Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – is it a bad year for COD? (Picture: Activision)

A reader regrets pre-ordering Modern Warfare 3 and suggests that Call Of Duty is currently the worst it’s been since the Xbox 360 days.

It’s Wednesday as I type this and I’m fully expecting Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard to be confirmed on Friday. So, all you people in the future as I type this, are probably already sick of hearing about it. But don’t worry, I’m not really here to talk about it. Although I will say that paying $69 billion for the makers of Call Of Duty is just about the worst bargain in corporate history, because Call Of Duty sucks. Or at least this year’s does.

I used to love Call Of Duty, I think most everyone did back in the Xbox 360 days. It’s had its bad games, but it’s kept its quality up surprisingly well given the yearly sequels, although I think it started to lose its mojo towards the end of the last generation. Maybe because that’s when they started to concentrate more on the free battle royales, or maybe the idea had just been done to death – but I think Black Ops 3 was the last one that I was properly into.

The first Modern Warfare 1 reboot was pretty good but the second not so much, I thought. You want to see the end of the story though, so against my better judgement I pre-ordered the third and… well, I guess they saw me coming.

A lot has been talked about whether Modern Warfare 3 is just DLC they repackaged and sold as a full game, but that really doesn’t matter – if it’s good, it’s good. Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom both started out as DLC and they’re two of the best games ever made, so clearly it’s no guarantee that the game will disappoint.

I realise the position with Modern Warfare 3 is different, but if it was originally just a new story campaign then it must be pretty substantial, they just need to bolt on new multiplayer and Zombies modes and, let’s be honest, how often do they really change between sequels?

Well, it turns out the answer is quite a bit because Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer is a lot different. The problem is all the changes are for the worse. It is pretty obvious that the multiplayer maps being for the original Modern Warfare 2 means they were originally meant to be DLC for the last game but, again, that doesn’t really matter. These are some classic maps and revamping them for modern times is a good idea.

The problem is they haven’t been revamped at all. They’ve had a light remaster and that’s it, which means they’re still filled with camping sites and then you’ve got the terrible spawn points of the modern games on top of that. The spawn points are completely random, and it makes it impossible to come up with any kind of strategy or tactic whether you’re playing on your own or as team.

Domination is basically unplayable and that’s before you get into the lack of recoil on guns, the terrible visibility and colour saturation, and a TTK (time to kill) so slow it feels like you’re fighting with a potato gun.

I do kind of like the slower movement, although I acknowledge opinion is divided on that subject. I have not spoken to any regular player that has not complained about the spawn points though, agreeing that they all but ruin the game.

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I shouldn’t have pre-ordered it, I realise that now, but I will definitely be thinking twice next time. I shouldn’t imagine that’s what Microsoft wants to hear after spending all that money but it’s true. Call Of Duty has only been getting by these last few years and now it’s at its lowest point, just as it becomes Xbox property.

Maybe they’ve got some big plan for bringing it back to its former glory but even if they have that’s going to take, what? Five years? By that point I think they’re going to be having serious second thoughts about this whole deal…

By Taylor Moon

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A reader regrets pre-ordering Modern Warfare 3 and suggests that Call Of Duty is currently the worst it’s been since the Xbox 360 days.