I have been playing Modern Warfare 3 (technically MWIII) since early access to the beta started on October 6. Sledgehammer’s gameplay philosophy is endearing; they’re giving the community what they want, which has become a rare thing in CoD. But, it’s strange playing a CoD that recycles so much from all three studios, and I couldn’t shake the feeling of being sold a DLC. Here is our review (still in progress) of MW3.
I love the design philosophy that Sledgehammer has adopted with MW3, and I think this is the best game the community could have hoped for considering it originated as Year-2 content for another title. It isn’t perfect; you feel like you’re playing a confused mix of BOCW, Vanguard and MWII at times, but the overall experience is fun, and many of their new innovations work.
I have so far only played about 30 hours, and all of that has been spent in multiplayer on four maps. The beta included Skidrow, Estate, Favela and Rust, and we could unlock a handful of weapons from each class. Let’s dig in.
Note: This is our review in progress, and we will update it when we get to see more of the game through the beta weekends and then at launch.
Modern Warfare 3 Review (In Progress)
Contents
- Gameplay
- Movement
- Gunfights
- Balancing
- Spawns
- Content
- Maps
- Modes
- Audio-Visual
- Graphics
- Sound Design
- Technical Issues
- A Word To Competitive
- Verdict
1. Gameplay
I can already say a lot about the gameplay because I don’t expect major changes to be made between now and the MW3 release date. The most obvious thing is this: Modern Warfare 3 has a higher skill gap than we’ve seen in a long time. I had to catch myself a few times from complaining about SBMM, when in reality the only reason I was getting destroyed by “sweats” was because I wasn’t as good as MWII had led me to believe…
1a. Movement
The movement is going to be divisive because the slide-cancel has effectively been nerfed. In terms of general mobility and handling (ADS, strafe speeds, sprint-out etc.) the game is the fastest we’ve had in a very long time.
But that one specific mechanic, the iconic slide-cancel, does not work as well as it did in MW2019, BOCW or Vanguard. This is because there’s a delay after the slide animation. It’s especially weird that they’ve nerfed the slide-cancel because they clearly want people to slide into challs, and there are even perks that make this easier.
Outside of that one mechanic, the game is incredibly quick. And in addition to it’s natural pace, there are lots of attachments that now offer bonuses like “Improved ADS While Jumping” to specifically improve jumpshotting, and other aggressive forms of movement. The faster movement is a welcome change and it’s especially refreshing after last year, but this will be alienating for slower players.
1b. Gunfights
The weapon animations lack the crispness of an IW production, but in every other respects the gunfights are an improvement on last year. With MWII’s very short TTK, it didn’t feel like we even had gunfights. But now that most engagements take longer, you have time to actually make decisions. For instance, if you’re shot from behind, you have enough health now to reset and shoot back, maybe even throw in some movement to make yourself a harder target to hit.
Also worthy of praise is the shift away from high-recoil guns. In MWII you had to deal with so much muzzle flash and visual recoil that you had to rely on aim-assist to do most of the shooting for you, but in MW3 there’s a lot less recoil and, to make up for it, a weaker form of aim assist. This makes the weapons more enjoyable to use, and less unsatisfying to die against.
1c. Balancing
The balance between SMGs and ARs feels quite good this year, with a number of contenders from the Battle Rifle category also making it into the meta to boot. The SMGs feel especially punished at range against higher base health, but they do offer massive benefits in short-range thanks to improved movement, so we luckily aren’t dealing with an MWII situation where the vast majority of players will only use an AR and no-one wants to pick up a sub. We should instead see a healthy balance of SMGs and ARs on well-organized teams.
There are some standout weapons like the MTZ-556 and the Striker, but they aren’t so strong as to become ubiquitous, and there are plenty of viable alternatives. And best of all, shotguns aren’t broken!
We’re also happy with how the new perk system has been arranged. It’s basically just a re-skin of the classic system, but the way they’ve categorized the perks is very smart, and it forces you to make impactful decisions. Also, Dead Silence is back as a perk!
Equipment is the only area that gives us pause for thought. Battle Rage is now a Tactical, and it seems too strong for that slot (although it has already been nerfed a bit in the latest patch, so we’ll see). We’re also concerned about the Throwing Knives being too quick and easy to use in a game that has raised the TTK on everything else.
1d. Spawns
The spawns are bad! There’s no way around this fact. It often feels random and uncontrollable, and when you can’t meaningfully impact or hold spawns, it takes a lot of depth out of the game. All I want here is a simple spawn system that can be manipulated with intelligent positioning. The current system sticks out against all the other aspects of MW3 that promote a skill gap.
Spawns were terrible in Vanguard at the beginning as well, but Sledgehammer fixed it in that game after a few months, so I remain hopeful for improvement. And improvement is very much needed in this department.
2. Content
The beta did not include anything from Zombies or the Campaign, but it sounds like those will provide considerable content as well. In multiplayer, I can at least speak to the maps and modes we played.
2a. Maps
We played four maps in the beta, so a quarter of the maps MW3 will launch with, and all of them are remastered MW2 (2009) maps. I was instantly surprised by how well they had recreated these maps.
They aren’t identical, but these remakes have a very similar structure and color to the originals. Which is good for MW3, because there’s a lot of nostalgia in the air. Sadly, I don’t expect the nostalgia to last too long, because only a few of these maps are truly great, people just associate them with the memory of an overall great game.
In fairness, these maps will be brand-new to a lot of the current playerbase. And with map-voting, which is an amazing addition in itself, you will very rarely actually have to play on the worst maps in MW3.
