3, which isn’t particularly a bad thing. As far as action orientated adrenaline rides go, call of duty is still peerless. It would however, be nice to see other developers shift their focus and innovate the FPS genre, rather than continuously replicating the work of the Call of Duty franchise.

The campaign certainly doesn’t have a great deal to offer gamers, specifically due to its 6 hour completion time and it’s heavy predisposition towards the ridiculous, but if we are being completely honest the campaign probably isn’t the real reason most people will pick up a copy of MW3, it’s down to the multiplayer, and again this is where the game truly shines. It’s been a staple for the series since the birth of Modern Warfare and this latest entry certainly won’t disappoint those with itchy trigger fingers.

The sheer wealth of content available online is what makes call of duty such an essential purchase. Whilst only minor changes may have been made by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer to the games online structure, these slight adjustments have helped refine the multiplayer experience. The most notable of these refinements comes in the changes made to strike packages, which will now help cater to the less skilled members of MW3′s online community. This should also, in theory, help provide a greater strategic emphasis to online battles, making a welcome change to the games typical run and gun/ lone ranger ethos. Whether these refinements really make any significant difference to the way gamers approach MW3’s online battles really remains to be seen, particularly when consideration is made to the games purposefully constricted and claustrophobic maps, which make it difficult to do anything other than charge head-on into battle.

Special ops also makes a return to the modern warfare franchise, this time around featuring a new survival mode and online ranking system. The missions here are very much in the vain as before, allowing players to work co-operatively to eliminate enemy militia. Detractors will no doubt chastise the inclusion of survival mode as a Gears of War Horde mode rip-off, but the real disappointment will be the lack of any Zombies. Special Ops simply can’t attract the same audience as Zombies are capable of doing, and it can only goes so far in making amends for the absence of the undead.

Modern Warfare 3 will no doubt continue to set fire to sales charts over this holiday season and also for the foreseeable future. The games ability to draw in the masses is still as dominant as ever, but the lack of new content, innovation and any compelling narrative make it almost impossible to recommend to anyone that isn’t already a fan of the series.

New instalments are going to need to provide something more than minor refinements if Activision expects Call of Duty to continue to be a commercial and critical success. Those that can look past the overwhelming familiarity will no doubt be back in their element and racking up kill streaks as we speak.

 

 

 

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