Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 3 follows what’s been a irritating 12-month interval for the franchise. After the highs of Trendy Warfare (2020), Black Ops: Chilly Warfare, and even Vanguard to some extent, final yr’s Modern Warfare 2 put the breaks on the momentous success the franchise has had for 20 years.
Now, Infinity Ward’s Trendy Warfare 2 has rapidly been succeeded by Trendy Warfare 3, made by Sledgehammer in a call met with quite a lot of pushback. Initially, it was extensively believed that 2023’s Call of Duty would be pushed back a year, opening the ground to DLC and supplemental content material for Trendy Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0. However Trendy Warfare 3 arrives as a full-priced sport, so does it warrant its existence?
The total bundle of Trendy Warfare 3 features a marketing campaign with half-cooked concepts. The sport additionally comes with a full multiplayer suite bolstered by nostalgia. Fairly than create new maps from scratch, the 16 which can be obtainable are all remakes from Trendy Warfare 2 (2009). Lastly, Sledgehammer Video games is reinventing the beloved ‘Zombies mode,’ making it a pseudo follow-up to DMZ. All of that is to say there’s so much to love right here, relying on what Name of Obligation means to you.
Name of Obligation’s annual marketing campaign is that colossal blockbuster expertise I take pleasure in taking part in yearly. I stay up for the bombastic setpieces and distinctive ranges. It’s at all times my gateway into the annual launch the place I get my first style of the brand new gameplay and weapon choice. In that regard, Trendy Warfare 3 is a disappointing letdown for somebody who genuinely likes the characters and story of this sequence.
“Trendy Warfare 3’s marketing campaign is nearly as quick as Black Ops 4’s solely by advantage that the latter launched and not using a marketing campaign in any respect.”
The sport picks up the place final yr’s marketing campaign and post-launch Raids left off. Trendy Warfare 3 sees the return of Job Power 141, led by Captain John Worth and Sergeant “Cleaning soap” MacTavish. Accompanied by characters like Ghost, Gaz, and Farah Karim, Job Power 141 leads a sequence of operations to take down ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov. For the uninitiated, Makarov is the large bad of the Trendy Warfare franchise, and his return on this reboot sequence has been extensively anticipated.
The premise itself ought to be a bonafide win for followers. Having gamers face off towards one of many franchise’s most infamous villains ought to be a major occasion. Nonetheless, simply when the story begins to choose up steam, it’s over. Proper after a fairly large second occurs, the sport ends abruptly with no conclusion. The marketing campaign, relying on problem, could be accomplished as rapidly as three hours. On paper, that won’t sound a lot totally different from the usual 7-8 hour fare. Nonetheless, provided that missions final 10-Quarter-hour every, the expertise feels surface-level. Trendy Warfare 3’s marketing campaign is nearly as quick as Black Ops 4’s solely by advantage that the latter launched and not using a marketing campaign in any respect.
One of many obvious ache factors of the marketing campaign is its use of current places. Many missions happen in Verdansk, a setting close to and pricey to the hearts of Warzone gamers. After eradicating all entry to Verdansk in 2021, it stings to see many locales like Jail, Stadium and Dam all remade with new belongings and textures. Trendy Warfare 3 even makes use of a theorized Warzone occasion as part of its plot. Followers have been vocal in wanting it to return, but Activision is reserving Verdansk for Name of Obligation: Warzone Cellular. Whether or not a correct return is within the playing cards stays to be seen. After seeing the enhancements made to those POIs, Trendy Warfare 3 made me nostalgic for the unique Warzone expertise.
Interspersed all through the Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 3 marketing campaign are new ‘Open Fight’ missions. These are essentially the most open-ended missions seen in Name of Obligation, incorporating quite a lot of core elements from DMZ and Warzone. You’re tasked with finishing an goal in a bigger, open areas with a number of collectible weapons and subject upgrades. It’s DMZ with out mates. If that feels like a drag to you, it’s as a result of it’s. The Open Fight missions are there to pad out the marketing campaign’s playtime. You’re incentivized to gather 20-plus weapons and objects. Nonetheless, the core goal (which is normally interacting with 3-4 objects and hitting an exfil) could be performed in 10 minutes.
“Motion is introduced again to parity with 2020’s Trendy Warfare. Slide and reload cancelling and different staples of the aggressive scene are again and really feel distinctive to make use of.”
The place I imagine Trendy Warfare 3 justifies its existence is exterior of its marketing campaign. This yr’s multiplayer not solely provides new development programs, weapons, and tuning, but additionally some much-needed backtracking. Final yr’s Trendy Warfare 2 deviated from the sequence’ extra fast-paced and frenetic actions. In trade, the gameplay felt slower and extra tactile. This grew to become grating over months and so Trendy Warfare 3 opted to deliver these again to appease followers.
Whereas the marketing campaign is expendable, this yr’s multiplayer suite and quality-of-life adjustments are a real spotlight. I rapidly misplaced my fondness for the adjustments made to Trendy Warfare 2. This yr’s entry sees the return of pink dots on the minimap. This function has been intrinsic to Name of Obligation and by no means ought to have been taken away. Motion is introduced again to parity with 2020’s Trendy Warfare 2. Slide and reload cancelling and different staples of the aggressive scene are again and really feel distinctive to make use of. It goes again to the outdated saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t repair it.” Name of Obligation’s motion can really feel unparalleled if builders let gamers get a little bit loopy with sliding and dolphin-diving.