2b. Modes
The beta so far only includes returning modes (Ground War, TDM, Domination, Kill Confirmed and Hardpoint), but we know that MW3 is also getting a 3v3v3 variant of Gunfight called Cut-Throat, and the War mode from WW2 (with its own “gargantuan” maps). Cut-Throat is a very cool innovation on Gunfight, and we saw it at CoD Next, so hopefully we can play it soon at the second beta weekend. In regard to the modes we did play, I was happily surprised to see that even Hardpoint worked (it wasn’t in CoD when these maps first came out, so there was a slight fear they would misplace the hills).
3. Audio-Visual
Call of Duty usually meets the standard in this department, and I’m a fan of the high-fidelity IW9 engine that’s been slightly upgraded here. But, MW3 definitely feels less polished than usual.
3a. Graphics
The lighting and the color palatte of MW3 are great, and we expect few complaints here. There are some who will find the maps too drab, but in truth, this is just what faithful remasters of MW2 maps will look like – they are a little drab. However, MW3 will catch some heat for visibility, and for the graphics on old-gen consoles.
Visibility should be easy to fix. At the moment it’s very difficult to make out who the enemy is because the red/blue indicator above character model heads is faint, but this can surely be adjusted. The more lasting and significant problem is with old-gen.
Based on the clips and screenshots we’ve seen of old-gen consoles playing MW3, we’re unimpressed. To make the game even functional it seems that resolution was sacrificed for framerate. At this point, in 2023, I’m not sure whether there’s a good solution for this problem. Old-gen consoles have been struggling to keep up for years and maybe it’s time to finally drop cross-gen support.
3b. Sound Design
Hitmarkers and headshot sounds are wonderfully satisfying, and the factt´that Dead Silence truly eliminates footstep audio should mean we’re in for a great year of Search and Destroy. But the various noises that the weapons and gadgets make sound cheap.
It’s harsh to say, but the guns just feel generic and lack any real oomph. This is where Sledgehammer have traditionallly struggled, and I can’t deny I was disappointed.
3c. Technical Issues
I never thought I would be writing this about a Call of Duty beta, but I have to be honest, I experienced zero crashes and connecting to the servers was painless. This is still the beta, and so I’m sure this section will be a lot larger by full release, but for now I can’t claim to have had the game crash.
There is one bug with the default class called “The Demolitionist“, which gives the BAS-B ghost bullets. But I was able to use the BAS-B just fine in a normal custom loadout.
4. A Word On Competitive
It’s far too early to say much about how this game will play at the highest level, but I expect the vast majority of the CDL’s viewers to be happy with MW3. There is just so much here that the competitive audience will enjoy:
- MW3’s balance between SMGs and ARs is very good, and we might even see a flex weapon used, given the new movement.
- Dead Silence as a perk should eliminate the Sound Equilisation problem and give us a good year for Search.
- The higher TTK will allow the best ARs to stand out from the rest of the pack more, while more options for aggressive movement should have the same effect on widening the skill gap between SMGs.
- Headshot multipliers have been nerfed, which gives combat a more consistent overall feel.
The only major concerns I have are for the spawn system and Control, which is returning again (to the delight of nobody).
5. Verdict
In the “Golden Era” of Call of Duty (CoD4 to Black Ops 2), it never felt like there was much of a distinction between the gameplay in the titles produced by either of the big studios, Infinity Ward (Modern Warfare) or Treyarch (Black Ops). Even though they were set in different eras, and had different art styles, they felt fundamentally aligned with each other at their core. But since then, and with the addition of Sledgehammer, it has felt like these studios and their games have drifted further and further apart. Which has also divided the fanbase into various sub-factions.
This separation within CoD, both at a publisher and audience level, has been its greatest weakness as a franchise, especially since the most divisive of all games was released: MW2019. Activision struggled to unify the different brands, and you could see the effects when certain audiences began feeling underserved. This led to a boiling point in 2022 with the release of MWII, because it was so strictly in line with Infinity Ward’s design that it alienated fans of other types of gameplay.
In many ways, MW3 is a renunciation of how divided CoD has become, at least on a studio level. It borrows the themes, characters and maps from Infinity Ward’s MW series, its gameplay is derivative of a Treyarch title, with higher base health and thus a longer TTK, and it’s being put together by Sledgehammer (using many of their re-used assets from Vanguard). Of course, tribalism still exists in the fanbase, and certain audiences are benefitting more than others from the overall package you get with MW3, but at least this is a step in the right direction.
The result of combining all those elements is very fun, and I think that because Sledgehammer (who are painfully aware of being the “little brother” of the three studios) will do whatever the community ask for, that should also mean many of the game’s smaller issues will be resolved. These are the best things to be said about MW3. Now to address the ugly side of this “combined forces” approach.
The reason that MW3 is using IW’s setting, Treyarch’s gameplay and Sledgehammer’s assets is because they were desperately scrambling to make a map pack into a full game. That’s also why the community are getting their way with so many small decisions – they need to keep us sweet. In all honesty, it does work. They’ve done enough to make all these elements produce a fun experience, and it sounds like we’re getting just as much, if not more content than we do on an average year.
But sometimes, when playing MW3, a discordant note is struck and you notice the duct-tape keeping these worlds together begin to tear. It might be an effect that sounds identical to something from Vanguard, or an asset from MWII, but whatever it is, it reminds you of the fact that this CoD title slightly lacks that “fresh” feeling. On balance, I’m so hopeful about the gameplay that this isn’t a make or break issue for me, but it will be for others.
To be succinct then, our verdict on Modern Warfare 3 so far: This is a game that looks like MW, plays like Black Ops, and is being managed by a willing-to-please Sledgehammer. It’s fun, it’s fast, and mostly well-balanced, but it feels iterative, even for a CoD game.