Why Was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 SO MEDIOCRE?!

first impressions are a pretty big deal the experience we have in those initial two to three hours of gameplay is often the deciding factor and whether or not we keep playing or drop it entirely allow me to say that nobody in this world was more jaded towards modern warfare 3 than I was there are a few games I hate beyond comprehension beyond words that can just cause me to have a physical reaction upon seeing the cover art now allow me to show you how the majority of planet Earth felt during the release of modern warfare 3 and the first few hours we all spend playing it ah [ __ ] here we go again honestly the root of almost all of the bad press reviews criticism and hatred towards this game comes from one simple issue and it's not that modern warfare 3 was or is a horrible awful Call of Duty game it's just that well this was the eighth Call of Duty in a row franchise fatigue had finally set in which would collapse entirely once ghosts came out I mean people were just getting [ __ ] sick of a new Call of Duty game coming out year after year [Music] [Music] to the casual average and hardcore fans basically everyone could look at modern warfare 3 and be like yup looks like a $60 update to a game that came out two years ago it looked felt and played virtually the same consumers are generally not a fan of being duped into buying the same product twice especially if it's a sequel that actually looks worse than the game they had before my disgust is so vivid to me all these years later because this was the point I said [ __ ] it I'm done with Call of Duty indefinitely when it comes to video game sequels I think the absolute least thing people expect from them is for the graphics to change and improve so if you can't even nail that as a developer then something is wrong sure Halo 5s art design is weird and not as good as any of the other games I think but at least you can easily tell the difference between each and every Halo game let's have a test see if I were to throw up footage of every Cod game could you tell at a glance which game is which why don't you just just go ahead and pause see if you can guess every one of these games unless you're a hardcore fan or someone like me who has extensively played most of the games and can kind of tell between them unless you can perceive the slight differences in user interface and graphics and weapons it's gonna be damn hard to tell exactly which game is which Modern Warfare 2 might have been a bit divisive amongst the community but mw3 was an entirely different beast I'd even say the general relationship between gamers and game critics really started to turn sour around this point I mean near universal acclaim from critics and Universal disgust forum users like are you [ __ ] me was this just an outrage mob where the criticisms well found where the critics paid off or did they really just not give that much of a [ __ ] to even complain about the similarities who knows for sure this was the first time I felt like game critics and game journalists have really let me down and they would continue to let me down with their Call of Duty reviews leave it to the Call of Duty franchise to come out with a game that one hand breaks several World Records in terms of pre-orders sales revenue it becomes the largest entertainment launch of all freaking time but at the same time is apparently hated by absolutely everyone it's this dichotomy that makes modern warfare 3 so interesting to me what does it say about our consumption of media when does a series start to just get old did the similarities cloud our judgment on this game and does modern warfare 3 have something that makes it stand out from the rest of the series well let's survive in SpecOps find out why the bloody hell Makarov knows you and suffer from franchise fatigue straight into this this is the true dilemma of modern warfare 3 as a product of its time it failed to please fans however with the power of hindsight seeing where the series has gone there's a lot of praise I wasn't willing to give this game back in the day but I am now a lot of things I overlooked mw3 signaled the largest change that Call of Duty had ever seen with an Infinity Ward the warfare series and it altered the way the franchise was routinely developed with the co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella leaving the company to form Respawn Entertainment they would go on to create the incredible yet underperforming titanfall series and of course you know a little puppy you might have heard of called apex legends to my recollection this was the first time a cod game had been worked on by multiple developers this was also the first time that the series looked a vulnerable with an uncertain future sure Call of Duty is always gonna be popular it's always going to appeal to the masses but I couldn't help but think if this was the moment it really lost its way did I say Jason and Vince left the company well by that I mean they were fired by Activision ladies and gentlemen the details of that are messy at best so according to my research lawsuits were filed by Jason invents for employee mistreatment and they wanted bonus payments that they were allegedly promised Activision counter suited to with accusations of corporate espionage theft of business secrets breaches of contract insubordination all of