Review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer

Here is our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer review. For our opinions on the campaign, see the single-player review; for our opinions on PvE, see the zombies review.

Pasta is my favorite food. I'm not choosy at all; I truly love basic spaghetti with red sauce and white sauce or buttered noodles. But I'm not too impressed when I order something that looks sophisticated and wonderful, like a new and interesting dish, only to find out it's really leftovers from last week that have been reheated.

In a similar spirit, the multiplayer modes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are enjoyable comfort food games, and I love the chaos caused by the reappearance of certain beloved levels like Highrise, Rust, and Afghan. However, I can't get the impression that it's more of a Modern Warfare 2 map pack than a unique take on the franchise's concepts, and that's disappointing in comparison to what Call of Duty has spent years preparing us to expect from a comprehensive sequel. While Modern Warfare 3 does include significant quality-of-life improvements to its gaming mechanics, these changes are accompanied by dubious advancement adjustments that don't improve the game in any way, and I don't feel like my time has been as well spent as I had hoped.

Let's start by addressing the big issue: It is true that Sledgehammer was given half the normal time to produce a new Call of Duty game—that is, only a year and a half—to complete Modern Warfare 3. According to additional claims, Modern Warfare 3 was initially intended to be an expansion of Modern Warfare 2, with both current and former team members holding this belief up until a significant amount of the game's development was completed.

That clarifies a number of things, such as why Modern Warfare 3 appears on your screen when you first launch it and tells you that you may now buy it even though you just did. That advertisement makes sense for anyone who wanted to play Modern Warfare 2, DMZ, or Warzone when it first started, but how can it not recognize that I already had Modern Warfare 3? I don't understand why Activision insists on using this launcher because I've had so many problems with it, but that's a tirade for another time.

When considering Modern Warfare 3 as a map bundle, it's not too bad.

In fact, Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer isn't so horrible when viewed as a map pack. My favorite map is undoubtedly Rust, which flows incredibly quickly and creates a very chaotic environment. It's an excellent map to run about on and level weapons because there will always be enemies waiting for you around every corner. While both Afghan and Highrise offer excellent close-quarters combat, my preference is for their sniper opportunities, which inspire me to locate deceptive angles and eliminate opponents from all around the map. On the other hand, I detest Quarry the most out of all the maps that are currently being played. It appears to have been taken verbatim from Warzone's Point of Interest and dropped into Modern Warfare 3 without any modifications. The impression that the map is far too large for 6v6 battles is not helped by the lanes' apparent lengthening and widening. Unless you happen to spawn exactly next to one of the locations, it seems more like you run and get shot from across the map rather than actually getting to the combat because they are frequently confined to three buildings—one small tower in the middle and two on either side of it.

Other than those complaints, each of the 16 maps has a good overall vibe.

Maps that were part of the Core Playlist upon launch, ranked from least to most favorite

Afgan

Highrise

Rundown

Scrapyard

Estate

SkidrowInvasion

Karachi

Terminal

Underpass

Sub Base

Favela

Wasteland

Quarry

Rust

These Were Designed With Slide-Canceling in Mind

It's safe to say that I approve of the launch content, but I do have some additional compliments regarding the changes to the way we navigate these maps. With Fortnite and Apex Legends taking center stage, it took Call of Duty some time to find its sliding and sprinting rhythm to match the caliber of its peers. However, Modern Warfare 3 feels like we've finally found our multiplayer stride.

In terms of how multiplayer should develop moving ahead, MW3 seems to have found its footing.

After Modern Warfare 2's beta gave us a taste of it then took it away when the game launched, slide canceling is back. You can perform this move by combining Tactical Sprint with sliding, pausing, and then jumping to avoid the slide finish animation that would otherwise slow you down. Once you get the hang of it, you can sprint after canceling a slide faster and with greater velocity, which lets you do things like dive out of headshot range and deflect your opponent's trajectory as you approach them.

When an attacker would come toward me, quickly slide sideways, and then spring back up almost instantly, throwing off my aim from dealing only headshot damage, I made the hasty decision to learn the technique for myself. As an enemy is mounted to a wall or other horizontal surface, it also gives you the chance to surprise them by putting them at a disadvantage as you slide and get back up to destroy them as they attempt to flee.

No matter what their loadout, everyone can use this technology, which can lead to extremely quick 1v1 firefights when moving across a map. I enjoy having to slip cancel around corners and keep my head down while sprinting through to get away safely. It keeps me always alert and on my toes.

The fact that Sledgehammer quickly changed the time to reactivate Tactical Sprint after slide canceling in the days following debut is another thing I appreciate about the movement tech; it improves the sprint recovery pace and makes it much better. That kind of quick thinking gives me optimism for Modern Warfare 3's future.

After canceling a slide, Sledgehammer quickly adjusted the time to revive Tactical Sprint.

This time, mantling is also quicker, so if you decide to try to hop over a wall and end as a hanging duck, you are not at a disadvantage. After finishing a mantle, my ready time is marginally faster, allowing me to actually respond swiftly to an attacker moving toward me. Even while there is still a delay and you die if an attacker captures you while you're still mantling, the general moving speed seems more logical.

The weapon recoils aren't as graphically brutal as they are in Modern Warfare 2, which is another nice change I've noticed. My performance has slightly improved as I'm not as blinded when trying to take out adversaries thanks to the sight's decreased trembling and reduced muzzle flash when firing.

The Decision

The multiplayer in Modern Warfare 3 is enjoyable to me in the same manner as the competitive killfests in almost every Call of Duty game. When it comes right down to it, not many games can equal the way this series feels and looks during combat. To its credit, the game this year has improved movement and recoil mechanics and brought back some fantastic maps. But that's about all Modern Warfare 3 has to offer. Not many revolutionary ideas have been added to the gunfights we've been playing for years, with the most exciting being the ability to purchase cosmetics from Modern Warfare 2, which is only made possible because so little has changed. It's hard to get enthused about such advances, especially when paired with a new, difficult-to-use advancement system.

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