Review: Modern Warfare 3 (PC)

[News Portal]

Franchises like [app=8221]Modern Warfare 3[/app] are essentially critic-proof. You already know if you like it or not - the question is how much has the series changed, and how much change were you really looking for? Alex Walker returns to us from the frontlines to answer all these questions.

Read full article by Alex Walker

[Fenryrbr]

Playing on dedicated servers would be an ideal solution, had the developers not forced all dedicated servers to be unranked-only, meaning you won’t have access to any of your classes or unlocks. Thanks to that, dedicated servers are a graveyard.

Hey, I stopped paying for Ubisoft games because of the DRM (when I want to play a single player game I don't want to see "cannot connect to server")

I won't pay for any more Activision games not because MW3 is recycled, etc, because they flat out conned the PC gamers who bought the game for the dedicated servers mentioned in every other press release they put out. (I haven't and won't be buying MW3).

[tryonthis]

Take off another 2 stars off the review score

How a recycled, essentially non-dedicated server game can score 3.5/5 is beyond me.

[Myzteriouz1]

Alex, You might want to re-read your review Guide...

2/5: Pretty damn average. Not total trash, but probably not worth buying unless it's in the bargain bin, and you're a big fan of the genre/subject matter.

3/5: A solid, decent game. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's above average and fans of the genre will enjoy.

4/5: An excellent game that is extremely polished and competent in nearly all areas. Fans of the genre must play this game, and even folks not interested in the subject will probably find something of interest. Not quite a classic though.

That looks more like a 2.5-3 than a 3.5... The only people who will like it are those who like the previous games (Case in point, about 3/4 of my friends who bought it, and are bored shitless already, who played 300 hours in MW1)

[Deserteagle1266]

i had like 400+ cod4 hours, then maybe 120 mw2, 70ish blops

[FiveThirtyBird]

The lowest score a commercial review can give is 50%. Using simple mathematics...
100%=5; 70%=3.5 subtract 50% minimum and you have 20%, or 1 out of 5. Not a good sign.

Also, subtract an extra 50% from the remaining score if game is released on Xbox360 and PS3. And a further 50% if additionally released on Wii.

[Snootle]

No idea how many hours I put into COD4 as Steam didn't record the playtime correctly, but I know I played an absolute ton. Unfortunately my COD4 MP profile is long gone since it was stored locally on the computer. With MW2 I put in 222 hours collectively (SP, CO-OP and MP) and then 143 hours into BlOps collectively (SP, Zombies, MP). I have no plans to buy MW3.

[Ooshp]

There’s no denying that regardless of the platform, MW3 is, absolutely, this generation’s Quake 3

Aha!

That's why I despise this younger generation! I knew there was an objective reason

Bahahaahha at unranked only dedicated servers. I'd guess after the next couple of CODs (not that anyone will even remember how many there've been) they'll stop bothering to release on PC at all.

Back to Skyrim, enjoy your guns.

[Jez]

Spoilers contained in my **** about the game's plot, fanboys ye be warned.

It should be noted that the game takes place in a somewhat alternate universe, so applying real-life standards as to the relative strength of the US and Russian armed forces is a bit misguided. That being said, the game's plot still becomes thoroughly absurd once you finish and actually reflect on some of the plot points.

I don't mind the game's plot turning things up to eleven and building a story around set pieces, but I do care that the game's handling of such scenarios is piss-poor and not even internally consistent. One particular scene that stood out for me is when Rammstein Air Force Base gets on the horn to warn of Russia advancing into Europe, and the guy they're reporting into acts surprised. Russian ground forces attacking the US and NATO? These are the same Russians who have already invaded the continental US, right? Two things: A) They shouldn't be surprised. B) Why haven't these bombers already started blowing **** up in Moscow and beyond?

Unfortunately it seems that IW/Sledgehammer decided to completely ignore the foreshadowing of MW2 (that is going into Russia itself) for reasons unknown. Instead we get the ludicrous plot point of having to rescue the Russian President and his daughter, because apparently he's memorised the launch codes for Russia's entire nuclear arsenal and nobody else has a copy.

Is this the same Russian president who authorised the attack on the US in the first place? If so why hasn't he already launched the nukes? If not, then clearly he's not in a position to negotiate on Russia's behalf if most of his military is acting independently.

I'm not sure exactly why they disregarded the plot point from the second game. A knee-jerk reaction to the scandal from the No Russian level? An inability to portray America's actions as having any moral ambiguity? So instead of some subject matter that may actually be worth exploring (violence begetting violence and making the player question the validity of retribution on such a scale), we get the US swooping in to save continental Europe. Again.

I agree that the game had a few stand out moments that were fun to play for the sheer audacity of participating in them: a firefight in zero-G and the Juggernaut sequence at the end. But a lot of the fun moments were drowned out by the ineptitude of other aspects of the game. The train chase you mentioned was ruined for me when you begin to ask why the SAS let all these suspicious terrorist trucks disperse throughout their capital in the first place. Not to mention the game's engine simply not being capable of rendering the game's plot: such as when you emerge from the train station to find the same two or three civilians cloned ad infinitum standing blithely by while SAS operators open fire on an incoming truck.

It's a damn shame really, since CoD4 (and MW2 to a lesser extent) managed to have compelling action with a storyline that actually made sense. Unfortunately this iteration's SP is repeatedly maimed by either the story or the way the action is presented completely destroying any willing suspension of disbelief.

The Spec Ops mode is fun and I'm desperately hoping a patch irons out some of the issues in MP, because right now it feels like a solid step backwards that learned very little from MW2 and Black Ops.

[Snootle]

The lowest score a commercial review can give is 50%. Using simple mathematics...
100%=5; 70%=3.5 subtract 50% minimum and you have 20%, or 1 out of 5. Not a good sign.

Also, subtract an extra 50% from the remaining score if game is released on Xbox360 and PS3. And a further 50% if additionally released on Wii.

eh, I'm not great at this stuff so can you clarify?: I'm not sure I really understand why it can't be under 50%? I mean you could even give the game half a star (0.5/5) and be at 10%, it seems to work.

[GoToadGo]

Epic Jez rant

Questioning the plot in a Modern Warfare game is like questioning the plot in a porn flick You're there for the action, not the dialogue

[Jez]

Questioning the plot in a Modern Warfare game is like questioning the plot in a porn flick You're there for the action, not the dialogue

Speak for yourself.

[GoToadGo]

Bah I can't use forums, they're too technical for me

[widden]

If the effect of mw3 is that the average cod junkies finally snap out of the constant hype-mode, it's a release well worth it.

I've bought mw2, against my best judgement. It was bad enough, quite likely the last CoD game I bought. But sadly a lot of people find it very hard to look past the fragfest-induced salivating.

The most boring game modes are the most used ones. Why? Because you don't need a mind to play them, just pull the trigger. You don't need to work with others, either. Sad, really sad.

[GoToadGo]

If the effect of mw3 is that the average cod junkies finally snap out of the constant hype-mode, it's a release well worth it.

I've bought mw2, against my best judgement. It was bad enough, quite likely the last CoD game I bought. But sadly a lot of people find it very hard to look past the fragfest-induced salivating.

The most boring game modes are the most used ones. Why? Because you don't need a mind to play them, just pull the trigger. You don't need to work with others, either. Sad, really sad.

Not everyone wants to work with others mate, some people enjoy jumping online and lone gunning it. It doesn't make them sad, it makes them DIFFERENT TO YOU. If everyone liked the same things this world would be a really boring place