this was then thrown at the duo and to spit in the face of Activision response signed on with the equally [ __ ] publisher Electronic Arts and half of the Infinity Ward team would leave to join them the lawsuits were eventually settled confidentially but the point is how this paints a very messy picture for the development of modern warfare 3 so with Activision rebuilding the team on Infinity Ward while simultaneously working on development Raven Software was brought in to handle the multiplayer so that sledgehammer and Infinity Ward could both work on the single-player campaign with this joint effort lead to some restricted creativity I feel like the more game production is split between companies and people the larger the group the harder it is for teams to communicate and reach the most beneficial end goal slash product the recurring problem with modern warfare 3 and fan expectations of the series is it did not deliver enough new experiences think about it black ops 1 was set in the Vietnam era it had cool unique weapons top-secret missions new and improved Nazi Zombies dead ops arcade gun game wager matches revamped customization before that mw2 went batshit crazy with the best map selection in the series overpowered weapons ridiculously strong kill streaks prior to that world that war was a return to world war ii with the lessons and revolutionary design principles that were introduced with cod 4c i think most people were able to overlook the similarities from game to game because up until modern warfare 3 they had all been drastically different in story style and presentation mw3 was the first time the card series just felt like a cash cow it felt like the companies behind this we're trying to cut as many corners as possible and with the knowledge of how mw3 was developed maybe that assumption isn't too far off so now that we have an idea of how modern warfare 3 was handled behind the scenes it's time to see how all these teams translated their talents to the big screen the climactic finale in this blockbuster trilogy starts off hot and spicy literally set just a few hours after the end of modern warfare 2 I thought I told you this was a one-way trip looks like it still is they'll be looking for us gonna get so belly duh having just finished off general shepherd price and nikolai attempt to escort the mortally wounded soap MacTavish to this safehouse as soap we fade in and out of consciousness between the present and the past [Music] the memories and moments that led to this point are shown to us with a sweet stylistic glass shattering design but this is no time to smell the roses someone's got to help out so Oh No he's seeing what God becomes in the future Oh No all right come on get the deep bit quick this title screen and I just realized that ww3 stands for World War 3 you got em for me it should be said to w4 what beau movin on the mainland is being attacked by the Russians New York is under siege and well this time we aren't Oscar Mike we aren't Rangers leading the way and we never have to defend burger town all of these new experiences frighten and confuse me in this game perspective switch between Delta team and Derek Westbrook aka frost the disavowed task force 141 operative soap price and their mysterious friend Yuri during the build-up and leaked trailers of modern warfare 3 the developers were showcasing an experience that would take place in four separate locations France England America and Germany in game it feels like there was an effort made to make these areas interesting and graphically pleasing Call of Duty always had a knack for creating diverse epic landscapes that will stick out in your mind and that quite frankly as modern warfare 3 s greatest strength with that being said it's a blast to fight through the streets and skyscrapers of New York City shooting around the stock exchange and witnessing this city as a war zone is astounding see it and call of duty always has to blow your balls off right away boom how's that for an opening what I really appreciate about the writing and narrative of modern warfare 3 is how much more coherent it is in pretty much every Cod game there's moments where it seems like you're just doing busy work that ultimately has no significance or effect on the plot sometimes it's not well explained sometimes you just go out and destroy a jammer and sometimes you can get lost within the military jargon and mumbo-jumbo but in this game I never got lost the cutscenes have a magnificent style and presentation it's engaging and interesting the way they show you what's happening as if it's in a tactical military view turns out the Russians have nuclear warheads on a submarine outside the city and they plan on wreaking havoc upon the New York populace so what do we do we go through the tunnel boys this was the mission revealed back at e3 and for good reason the setting is just phenomenal a flooded tunnel filled with drown civilians cars all these people were trying to escape and just got trapped in here it's a pretty spooky scene but we're here to blow up a part of the submarine so we - and dance our way through some minefields set some c4 submarine go boom it's forced to surface where we infiltrate the sub reach the control panel and take over the warheads there's an incredible and chaotic escape sequence that visually and metaphorically sucks me off with the Russians pulling back we swap back to the injured soap and take control of the new guy Yuri hey don't worry my dude the doctors here I've been trained in the art surgeons simulated you know how good I am I'm ready you storm through the streets of India staving off Makarovs men and protecting soap why is he worth all this trouble you might be asking well he's one more loose end after securing soap safety it becomes clear to us that price is not the same man they say truth is the first casualty of war but who defines what's true truth is just a matter of perspective the duty of every soldier is to protect the innocent and sometimes that means preserving the lie of good and evil the war isn't just natural selection played out on the grand scale what follows is one of my favorite missions in the series turbulence this is where the game slows down the pacing and explores the plot you are a bodyguard for the Russian President on board a plane headed to the US to discuss terms of peace but there's something worse than snakes on this plane and just when you think call of duty is going to have a boring political discussion we're under attack they're trying to kidnap the president and his daughter over my empty vodka bottle dice Satan's minions and this airplane sequence is fantastic bad ass sometimes gravity [ __ ] you up and you glide through the air it's pretty epic but then it gets really good [Music] holy [ __ ] that was awesome and it didn't overindulge itself like a certain world war 2 shooter right now we awaken the debris of the airplane but still need to secure the president and his daughter as we fight against the ultra-nationalist we find him now let's get the evac out here pronto alright so let me just get this door open and whoa oh boy this is awkward he makes his move bust a couple of caps kidnaps the Russian president and in a matter of time we'll hopefully break the man into giving up the nuclear launch codes a lot of the middle missions deal with the ensuing chase stuff I and Makarov which is not exactly a new turn for the plot but it's entertaining it builds up the finale and has some highlights along the way these men bond through war blood and battle and eventually the gang orchestrates a daring assassination attempt mega Ross council also gathered in the middle of a war zone sounds convenient overconfidence makes you careless while the sequence that follows is well orchestrated and amusing to witness it's yet another example of modern warfare 3 startling lack of originality how many elements of this game are you not going to bother changing and how many are you going to borrow from the previous games anyways this assassination doesn't go as planned oh oh busted Makarov is a dog and he has sniffed us out balls are hitting the walls so you and price got it once again save your boy's life and get the [ __ ] out thankfully price is a homie and knows that you don't want to go through a whole level without shooting something so he gives you a hand and hauling soap around get this man inside quickly come on put your [ __ ] backs into it this is my boy we're talking about here don't you know this was the guy who was the protagonist and God boy let's get him in here come on stay with me son those so you have to go up now get off me this belongs to you I'm sorry [Music] this scene got me good I genuinely thought the old lad would come out alive prices screams will forever haunt my dreams hot damn that was some good acting price pockets soaps journal and then the game designers do something really funny every Call of Duty campaign from the very start programs you to follow instructions from the other characters and when you do it this time they punch you in the face for it that's real clever guys that's real clever but soap is pissed isn't holding back and now we gotta answer the golden question Call of Duty utilizes semi silent protagonists pretty well and it does the same with Yuri it's a good choice because it allows you to focus on the events and people around you it's especially appreciated because the death of soap is the most critical moment in this trilogy of games and playing as a silent protagonist at this moment allows you to truly lament the death of a hero and a friend this is the moment when all the secrets are revealed and the full picture comes into view turns out Yuri was a lot closer to Makarov than anyone knew he was his old friend business partner he was there for the attempted assassination of Zakia he was there for the deaths of thirty thousand men thank God roman lets go bowling he was there for the airport massacre he was there for all of it slinking behind just out of view and he's here now ready to kick some [ __ ] ass Yuri my man welcome to the crew of respected Call of Duty protagonists but what's actually a really cool detail is when they did Modern Warfare remastered they actually put Yuri and Makarov in that section at this point motto warfare 3 has flipped everything around on its head this character who had dot was mostly along for the ride has turned out to be the last piece of the puzzle how quickly they forget that all it takes to change the course of history is the will of a single man is this person a 6 to 7 I'm coming for you Makarov my warrens with you so with a heart full of vengeance and an urge to finish the fight Yuri and Pryce mount up in juggernaut suits and storm the keep we're gonna get you boy you can't hide forever let's [ __ ] go Yuri oh damn dude you're [ __ ] up don't worry I'll take this bastard down myself where you going Makarov running away again and finally we come face to face with the man himself and what an epic showdown it is [Music] with the dust settling and sirens blaring in the background losing both his closest friends captain price finally has a moment to relax Modern Warfare 3 story is climactic and beautiful it's a fitting finale to one of the most popular game trilogies out there and I don't really have many complaints to make about it watching Mac arrives elaborate death was really satisfying and gruesome man got what he deserved and though the ending feels abrupt there's really not much story left to tell there's a clock tower in Hereford where the names of the dead are inscribed we try to honor their deeds even as their faces fade from my memory those memories are all this left when the pastor's have taken everything else between black ops 1 and 2 Treyarch made several enhancements to the campaign so much that it amazes me to this day the levels were more nonlinear than any other Cod game they added customizable classes before each mission there were challenges for points and high scores on a leaderboard you can choose to do certain missions out of order and most impressive the multi-layered and divergent storytelling put an emphasis on your choices throughout and had several possible endings giving the campaign immense replay value so does modern warfare 3 provide a similar level of improvement it does next to nothing in this regard where modern warfare 3 story brought about a satisfying conclusion and resolution within several of our favourite characters the gameplay is basically a clone made in a laboratory you kind of get the sense that the whole purpose of the campaign at this point was just to finish the story the set-pieces weapons locations might be new and different but that's really all the positive things you can say about it it still has that ridiculous over-the-top action vibe yet it's portrayed in a slightly more believable way like when you're on that super epic escape sequence in the second level speeding around aircraft carriers going off jumps it's more believable than the last time we did that because there's a real battle going on and it's actually two armies instead of two guys fighting an army yeah it's cool flying around New York and a helicopter but at the end of the day it's just another on Rails turret section the mechanics haven't changed just the location wouldn't it have been cool to maybe let the player fly the helicopter around I mean that were decently well for black ops 3 so when you realize the developers had no intention of spicing up the gameplay or its mechanics to allow for more freedom and versatility that's the moment you realize there ain't really no reason to replay modern warfare 3 in a game that's fun the first time but has no replay value sounds pretty mediocre to me truth is I did not give a rat's ass about this multiplayer and hold up what 60 thousand players I call [ __ ] on that before plan to get footage for this review I was sitting at about 15 hours at little 55 or so pedestrian [ __ ] for an epic gamer like me hindsight can be a blessing and a [ __ ] it can even be a blessed [ __ ] but having slogged through cod World War 2 and black ops for how bad could this be but something weird is happening to me modern warfare 3 this this game I've hated for 8 years I'm enjoying it perhaps I'm having fun with the multiplayer now because it feels new to me because I didn't play it much it has that satisfying Cod gameplay loop that I haven't been able to connect with in the newer games maybe I'm enjoying it because there isn't a storm of anger surrounding this game and I'm experiencing it without outside influence I think each one of these reasons contributes to the fun I'm currently having but I also don't find myself addicted to the multiplayer like wanting to grind hardcore for prestige and rank this is truly a middle-of-the-road experience but let's take a deeper look because despite the mediocrity sledgehammer Infinity Ward and Raven did make some pretty cool and appreciated innovations funny thing to look back on nowadays is prior to the game's release the call of duty community was up in arms about every single unbalanced feature of modern warfare 2 in fact the biggest complaints were talked about on stage by Robert bowling former community manager and creative strategist of Infinity Ward let's hear what he had to say it means no one-man army no game ending new Wow just listen to the crowd reaction no shotguns and secondaries definitely no definitely definitely no commando / all those features he listed off they [ __ ] hate them all [ __ ] you but Robert forgot to tell everyone was that final stand in dead man's hand we're still in the game his death streaks he [ __ ] got us good it's no wonder the teams were hyper focused on making this game more balanced when that's all the fans really complained about but it makes you wonder did all the negativity from the community towards mw2 cause mw3 to be what it is maybe this shows the change in attitude of the cod community we were listening to so hard and this is what we got I don't know man it makes you wonder it's also funny that if you play the mode drop zone you'll notice that everyone is a quickscoping champion apparently [Music] you can't explain it it is rampant far more than mana warfare to speak in a drop zone let's talk about all the playlists and game modes Kill Confirmed debuted in this game which has since become a welcomed staple of every Call of Duty afterwards team defender makes its one and only appearance a modak into oddball where each team tries to hold the flag for as long as possible to score points then later down the line you had the more competitive let's get sweaty faceoff playlists which threw players into small tight maps focused on 1v1 2v2 and 3v3 throwdowns it was really cool how they added a whole tab for community oriented game modes the ones that were made popular in private matches a wait a second infected ah come on guys I can't imagine where you got this idea from infected it's actually pretty entertaining not gonna lie you can rack up some pretty crazy kills in this mode but there's a problem only one round per match so it's kind of tedious to play on top of this they had new and improved private match options giving players more tools to customize their experience that's always good now I checked out drop zone out of curiosity not expecting much from this one in Dunn mode and was just blown away this is that old-school crazy that modern warfare 2 used to have you hold the drop zone for points and care packages are bombarded on the ground which can be anything from a UAV to Osprey gunner it's like a mad dash around the map and the best part is your score streaks are disabled so you can focus on just having fun I spent the most time in drop zone and found it to be the best source for leveling up weapons and my rank and hey would you look at that new innovation in the form of weapon rank you know it really is impressive and staggering to see just how many features that debuted in modern warfare 3 have been carried on throughout the years this time every weapon related unlock is tied to its level all attachments gun camos radicals and hmm proficiency that's right each weapon class has a selection of bonus perks which brings a new form of customization to the table to be one less way you can earn it you want two attachments you can earn it you want less kick go earn it this sandbox feels like the largest out of all the games I find myself hopping around using all sorts of different weapons just to see what they're like modern warfare 3 is also the last game in the series to have the traditional class setup instead of the pick-ten system or whatever ghost has had a lot of balancing changes were made there are way more tactical items to use lethal czar more streamlined only 5 perks in each category their strength is significantly toned down blast shield is now a perk instead of in equip every change seems to be made for the benefit and fairness of the game modern warfare 3 is basically a more reasonable fine-tuned balanced version of the last game except for the fact that everyone uses the goddamn ACR who's a different weapon how about that shotguns were turned into a primary weapon which is something a lot of people had complained about but I can't help but feel like explosives and shotguns got a bit neutered here progression is about what you would expect although they increase the level cap to 80 with 20 different ranks of prestige good lord that is a bit excessive but it is quite a maddening grind to think about and see people do that without cheating what I really enjoyed were the prestige tokens I didn't get to use a lot of them but you could buy a new class get the exclusive emblems and titles unlock a weapon forever another cool feature was how mw3 and the menus kept track of your progress and the other Call of Duty games I wish newer Call of Duty's would do that Infinity Ward in the team and mw3 have more or less mellowed out from their midlife crisis and cocaine binge yeah yeah yeah not as crazy as you used to be all those years ago but the hardcore drug abuse has taken its toll you guys are a bit more sober now and can see clearly the result of this sobriety is a revamped and infinitely more effective fair and engaging system for scorestreaks modern warfare 2 there was a huge difference in experience between the expert player and the newcomer but for the newcomer he spent a lot of his time getting his ass handed to him by four zero tubes killstreaks every two seconds where the best players focused on actually accomplishing their team's objectives instead of just getting kills it became very clear that the kill streak system was optimized for only one game type and that was team deathmatch makes sense and you don't call them kill streaks because they make other people live but this time you actually pick your streaks for each class points are reset so you can earn more than one in a single life guess you could say that's a nice buff for quality of life mw3 has a lot of little improvements that flew under the radar like being able to see the progress of your streaks on screen and having the option to scroll through and choose what streak to use instead of being forced to use the one you most recently got thank you so the point streak system is as follows you get a point for taking an objective scoring a kill or shooting down certain air support with hardline Pro two assists will net you a point I can't tell you how much better multiplayer matches are overall in this game when half the players on each team aren't camping in the back of the map spamming noob tubes with one-man-army you got three choices assault support specialist call of duty would never return to this system again so modern warfare 3 is pretty unique amongst the series if you're a hound for more perks then is typically allowed or you're just like going for kills being an ultra badass and are putting together a slick montage go with specialist if you're tired of dying at 6 kills every [ __ ] time you can choose support for guaranteed streaks that are focused on supporting the team you got stuff like recon drones to spot enemies show them on the radar Sam turrets that you set up to shoot down enemy aircrafts the advanced UAV is super helpful while not nearly as cool as the engine it's nice to call down an escort airdrop get some helpful care packages to share with your team throw down a ballistic vest and watch your allies crowd around you in thanks you essentially give up some kills for the sake of points guaranteed rewards throughout a match and the loving praise of your team just kidding nobody says nice things in Call of Duty assault is the tough [ __ ] real manly ordnance the Osprey gunner is a complete beast you choose a location and it plays much like a chopper gunner except with heavier explosive rounds the ac-130 returns in glorious fashion sadly without the classic voice acting enemy I see one huh in essence modern warfare 3 took some of the punch out of its air support and its kill streaks but it replaced that with plenty of love care and above all else [ __ ] foresight each category has its own appeal and reason to pick it they fit in nicely with the sandbox still have some fun overpowered [ __ ] in there it's great the offensive kill streaks are fair just not the most unique or cool out of the series the assault drone would eventually evolve into a much better version in black ops 3 the main thing is they're satisfying to use and you don't go quite as insane when the enemy team is ass blasting you with those streaks depending on your perspective Call of Duty Elite could have been something you loved or hated so kudos Activision you created what was probably one of the earliest games to release content as a modern day games as a service now this is gonna be the part of the video where I get more pissed off so strap yourself in if I haven't said it a thousand times a thousand different ways by the end of this video modern warfare 3 is biggest flaw is familiarity to be fair there are certain games out there that got away with putting not much effort into changing the visuals banjo tooie was only a slight improvement over kazooie but way better in terms of gameplay kotor 2 was much the same except it was developed in only 14 months and was terribly unfinished and the worst part of the bunch megaman who looked exactly the same for 6 games in a row but for each of these examples you can make a case that the lack of visual improvement wasn't a huge deal by any stretch of the imagination because each one continuously improved in the sequel and I would probably agree so why is it a big deal for modern warfare 3 well I guess people just have higher expectations for the fourth best-selling video game franchise of all time their similarities are apparent from the second you start this game huh this this main menu was kind of familiar well let's check out spec ops wait it's like this virtually the same layout why is it not it's cool it's cool I'm sure multiplayer will be different well this is disappointing though there's got to be something in this game that looks different from modern warfare 2 right right you gotta be [ __ ] kidding me it's all the same it's all the same every last menu and submenu don't get me wrong between this game and mw2 there's hardly a shred of bad user interface but why in soaps name couldn't it just look different so many of the emblems and titles aren't literally the exact same with the added bonus of knowing what you did to unlock them this is super cool by the way major props I appreciate that the challenge and leveling up sound effects are the same this is what killed me though the reload animations there is no excuse to rip these straight from Modern Warfare 2 I just want to see things changed slightly visually but what's most painful is what they did to our precious nuke take a listen did you did you hear anything strange funny cuz all I heard was the lamest [ __ ] sound effect in human history I don't know about you but this doesn't get me [ __ ] my pants quite like this the Moab is nowhere to be seen in the menus which is cool players had to find it on their own then tell others through word-of-mouth or see a video posted online and the fact that it doesn't stop the game makes it infinitely less frustrating the multiplayer is damn fun to play now especially because I liked modern warfare 2 and I can now appreciate this game as a vast improvement and fine-tuning of that experience I don't think the teams behind this got enough credit for how to game turned out maybe we were all hyper focused on the similarities which are a big deal but just made it so we couldn't give this game a real chance so you know what I'll give you the credit you deserve now mission accomplished good work you at this point you should all know what a goddamn stickler I am when it comes to map design it's the one thing that can make or break the multiplayer from me so how did Raven Software doing the