Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | PS5 Campaign Review

This review is based entirely on the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Multiplayer will not be discussed here. I’m sure it’s excellent.

Oh boy, where to begin with this one. I thought both of the recent Modern Warfare reboots had excellent and exciting campaigns. I recommended them to friends, and they all enjoyed it too. Infinity Ward was on a hot streak, which is difficult to maintain with a franchise as ubiquitous as Call of Duty. I guess the good times had to come to an end.

At least Infinity Ward isn’t to blame on this one. Sledgehammer Games have taken over for this third entry in the rebooted series, and they came out swinging. The first mission is an exciting infiltration of a prison island. It’s paced amazingly, full of fun gameplay twists, and it culminates with a spectacular climax. It’s also all downhill from there.

Over Before You Know It

Call of Duty campaigns are known for their tight shooting and bombastic set pieces that keep things fresh for six or so hours. Yet Modern Warfare III manages the impossible by feeling boring and repetitive in the time span of a three hour campaign. The story doesn’t even go anywhere. It basically manages to set up the real stakes where a story would properly begin, but instead of starting the second act, the credits roll. It’s a total ripoff and weird way to treat the storyline other developers handed off to you.

The missions are boring as hell because so many of them are so-called “Open Combat Missions.” Make absolutely no mistake, these are repurposed battle royale maps. You’re dropped into a mission zone and given the alleged freedom to complete objectives however you want.

Boredom on the Battlefield

What this really boils down to is finding military caches dropped on the battlefield. There are actual treasure chests of loot, in a military shooter, complete with a giant pop-up explaining the gear rarity of the gun you just picked up. It’s distracting and goofy, and makes it impossible to treat what you’re doing seriously.

These missions also suck because the Call of Duty enemy AI is clearly unaware of how to behave on these maps. It is so simple to just sprint past everyone, blow up your target, and move onto the next. These missions can easily be completed in five minutes or less by doing this, and there’s no tension in doing so. Vehicles are on the maps, as you would expect from a battle royale, but they serve no purpose on the tiny maps presented in the single-player campaign. Just truly awful game design, from top to bottom.

The few more traditional levels do fare better in Modern Warfare III, but they’re shockingly rare. The shooting is exciting as always here, but it’s tough to get into the groove of the game knowing in a few minutes you’ll be swept back into the terrible Open Combat missions. The linear levels also completely lack the set piece moments the franchise is known for after the opening mission.

Yawn

So, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is a waste of your time, even at its considerably short length. If you’re playing to hang out with Task Force 141 again, they barely even speak to one another. Makarov, in this rebooted iteration, is closer to a conservative podcast host than he is to an intimidating villain. The gunplay is as good as you would expect from the franchise, but it’s not like Call of Duty campaigns are in short supply. I really can’t think of any reason to play this game.

To hear me talk more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, be sure to listen to the November 29 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:04:18 time stamp.

This review is based on a purchased PlayStation 5 copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. It is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC via Steam.