Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Review (PS5)

It’s that time of the year, the most infamous shooter franchise has spawned yet another iteration, criticized by so many, yet still filling Activision’s wallet beyond our wildest imagination. But how comes that year after year, despite the controversies, the scandals, the single-player campaign that is thinner and thinner, Call of Duty manages to survive without bringing in significant improvements?

The answer is simple: the audience that appreciates the franchise outnumbers the camp that points out the flaws in the system. At this point, even if you shipped a flat earth pamphlet packaged as a Call of Duty product, it would probably fly off the shelves as fast as free hamburgers.

During the 20 years of playing Call of Duty, I went from appreciation to outrage to silently curbing my enthusiasm and accepting that the fluctuating quality single player campaign is not the focus anymore. I learned not to have high expectations and to be glad for the very few enjoyable moments, but Modern Warfare III manages to awaken my outrage once again.        

I somehow made peace with the fact that Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer cannot produce a campaign longer than 6 hours with the attention span of the proverbial golden fish.

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The 2019 Modern Warfare had quite an enjoyable campaign, and last year’s campaign was also above average. I also accepted that multiplayer is much more important for the publisher since that is the part the money comes from, but the audacity showcased with Modern Warfare III is a slap in the face.

You pay full price for the Cross-Gen edition, and though you are already familiar with the bane of microtransactions you choose to focus on the noteworthy content, not the cosmetic items.

Yet, among the first things you see when you fire up the game is the Battle Pass, which attempts to lure more money out of your pocket with the promise of some exclusive weapons and other season exclusive content. Or, if you bought the almost 100-dollar Vault Edition, you are entitled among other things to one BlackCell season, the next ones costing extra money.

As such, when you boot up the game, two out of the three top buttons, Battle Pass and Store, try to exert even more money out of you. It’s like the 70 dollars price tag does not entitle you to anything else than a haphazardly put together campaign. The parts of the game that received more attention and can be arguably called better are hiding among further paywalls.

And since we don’t mention trophies in our reviews, but as a last slap in the face of the players, the PlayStation 5 version does not even come with its own set of trophies, rather a DLC style list of Modern Warfare 2.

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But let’s see how the new campaign holds up under scrutiny. As hinted at by the previous episode you will have to stop Makarov who escapes prison with the help of his comrades.

The private army at his disposal helps him get his hands on a couple of nasty-nasty missiles, that coupled with a series of other dirty tricks can destroy the world as we know it. The only ones who can put a stop to his machinations are the members of Task Force 141 joined by the more than able Farah.

During the 14 missions, you will jump between locations, often for a perceived “wow” effect instead of a logical succession. It is clear that the developers wanted to cram in as many types of environments as possible, including snowy peaks, but also not to miss out on nigh time stealth action, underwater mayhem, and even soaring through the skies bombarding the pants off from the ground troops.

The novelty among these is the so-called Open Combat missions, which give you a bit more leeway, but where events are still following a precise script. The only extra freedom is the possibility to wander around, exploring the generously scattered weapon caches.

The ending is left open once again, some speculating that it will continue in the future seasons. Overall, the missions feel rushed and while they try to create such memorable moments as the legendary No Russian mission, they fell very flat. Just like in the previous games, the missions are very short and offer very limited maneuvering space. They don’t even give you the chance to empathize with any of the characters you impersonate.

The Spec Ops mode returns in an attempt to balance out the weak story, while expanding the formula launched in Modern Warfare II. Next to Mission mode that remixes the 16 maps in order to make it more appropriate for a co-op playthrough, we also have the Survival mode that is a weird two-player alternative for the Zombie mode.

The latter is as fun as ever if you are into slaying hordes after hordes of undead. But as proven by all the iterations for almost a decade, the main selling point remains the multiplayer mode.

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Essentially, the players can enjoy the same lightning-fast gaming experience as in the previous installments. The game suffers from the same process of recycling maps that we’ve seen in the previous titles. On the other hand, the reward system instantly triggers an almost Pavlovian reaction - the incredible amount of challenges and unlockable cosmetics crammed in the game aptly push the triggers of the players.

The secret to this almost addictive system lies in the fact that these bonuses keep falling into your lap, even for the most basic moves, such as taking down a certain number of enemies while crouching or lying prone, or simply surviving a flashbang. But there is also the allure of individually upgrading weapons, as with each kill, you can add more attachments to your arsenal making it easier to progress.

Of course, multiplayer is by no means a leisurely stroll in the park, there are difficult challenges to conquer, and upon completing them, special emblems and badges are awarded. One way or another, the game showers you with different forms of bragging rights, pinning you in front of the screen, clamoring for more.

Among the few good things that can be found in the entire game, I have to mention that the money system introduced in Black Ops has been removed and it's no longer possible to instantly drop into a prone position while sprinting - a feature that was incredibly irritating. In essence, the multiplayer aspect has returned to the style of Modern Warfare II.

Other meaningful changes introduced with Modern Warfare III worth mentioning are the three different custom loadouts. These can be customized to your liking for each individual weapon list. Players can also choose which primary and secondary weapons to carry, what perks to start with, and decide whether to have sticky grenades or throwing knives equipped.

Thanks to these changes, players now receive kill-streak rewards categorized into groups. These are abilities that can be deployed during matches, earned and activated through uninterrupted killing sprees (such as bombers, AC-130s, guided missiles, etc.)

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion