Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a great game, but is let down by a lack of innovation, thought, and short campaign.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a very good addition to the Call of Duty gaming series and feels very much connected to the previous Modern Warfares, unlike Modern Warfare 2 which, apart from the opening sequence, did not have any real references to Modern Warfare 1 and just felt like a game with the same name. With MW3, there are numerous references to the previous two Modern Warfare games, with one particular scene towards the end of MW3 where the game explains extremely well how a certain, playable character knows Makarov, the leader of the Russian Ultra-nationalist/terrorists that you are out to kill.
In the campaign, you play as either "Frost", a U.S. soldier, an Russian agent working for the Russian President, Sergeant Burns, a soldier working for the S.A.S. protecting London from a potential bomb threat, Yuri, a Russian soldier loyal to Nikolai (a returning friend of Captain Price and Captain "Soap" MacTavish), and, in the final mission, as Captain Price himself!
The story continues on from Modern Warfare 2, in which a slaughter of innocent civilians carried out by Makarov pretending to be an American, sparks off a bloody war between (ooh, what a shock!) Russia and America. Russia then invade America, like you do, and America are forced to fight back.
The good:
1) The multiplayer is what you come to expect from Call of Duty... amazing.
2) The story is easy to latch onto if you are a newbie to Call of Duty, or Modern Warfare games.
3) The characters are very easy to get to know and like.
4) The voice-acting is great, as usual.
5) The in-game lip syncing is very good, again!
6) Call of Duty: Elite (or 'ELITE', as Activision likes to call it) is a fantastic addition to every Call of Duty's multiplayer, including MW3. It allows you to customise your guns and your own, personal emblem and clan tag and also, among many other things, allows you to look at maps and their main 'kill spots'/'heat areas'. There are two types of Call of Duty: Elite subscriptions: the normal, free version and the 'premium' subscription, which does cost money (I think it is around £35 a year), but gives you early access to DLCs.
7) There are many heartstopping set-pieces to enjoy.
8) Yes, breaching doors and/or walls in slow motion does return!
9) MW3 runs at 60fps this time around (no, fps does not stand for first-person shooter in this case... it stands for frames per second, or, in other words, the amount of times the game reloads what is on the screen every second), although, unlike Battlefield 3, it kind of has to as it is, unlike Battlefield 3, a twitch shooter rather than a "check your corners" shooter, like Battlefield 3.
10) Multiplayer returns with a brand new mode, Kill Confirmed. This is basically a Team Deathmatch with a unique and game-changing twist: when you kill an enemy you do not instantly gain points for that kill. You have to walk over their fallen bodies to collect your points. It also means that: 1) a team-mate may decide to cheeky and collect your dogtags, getting the points you deserve, 2) that another enemy may collect their fallen mate's dogtags, denying your kill and claiming your points, or 3) that you no longer have players that just set up camp in a safe part of the map and pick people off as they go by, you must think tactically and try and engage your enemy in a close-quarters, 'fight to the death' battle to ensure you collect their tags.
11) Spec Ops mode returns with all-new, breathless action-packed missions along with a new, Infinity Ward's alternative to Treyarch's 'Zombies'. Whilst it is not as good as Zombies, it is a great addition to Call of Duty.
12) Weapons such as the AK47 and its smaller sister gun, the AK47u/ AK74u, make their obvious and welcome returns to Call of Duty, along with Scar-Ls/Scar-Hs, M4A1s, and Barretts for the snipers. There are also some new, but also welcome, arrivals from James Bond's trusted Walther P99 (which does, at one point, come with a tactical suppressor), amongst many others.
The bad:
1) The graphics engine Activision and Infinity Ward uses for its Modern Warfare gaming series is beginning to look a little dated, with some sudden pop-ins from the scenery (which, occassionally, does not look that good or very 3D) and fuzzy textures say, for example, on a brick and doors, whether you have the ability to open them or not, still do look 2D which, especially in 2011, is quite unacceptable, even more so for the more "hard-core" Call of Duty players.
2) Unfortunately, multiplayer has not really changed... so if you weren't a fan of previous Call of Duty multiplayers (for some reason), you will not be converted.
3) The main campaign is extremely short (I managed to complete it all, on Veteran difficulty, within 6 and a half hours)!
Thank you for reading my review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.