Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Being a fan of COD since it was first on the original Xbox, naturally, I decided to get this game. Before purchasing I did have my doubts, footage from E3 and COD EXP didn't seem to show anything 'breath-taking' or 'awe-inspiring' but this didn't bother me too much, my main hope was that instead of headline grabbing, drastic changes they had sorted out the basic problems that have been creeping into the COD series of late. To put it simply they haven't.

The online seems like a map pack for MW2 (as others have pointed out) and it feels like a definite step back to Black Ops. I have never really understood the whole IW against Treyarch as I enjoy games by both and found it saddening to see IW shun some really positive changes Black Ops had made. The leaderboards are far inferior to those offered by Black Ops - which named and shamed the K/D hungry, objective ignorant noobs, last stand kill stealing has returned, no longer can you select a local region to prioritise a host from amongst other things. This last point is a real problem, too often in games I find myself shooting people first yet dying for reasons I cannot understand, that is of course until I watch the kill cam to realise on his screen I wasn't even shooting! Connection is too much of an issue and my score tends to depend on what sort of connection I have, which looses the fun factor for me, I'd much prefer a game based of of skill to that of one of who has the best internet. The maps too are very dissapointing, not one of them after playing for 10+ hours can I genuinely say that I like. There are just too many little places to hide and this means campers are having a field day. Combined with the ease of aquiring kill streaks as now even a mediocre player over the course of a game can build up a high streak as support streaks don't reset on death, meaning that killstreaks are just too common, and take away from the gun on gun action, I for one miss the days of COD4/WaW with the good old 3,5 and 7 :(

The campain was actually, I thought, good. I found the story to be fairly entertaining ( if completely unrealistic) but I enjoyed it and that's what counts. True there are no new features at all to mention, just walk through a linear map as it gradually gets more frantic and difficult but the story and some impressive cinematics make it worth it. It's worth mentioning that it only took 6 hours to complete on Veteran and is very short but unfortunately that is part and parcel of FPS games now a days.

As for SPEC OPS, I rarely touched it. It seemed again like just new maps from what was offered in MW2 which would of been justifiable, had they made it 4 player like zombies, 2 players is just too few and I coul never play with fiends as it would always leave people out which was unfair.

Overall, this is just a very lazy effort from IW and Activision too desperate for profit as oppossed to creating a game that strives to make improvements on the previous ones. IF you are a COD fanboy then you will already have this, if you aren't however, I would recommend staying away. This seems to me like the beginning of the end for COD, I will be avoiding future CODs after this and know that I am not alone and feel if nothing new and refreshing is done, this once great series is going to be left behind in the FPS market and will be no more.

...is worth the asking price (provided you can get it cheap ;)).
A seriously well-made game, with excellent visuals, great controls, a thirst for drama and a real satisfaction to the combat. Taking down enemies with accurate shooting is all the more pleasing on the highest skill level Veteran, where you take a more careful approach to the bullet-infested scenarios. Here you'll see yourself drop every few seconds if you don't consider these bullets realistically damaging, and it alters the pace of the game, increasing tension very nicely. Myself, I would've probably found it a touch too hard had I not played through once on Normal first, where you a) learn a little of the lay of the land, and b) really get your CoD legs on, as it were. After around 8hrs playing through the once, it left me wanting more, so I dived back in on Veteran level and wasn't disappointed.

I can say nothing about multiplayer online, or even the Special Ops as I've never played them, but considering this game tends to sell *for* the multiplayer, you can expect that to be pretty good...... provided you don't feel it's too similar to previous releases... which it's bound to be given the premise. Even the single player, while set in different locations, and providing different level layouts and scenarios, is naturally very similar in feeling to the previous games. One does not buy Modern Warfare (or any of the Call of Duty games) without that in mind, surely.

To sound off, it's a game you've seen before, but provided you want more of that, you'll enjoy it immensely.

Not a bad game. I liked the Special Op's on Survival. Found the multiplayer game on day one where everyone was running round like headless chickens or the darling little campers tucked up for easy kills.