2023 was the year everyone turned on Call Of Duty, in something of a bizarre twist for one of the world’s most popular games. I understand why: The beta was a bit rocky and the campaign was undercooked. To this day, I think Activision should have scrapped the campaign entirely and released the game without one, like they did with Black Ops 4. If nothing else, this would have forced game reviewers to actually play and focus on multiplayer and judge the game based on its more crucial elements. The campaign is a cherry on top. Multiplayer (and Zombies and Warzone) is where people spend the vast majority of their time.
Sure, it’s a bummer when a new Call Of Duty’s campaign falls short. But the core of the game is its multiplayer, and this is where critics and many gamers really got it wrong, because Modern Warfare III multiplayer is fantastic. Critics tended to just echo whatever the redditors were saying about the game. “I cannot get over the feeling that it’s more of a map pack for Modern Warfare 2 than its own spin on the series’ ideas” IGN’s reviewer wrote at the time.
Rumors that this game was meant to be DLC for Modern Warfare II started early, and the game’s short development cycle made these rumors seem likely. And maybe it was at one point designed as a map pack or expansion and then, somewhere along the way, that plan changed. I think that was the right move, actually, but it set the stage for the bad reviews and the disappointing campaign.
Still, anyone who makes this claim now seriously misunderstands how much the two games differ. In many ways, Modern Warfare III simply gave the community all the things they asked for when complaining about Modern Warfare II, and those changes are not insignificant, and not something you can just patch. It’s become clear to me that many reviewers are simply not very knowledgeable about Call Of Duty. For instance, IGN’s review discusses the return of slide-cancelling—a game mechanic that’s been around since Ghosts and was improved in Black Ops III in 2015—and then reveals:
I quickly decided to learn the technique for myself after I would see an enemy run towards me, speedily slide sideways and then pop back up almost instantly, throwing my aim off from doing strictly headshot damage.
I’m confused why IGN has commissioned someone who has never learned to slide cancel before to write a review about a new Call Of Duty game. I understand that reviewers should try out genres or franchises they’re not familiar with, but surely an outlet as big as IGN would have a Call Of Duty expert on hand to write a review for a game this big. That’s why I’ve found that YouTubers like TheXclusiveAce are much more reliable when it comes to discussing games like this.
But it’s hard for anyone to truly evaluate a game when it launches. Modern Warfare III launched with 16 maps, all of which were remakes of 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 maps. But it’s come out with many new maps since. (I read one review that was written after some of these new maps come out that questioned whether or not Sledgehammer’s original maps would be any good; apparently they had not bothered to try the new maps or were simply unaware of them. I can’t recall where that review was posted now).
In Season 1, the game was updated with three new original maps: Greece, Meat and Rio. Meat and Rio remain some of my favorites. I think Greece would have been better designed with the verticality and rooftops of Favella, and strongly urge Sledgehammer to revisit it and give us a denser version that’s set in a Grecian seaside village. Imagine this as a map. Greece is like this but without the hill, unfortunately.
In Season 2, we got Departures, Stash House, Vista and a remade Das Haus. All of these are great, and while we haven’t gotten many maps designed only for Gunfight (outside of Training Facility) the smaller offerings serve as both 6v6 and Gunfight maps.
In Season 3, we’ve already gotten four of the new maps: Emergency, 6 Star (which is gorgeous), Growhouse and Tanked (though only two are in 24/7 playlists currently). We have Grime and Checkpoint coming later in the season, bringing this season’s total to 6, though leaks indicate we’re getting a special parkour map later this month, which would make that 7.
How many new maps is that in three seasons? By my count 15 if the parkour map is true, counting the one new Gunfight only map. The game has also released a bunch of the maps from Modern Warfare II as well (though why they’ve failed to release more Gunfight maps from that game is beyond me, and if you’re reading this Sledgehammer, do me a solid and bring those back so we have more variety!) And there are Ground War maps. That means we’ve effectively more than doubled the number of maps for the game in three seasons. On top of that, we’ve got a new Warzone map plus the return of Fortune’s Keep and Rebirth Island (which is great despite what any naysayers might claim).
On top of this content—and I haven’t even mentioned all the guns, attachments, perks etc. etc. etc. that have been released since launch, and there have been a ton—the game’s mechanics are vastly different from Modern Warfare II while still feeling similar in some key ways. It’s not just movement changes, though these are great. The entire perk system has been totally overhauled to include Vests, Gloves, Boots and Gear, which give you an enormous amount of options to tweak each loadout just so. They keep releasing new Vests and other perk items also, with three new Vests out this season alone. These give you so many ways to tinker with your perks and change the way you play, it’s kind of daunting but really fun. Totally overhauled movement, gunplay and perks make this anything but a “map pack”.
And it appears to be paying off. Despite the game’s metacritic score hovering around 57/100, players seem to be digging it. In a statement, Activision says the numbers are up over last year:
We’re having a blast supporting the community across Call of Duty. The teams have had fun connecting with our players and creating high-quality, new experiences for them. Player engagement is up with more players playing now than this time last year.
I asked if they could provide actual numbers but because this is the video game industry and notoriously opaque whenever possible, they were unable to furnish me with further details. But more players playing now than last year indicates that the game is on the right track and far from the massive disappointment the game’s detractors have claimed.
It is not without flaws, of course. Both Modern Warfare III and the current iteration of Warzone have their issues. Multiplayer Ranked launched in a truly atrocious state. I lost 1500 SR points that season from disconnects and game crashes. Not fun. Not fun at all. That’s been fixed. Warzone Ranked had excruciating matchmaking issues last season, that so far seem to be fixed in Season 3. But overall, the developers have been pretty good about listening to player feedback and making fixes when needed.
The other thing I really hate about this game is the Call Of Duty launcher itself, which ties Modern Warfare III and Warzone to Modern Warfare II, forcing players of the older game to update a game they might not even own. It’s cumbersome and unnecessary and I wish they’d get rid of it and just have the launcher include Modern Warfare III and Warzone.
I have more to say about all of this but I think I’ve gone on long enough. The long and short of it is this: Modern Warfare III began life with a rough start and a bad rap, but Sledgehammer and the other devs who have worked on this game deserve the credit they’re due. They’ve made the best Call Of Duty in years, supported it with updates and new content to a degree I’ve never seen before, and added one of the coolest new modes—the 3v3v3 Cutthroat mode—since Gunfight. (Please keep Cutthroat going forward and give us a Tournament mode!) This is one of the best Call Of Duty multiplayer experiences I’ve ever played, if not the best. The guns are terrific, the movement is fast and fluid and the variety of maps, modes and so forth is just unparalleled. While some older games are a ton of fun—Black Ops 4 was so colorful and zany—I prefer the current gameplay and the fact that we don’t have any hero shooter elements to contend with now or wall-running and double-jumping (though I wouldn’t be opposed to getting that stuff back in a futuristic CoD).
Give the game a try and make up your own mind is what I’m saying. It’s free over the weekend (ending 9am PT on Monday) so you might as well. You have nothing to lose except a very large chunk of storage space on your PC, PS5 or Xbox Series X|S. And some time, but hopefully time well spent.