follow up that guide game with the best Maps well as the old saying goes you could have done better don't get me wrong modern warfare 3 selection of maps is decent or at the very least painfully average but if you take just even the slightest amount of time to really look at them you can tell this is when this series really started to dumb itself down not just in design but appearance as well most of these locations are just not visually impressive or memorable the sheer amount of gray in this game is enough to make creo wet and ladies and gentlemen that's just gross it's depressing and boring to look at give me some vibrant colors neon lights rain snow Thunder something anything different and I'm not saying every map and every game needs to be as memorable and interesting as the last but once a series has gone on for as long as Call of Duty has you gotta mix things up but you know that's part of the franchise fatigue when each game has 10 to 16 maps at launch and another 16 coming through DLC map packs well [ __ ] you're gonna run out of ideas at some point and ironically enough the highest point in any map is yep you guessed it from a remake just like black ops 4 so okay there aren't a lot of different heights players can go too but the layouts are still interesting and have good flow with open areas flanking routes the typical things that make a map playable and unlike black ops for mana warfare 3 actually has large Maps not much else to say here modern warfare 3 selection of maps are better than most of the newer games but aren't really an improvement at all when compared to the previous entries as yet another reason why this game was blasted upon release another area that didn't see much improvement at all I find it hilarious the part of modern warfare 2 I spent the least amount of time and is now the part of modern warfare 3 that I got the most enjoyment out of what could account for such a drastic change in the appeal of spec ups while quite a lot every Cod game passed modern warfare has had this typical three main attractions type of design you probably noticed sometimes even four and this third side mode has always been the testing grounds for all sorts of kooky wacky zany ideas to be experimented with some great and some just [ __ ] awful god I hate transit so with some time to reflect on the shortcomings of spec ops in the previous game and with the resources available to enhance and improve this mode needless to say they [ __ ] did it in my previous review I established how Infinity Ward was always in a healthy competition with Treyarch to have a side mode that was just as enticing fun and replayable as zombies ironically enough it seems modern warfare 3 was also in direct competition with a couple of other games what's this a horde based defense mode survival debt what you call it I bet it's a real fire fight if you ask me I've always found it interesting the way that Halo and Call of Duty have battled each other and tried replicating or copying if you want to be more harsh certain elements from each other there are several similarities between the series and games and I'm not trying to start a debate or get sidetracked because my point is there's a right way to mere successful concepts from other games and there's a wrong way to do it modern warfare 3 replicates halos fire fight mode to outstanding success I think mana warfare 3 takes a step farther than reach did in some ways the idea of integrating progression and unlocks into a PvE mode is 100% something that every Call of Duty is expected to have nowadays so let's drop into survival beat 4 oh wait wrong game team can't get to the LZ it's just a doozy from here on out but what does it do right and why was it so enticing to play that I ended up chasing the achievement for lasting until wave 15 on every map well first off there are so many maps to choose from they'll range in difficulty from easy to insane and pretty insane in the DLC and there are endless setups you can come up with to survive variety is strong here and that's what kept me playing the best part of survival is the progression in waves weapons unlocks as you play the mode and the spec ops missions you will level up and your arsenal slowly expands the team's really knocked it out of the park with the sandbox every weapon from multiplayer is here with various attachments you can unlock you can buy perks armor RPGs a Last Stand get out of jail card sentry turrets claymores c4 every element of the sandbox collides in this mode to create a versatile and replayable experience and best of all AI allies [ __ ] yes I cannot understate how cool it is to call in a squad of troopers to watch your back or a group of riot shield badasses to hold the line it's mind-boggling how this idea has not been expanded upon in future games to my knowledge aside from the typical addiction you get from Call of Duty's progression the mode is pure fun there's no gimmicks no microtransactions no [ __ ] it mixes up traditional strategies and tactics you've learned from all your time in the campaign's and spec ops missions want to set up a couple sentry guns with claymores planted all around do it want to throw a bunch of c4 down and wait til some unlucky son of a [ __ ] walks by hell yeah want to call down an airstrike to decimate your foes or use a predator missile to rain down hell you can do it all it's [ __ ] amazing to play this