Addressing the map choice — it’s true, all sixteen maps in Trendy Warfare 3 are remakes of 2009’s Trendy Warfare 2. This contains every little thing from the long-lasting Rust to Property, Quarry, Highrise, and extra. They aren’t all 1:1 upresed remakes, nevertheless. Sledgehammer Video games and the assist groups have made slight alterations to make them extra up to date whereas the general layouts are retained.
You’re now in a position to mantle and climb objects and obstacles that weren’t accessible again within the day. Whereas I perceive the argument towards paying for maps we already skilled, these are all among the finest Name of Obligation maps ever designed. Not one of the new maps from earlier years come near the balancing and layouts of Terminal or Afghan. These maps all really feel like dwelling to me, so coming again to them with a contemporary coat of paint has been a really enjoyable expertise.
Elsewhere, Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 3 has as soon as once more gone again to the drafting board with its development system. This yr’s entry ditched the overly obtuse and irritating Platform system of Trendy Warfare 2. It now features a barely much less obtuse and irritating ‘Armory’ system. Whereas pure development to max rank 55 offers gamers sure unlocks, many weapons, subject upgrades, killstreaks, and so on. are locked to the Armory.
To unlock them, gamers should full ‘Every day Challenges’ to amass factors for a given merchandise. Typically, tools requires three factors, that means that at a naked minimal, you may unlock one merchandise per day by finishing dailies. Further factors are awarded by profitable matches. After all, we’re nonetheless plagued with skill-based matchmaking in multiplayer, so outcomes might differ on what number of bonus factors you’ll find yourself receiving every day.
“Zombies threads a line between a laid-back social mode with mates and a white-knuckled expertise.”
The sport additionally provides a serviceable variety of sport modes at launch. After all, you might have your normal number of Group Deathmatch, Domination, Gun Recreation, and so on. Not like final yr, we’re supplied the ‘Hardcore’ mode at launch which ought to make many gamers completely happy. (Ranked is sadly not obtainable as of but.) The notable new inclusion is Cutthroat, a 3v3v3 mode. It’s a combination of Search and Destroy and Hardpoint.
Every workforce should struggle to wipe the opposite two out or seize the flag on the map. With out respawns, communication and technique goes a great distance. Trendy Warfare 3 additionally sees the return of larger-scale sport modes. Floor Warfare and Invasion introduce model new maps, which don’t stand out all that a lot. Nonetheless, the core gameplay continues to impress, supporting upwards of 20 gamers per workforce.
Rounding out Trendy Warfare 3 is the brand new Zombies mode, which ought to be referred to as DMZombies. Developer Treyarch took inspiration from final yr’s DMZ mode and combined it with the standard flavours of Zombies. ‘Operation Deadbolt’ has groups of three flying into the brand new Urzikstan map to finish missions, and collect weapons and tools. All of the whereas, gamers should fend off hordes of zombies and high-level enemy variants. Zombies threads a line between a laid-back social mode with mates and a white-knuckled expertise.
The map is damaged into three main sections. The outer rim of Urzikstan is the low-tier zone the place zombies could be taken down with ease. As you progress deeper into the center of the map, it’ll turn out to be extra treacherous, with Zombies adorned with armour and enemy variants just like the Mangler and Mimic changing into extra widespread. To face this zombie apocalypse, I teamed up with some mates and accomplished contracts to achieve forex to Pack-a-Punch weapons and gather Thriller Field objects. As anticipated, this sport mode is finest performed with mates. Although, it’s actually not too overwhelming or tough to drop in solo. Fortunately, it’s completely PvE-based, so there’s no menace of one other workforce wiping you out whereas surviving the zombie onslaught.
“Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 3 doesn’t take any main leaps ahead however in a method, I virtually want it this fashion. In actual fact, that is the sport I want I had been taking part in for the previous 12 months.”
It’s a fairly distinctive spin on each DMZ and the long-running zombies mode. Based mostly on the 5-8 hours I’ve spent, I’ve seen that Treyarch has balanced quite a lot of what deterred me from DMZ. Enemies are now not bullet sponges whereas ammo and armour drops are widespread, that means I spent extra time finishing targets relatively than trying to find an armour plate. The primary sequence of missions are additionally all tutorial-based. After that, the sport duties gamers to make use of particular ammo varieties, take down mercenary convoys, and different extra concerned duties. The brand new Zombies mode actually strays removed from what gamers could also be anticipating. For me, this has been the spotlight of this yr’s entry thus far.
Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 3 doesn’t take any main leaps ahead however in a method, I virtually want it this fashion. In actual fact, that is the sport I want I had been taking part in for the previous 12 months. The marketing campaign, if it needed to be this quick, ought to have been an epilogue to Trendy Warfare 2’s story, bridging the hole to a brand new mainline enterprise. Above all else, the backtracking and course correction to the multiplayer parts had been lengthy overdue. Nonetheless, I really feel assured in saying the neighborhood is in a great place forward of ‘Season 1’ and the Warzone integration. It’ll be fascinating to see how Zombies expands and grows over the subsequent yr as I feel there are fascinating seeds planted that will repay in an enormous method sooner or later.
Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare 3 is on the market for $89.99 for the Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC.
MobileSyrup makes use of affiliate partnerships. These partnerships don’t affect our editorial content material, although we might earn a fee on purchases made through these hyperlinks, serving to fund the journalism supplied free on our web site.
Picture credit score: Activision
