It’s been a while, I know. That multiplayer review for MW3 never came, and for good reason. Here it is in a nutshell, and I know many people have said this, but it feels like Modern Warfare 2.5. The single player and co-op at least have differing levels, but on the plain, claustrophobic and incredibly circular maps MW3 just feels boring and too similar to its predecessor. The only real changes are moving the on-screen text and a slightly different killstreak system. And with death streaks, Infinity Ward’s excellent balancing skills are at it again. Hated Martyrdom and Last Stand in MW2? Well, both are present, but they also combined the two with a resulting death streak that is rage-inducing and leaves you with no possible escape – Dead Man’s hand.
Tragically, the weapon balance is atrocious. The assault rifles are all hopelessly outclassed due to the tiny maps, in which SMGs rule. While shotguns have been beaten senselessly with the nerf stick (now more or less much useless), machine pistols are again hideously overpowered. The FMGs (like G18s in MW2, but worse), despite getting a nerf, are still an “easy mode” of sorts.
Oh, and the spawns. They give me nightmares sometimes. Team Deathmatch isn’t too bad, but Free for All and Domination are atrocious. For a start, several maps are too small for three flags, and then spawning on those results into your immediate demise. Dome is the worst for this.
As I said earlier, the maps are all bland, excessively circular and none of them really stand out as amazing, but more instead stand out as terrible, and the DLC or ELITE don’t really seem to make matters much better. ELITE was delayed severely at launch for PC, and offers monthly content for a set price. Not only does this not encourage well-made maps, as the money hungry Activision already has its dosh, it punishes those without ELITE by making them wait months longer for content. And now, Battlefield has followed suit (but more on that later). I haven’t bought into ELITE or any of MW3’s DLC, and I’m not missing anything.
In the end, my fun in MW3 was really quite limited. It offered very little to the series and the small maps were killing me. Despite my hatred for snipers, I longed for maps such as Wasteland or anything that didn’t involve running around in a circle dropping people with overpowered weapons. In fact, it was the desire for large maps that resulted in myself swapping franchises to Battlefield 3. The DLC seems to bring more boring, small, circular and uninteresting maps and I only really played the game due to the addicting leveling system that has made the Call of Duty games so popular. Personally, I’d rather enjoy my games as well as being hooked by them. No thanks, Black Ops 2. I’ll pass.
Wait, What? 