with a buddy you guys will bro down and throw down sometimes you get a trio of juggernauts rappeling down each one of them has a huge black dildo that they want to shove right up your ass as infantry and dogs rush you while three helicopters assault you from the skies and Pelt you with bullets it's intense but for everything survival does right it leaves several things to be desired like where's all the other attachments FMJ akimbo rapid-fire extended mags how come proficiency wasn't added into this mode and be pretty fun to just run around with a desert eagle and a tactical knife but too bad we can't do that and it also give you more incentive to buy certain weapons over others right why can't we call in Allied helicopters where's the rest of the perks how come there aren't any rocket launches besides the RPG why aren't there any prestige rewards why can't we prestige maybe these things post a balancing problem during the testing phases but I find it strange that a lot of the sandbox was left out of survival mode it is some damn good fun though and part of the reason I ended up maxing out my level but now let's turn our focus to the more traditional side of spec ops the missions let me tell you I don't know what it was but something about these brought out the perfectionist in me that's the way it's done maybe it was because I was trying to forget about my no longer relevant crippling addiction to nicotine or that it was genuinely having so much fun the latter most likely but yes I got three stars on every single mission modern warfare 3 improves SpecOps in every way one of the more annoying aspects of mw2 was several of the missions were based on time however this time you choose the difficulty and upon completion you are awarded those stars that's another thing the difficulty here feels as fair as it can be in a Call of Duty game and the satisfaction for completing these missions is unparalleled one of the better improvements was the way they intertwine the missions with the story and setting and how each mission is based on a level from the single-player campaign but unlike modern warfare 2 this game actually created new areas for spec ops well maybe not but at least it spun them around to feel look and play different variety as you should expect is impeccable is even a little bit of story to be had in this mode right and mile-high Jack you play from the perspective of Makarovs men instead of a bodyguard of the President [Music] there's little tidbits of dialogue in scenery that add on to the story of modern warfare 3 and kind of ties it all together with a nice neat little bow overall I think SpecOps really proved that Infinity Ward could handle an offline PvE mode I'm kind of ashamed I didn't keep spec ops more of a chance back in the day I mean they really stepped the game up there's not one huge or even minor flaw I can think of that discourages me from playing it but if the rumors are true and modern warfare 4 is indeed the next upcoming Call of Duty game you all better get your [ __ ] together because it's gonna take a miracle for you to top this Modern Warfare 3 is a lot better than most people initially thought and gave it credit for back in the day and I was one of those people you can't blame anyone for some of their negative reactions and perceptions it falls on the developers publishers and designers for not switching things up enough for not being able to trick our eyes and make us believe we're seeing something different for making it appear to the average player that this is the same game you already bought I didn't analyze video games nearly as intensely as I do now but these are the subconscious reasons we might not have been able to explain why we hated modern warfare 3 I'm kind of shocked I haven't run out of things to say about this franchise there's so many pieces that go into the puzzle of modern warfare 3 and with such a rocky development this game should have been complete [ __ ] but it wasn't a lot of improvements were made plenty of new ideas made an appearance and would become staples of the series the campaign has a great story more coherent with some spectacular set pieces moments a tight bond between characters it's the thrilling and satisfactory ending we had all been looking forward to and it's a shame the gameplay didn't turn out to be any more thrilling or fun multiplayer is for the most part just average great weapons great mechanics mediocre map design replayable and fun enough to grind I went into this review feeling a lot more forgiving and with a willing attitude to give this game another shot I'm not going to look back on my time with modern warfare 3 as fondly as the other games yet I don't regret spending any of that time this is what it means to be an average Joe and that is why call of duty modern warfare 3 was so mediocre [Music]

Channel: The Act Man

Views: 5,136,236

Keywords: Act Man, Call of duty, modern warfare 3, mw3 campaign, mw3 ending, mw3 multiplayer, modern warfare 3 multiplayer, modern warfare 3 survival, mw3 spec ops, modern warfare 3 soap death, soap mactavish, captain price, makarov, modern warfare 3 review, act man review, act man call of duty, halo vs call of duty, sledgehammer games, raven software, infinity ward, treyarch, mw3 survival mode, mw3 moab, modern warfare 3 moab

Id: FUgyupCoYNo

Length: 50min 42sec (3042 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2019