Modern Warfare II arrived last year with a campaign that changed the thirds compared to the 2019 installment. Since its launch, the 2022 title was always rumored to be a two-year game, with DLC that expanded its content and possibilities. gameplay. Nevertheless, the rumored DLC that never was became its own titleunder the name Modern Warfare III and led by SHG, another of the rotating Call of Duty studios that has recently been responsible for Call of Duty WWII and Vanguard.
The shadow that Modern Warfare III was a DLC has never completely gone away, and the truth is that its integration into COD HQ, already a week after the launch of its campaign in advance, with the full game available today, reinforces many of the players’ suspicions.
It may be a bit unfair to call Modern Warfare III’s campaign the worst in franchise history. which this year has turned 20 years old, but it is very close to the worst. Not so much because of its short duration, that too, but because it is clear that somewhere along the way, it went from being a DLC for last year’s game to being packaged into a premium title, as Activision has called Call releases each year. of Duty.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Modern Warfare III arrives with one of the worst campaigns in recent memory. 15 missions that can be completed in just 3 hours and with a final point that arrives just when things were getting interesting. A campaign that looks more like a DLC than a title with the name of one of the most important sub-sagas in the history of video games.
Modern Warfare III is, in itself, a crossroads of lime and sand. On the one hand, it offers multiplayer, which on paper and the beta experience, is presented as the best in recent years. And time will tell if one of the best in the entire franchise. On the other hand, and in the case at hand, it offers an insubstantial campaign, with few moments in which it shines and that, under the excuse of giving the player more freedom, shoehorns in some open world missions that break the popcorn immersion that is expected from a Call of Duty.
Open combat missions tarnish the experience
The Modern Warfare III campaign follows some of the plots we saw in Modern Wafare II, but reimagines new ones taken directly from the original franchise. We leave Mexico, the cartels and some of the most charismatic characters in the saga in recent years to once again pursue the shadow of Makarov, an absolute enemy along with Zakhaev from the trilogy of the last decade.
In total there are 15 missions, some of just 3-4 minutes, in which Task Force 141 goes hunting for its enemy, starting the game from the point of view of Koni, the mercenary group under the command of Makarov. We hardly have any new references about Koni. There are mentions in one of MWII’s flashback missions, and part of its narrative is diluted in the Raids and in the events of Warzone, but far from the classic presentations of other titles. Makarov, for his part, seems to have decided in a hurry and without having a clear plan. Their motivations are non-existent beyond watching the world burnand the short duration of the campaign does nothing to help develop his character.
Hits of nostalgia halfway through, with Verdansk as the absolute protagonist of a game that certainly needs more development time, is one of the few things that saves a campaign that, although it is still excellent in terms of graphic quality (except for the occasional cinematic), it is not at the level of a blockbuster like Call of Duty.
An end that comes too soon
The open world missions, which are one of the great novelties of this installment, are nothing more than small missions taken from the cooperative, with a very basic structure that can even be rush on the lowest difficulties without firing a single bullet. The worst thing about them is not only the simplicity of their approach, it is that they break immersion and the narrative.
Where Modern Warfare III’s campaign shines, in some of its moments, it shines a lot. They are in the classic type missions, which guide the player in every detail, with an enormous narrative load and popcorn moments. The plane mission, substituted in this installment of Nada de Ruso, the Verdansk stadium mission, or the snow mission, to avoid spoilers, are the ones that truly represent Call of Duty, and they are one of the few that support the campaign.
A campaign that ends abruptly at the most unexpected moment, almost without warning, confirming that it needs more time in the oven. An ending that, although it includes one of the best moments of the game with another hit of nostalgia, larrived just when things were beginning to be more Call of Duty and less Spec-Ops. But that, of course, is not enough for a title that is expected, and the first tests confirm, it has some of the best multiplayer in the franchise.