A Real Multiplayer Review
As for the multiplayer,
Maps - Completely terrible. All the maps feel exactly the same, mad rush and with so many exposed areas. Poor poor design. It's like a sandbox with sporadic objects littering the field. 80% of my deaths were because i was shot in the back. There's no flow to ANY of the maps. Just a big square or rectangle with things to hinder your movement or sight. Almost every area you step into is immediately exposed by 3 or 4 sight lines or angles. I can understand that this is to deter "camping" but as far as I can see by playing many matches, "campers" will always "camp" regardless of your terrible map design. Another flaw within the maps in my opinion are the sight lines. There really isn't a map that has a far sight line in which you would need, say a sniper rifle. All the maps are short to medium in distance, due to all the clutter scattered about in each of the maps. As the most active game type, domination is also flawed. Before, your "starting side" is pretty much determined by either "A" or "C" with a central location "B-ing" contested. Either set up in linear fashion A-B-C or in a right triangle with A and C stretch a rather intense hypotenuse trek, each side felt that A and C were their home bases. In MW3, they're in rather odd and stupid locations. Some maps, they're almost in the form of an equilateral triangle with A, B, and C relatively the same distance from each other, forcing you to scramble to each one to over take the last. If not set equally, there were almost at least 3 other optional paths you could take to get to the other side of the map, easily dispersing your team or causing you to get overrun by a flank attack. The maps are also impart, rather hard to differentiate from each other because of design and ugliness of the environment. I have almost nothing good to say about the maps in MW3. By far, CoD 4 had the best maps as far as flow and design. By adding old maps into MW2 DLC is just a testament to how well made those maps were. This one feels like a mix of of MW2 and Black Ops...
Weapons - Well it looks like they went with the battlefield exp style this time, instead of the poorly thought out currency system of black ops. However, with the better system of attachment, weapon perks and customizations, the weapons themselves are poorly selected, as if no lessons were learned from black ops. The weapon selection is rather shoddy, with probably about 4 of the assault rifles, being quite similar to each other. But after you've unlocked a certain gun, I really don't see the need to use another gun or even any of the light machine guns. This, I feel, is subsequent of the poor map design. There is almost never a situation where you need the sustained fire of a light machine gun, or the added support of having a sniper on your side to provide cover as your team makes their way down a long street as you will be undoubtedly flanked from one of your 3 exposed sides. Again, like in black ops, the sub machine gun class has been rendered useless, in my opinion. There just aren't any levels where it's like "karachi" in MW2 where the agility and fire rate would be an advantage over the assault rifles. The closest map would be "seatown" but because of the overpowering assault rifles and rather long surrounding roads, the sub machine gun just doesn't match up. There just isn't enough differentiation in the weapons to play roshambo, especially when everybody is bound to throw rocks, why would you ever pick scissors? Yet another annoyance is that they added annoying aspects to guns that weren't in any of the call of duties; mainly, sway with red dot or holographics. Then in an attempt to balance it, you must level up your weapon to almost max level to get rid of it. Sometimes you can feel it took another "blanket all" approach to weapon perks. Why would I ever want "Breath" for my assault rifle or lmg? Seriously. Claymores, I used to use religiously because of obvious paths or to cover my butt. Useless in MW3 unless you find those one or two areas that only has one entrance or paths to your location. Otherwise, they should give you 3 of them.
Perks - Many of the perks and their pro counterparts implemented are rather useless. Recon, this is only beneficial if your eyes are constantly glued to your radar and not what's going on in front of you, which would only be beneficial for people who have decided to stop moving, go prone, and pitch a tent. The better alternative? Try UAV. Scavenger, I'm not going to lie, in all the past CoDs, I've ALWAYS had scavenger cause chances are, I'd be alive longer than expected and other people won't be carrying the gun I'm using. MW3 pretty much cuts your lifespan in half due to the overly exposed areas and the constant mad dash to stay in front and not be overrun. I also really don't see the need to include Overkill when the maps are so broken. You can't just pick up somebody else's gun? The only time I could see it being beneficial is for those using sniper rifles, but with the machine pistols, I really don't see the need. Marksman, useless. If you can't spot your enemy unless they have a name over them that's red, you probably shouldn't be playing multiplayer. Dead silence, almost useless. The hectic nature of the MW3 maps hardly gives you enough time to "rest," pitch tent, and listen for unwary runners. The pro version, there's almost no places where you have an issue of fall damage, unless you're looking to jump out of windows in lockdown.
Not to say there isn't anything good about the multiplayer. I like the fact that they've added more game types, though many are apparently reluctant to try. The weapon acquiring system is back to the exp system, which I feel is vastly superior the currency system. It was a good idea, but poorly executed. They've included a few more tactical devices that helps with strategy, but is usually easily defeated by the poor layout of the map. A few new perks such as the stalker perk is a nice addition for those wanting mobility that will complement their skill. The killstreak system is vastly improved. It now gives you your choice of many new perks and also gives those who are rather unskilled a way to build support steaks that don't reset upon death. Though the specialization steak is rather useless due to there only being a couple of perks worth stacking on. Finally the community, I originally was not going to get this game due to Activision's unfair treatment of Infinity Ward but I received it as a gift. There are still plenty of good competition out on the system, even the kids. It's nice to see so many people get together to play a competitive game such as this. I'd say if you're still building up your skill, try to play during the day or early evening. The later you get into the hours, the stiffer the competition gets.
In the end, I'd say this MW3 is a combination of MW2, black ops and some of battlefield. Sadly, nothing learned from Cod4 and nothing really innovating, minus the new killstreak system. Hope you guys read my review this far. If you did, thanks.