In a fascinating twist, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, an entry from the venerable and long-standing series, has fallen victim to review bombing. However, in an ironic mix-up, it's not the latest 2023 release that's bearing the brunt of player dissatisfaction but its namesake predecessor from 2011. This bizarre situation proves that the passionate and sometimes reactionary nature of the intenret but also the complexities of contemporary franchise titling and marketing.
Call of Duty has been a staple in the gaming industry for over two decades, delivering a new title annually to become a game that's synonymous with the holiday season gaming rush. While the series has seen its fair share of ups and downs, it has remained commercially successful, although the quality and innovation of each entry have varied. Its pivot to the futuristic settings in the mid-2010s led to a yearning among fans for a return to the Modern Warfare games' glory days, a sentiment that led Infinity Ward to reboot Modern Warfare with a more grounded approach. However, the decision to recycle titles has led to an unexpected quandary.
Modern Warfare 3 from 2023 is set to include maps from both the original Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and its rebooted counterpart (2022), creating a confusing overlap. This has led to a surge of review bombing on Metacritic, though, in a twist of fate, the anger is mistakenly directed at the original Modern Warfare 3 from 2011. This isn't the first time it has faced backlash either. Upon its release, fans criticized it for being too similar to its predecessor, dubbing it MW 2.0. In spite of this, the game has since been reassessed more favorably, particularly since becoming available through Xbox's backward compatibility.