Summary
Call of Dutycampaigns have always been short but fun affairs. Even at its worst, aCall of Dutysingle-player campaignhas at least one or two missions that are worth the price of admission, usually delivering a huge, bombastic, high-octane set piece that onlyCall of Dutycan do. That being said, the story has never really been the series' strongest suit, and by all accounts, that’s more true than ever withCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Though fans have been waiting for Makarov’s return for years now, even his reappearance can’t saveCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s rough campaign. Currently, a sparking no shortage of debates,Modern Warfare 3’s campaign has been panned by both critics and fans alike, and a big point of criticism is just how much familiar ground the game covers. But whileModern Warfare 3’s campaign is definitely basic, those who haven’t kept up with every last shred ofCall of Dutycontent over the last few years might end up walking away needlessly confused.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Campaign Is Far From Standalone
The whole point ofCall of Dutyis that it’s a franchise based around a more casual, general audience. While there are some avid fans out there who consume every piece ofCoDcontent they can get their hands on, most fans grab the yearly release, play for a month or so, and drop out again. For the longest time,Call of Duty’s developershave known this, and have made their campaigns largely standalone affairs that can be enjoyed by even the most casual players, even if they’re technically a sequel.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, however, goes against this in a number of ways. With this being the third entry in the rebootedModern Warfareseries, it’s fair that the game expects fans to have played through the two previous entries before hopping into this latest campaign, but that’s far from the only thingModern Warfare 3asks of its player-base. Instead,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaign expects players to have kept up with bothWarzoneandMW2’s Raids.
Modern Warfare 3’s Campaign Requires Knowledge of Warzone to Understand
Much like most other battle royale games,Call of Duty: Warzonehas had some major story beats in the last few years, but it really isn’t at the forefront of the experience. Instead, most ofWarzone’s story is told through minimal in-game cutscenes and dialogue, most of which only appear during specific timed events, and if players miss one, then that’s it.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, however, expects all players to have kept up with all of these little tidbits of lore.
DuringCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaign, players will bereintroduced to Alex Keller, a character first introduced in the 2019Modern Warfarereboot. For those who have only played the mainline campaigns since, Alex has been dead since the end of that game, sacrificing himself to save the day. Naturally, this leads to a lot of confusion if fans haven’t playedCall of Duty: Warzone, where it was revealed back in 2020 that Alex had actually survived the explosion.
To make matters even worse,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaign also expects players to have experienced all ofModern Warfare 2’s Raidsas well. These Raids bring Alex back into the fold once more and also confirm that Graves never actually died duringModern Warfare 2’s campaign, and that he was no longer hostile to Task Force 141. Those who haven’t played these supplementaryCall of Dutyexperiences are going to be pretty confused, especially asMW3doesn’t do a good job of explaining these appearances to new audiences. While it’s fine to have synergy betweenCall of Dutyprojects, it should never lead to confusion on the player’s part, and it’s a series trend that needs to stop.
