The early access to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaign has divided fans. Despite topping Steam’s best-selling charts, players are reportedly requesting refunds because of the single-player mode’s length.
First impressions of the single-player campaign have been middling at best. Chief amongst the complaints is the story mode lasting an average of only four hours, its lackluster level design, and reused assets from previous games. Others have been critical of the open combat missions lacking structure or challenge.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has topped sales charts in its early access period, despite facing criticism from some of its players and, most especially, critics. The latest Call of Duty game has been the number one seller on both Steam and the PlayStation Store. While many doubted that Modern Warfare 3 could attract fans due to its mediocre single-player campaign, anticipation for the game’s multiplayer and zombies modes have clearly driven strong sales numbers.
The campaign ain’t so bad after all…
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However, not everyone is happy about Modern Warfare 3. Most of the outrage has spilled all over the internet, but a lot of it is especially concentrated on Reddit. There, players are sharing the refunds they’ve initiated on Steam after playing through the short campaign. The refund requests have been a hot topic on the forum site with players being divided about the importance of the single-player game mode.
It’s argued that most buy Call of Duty for the multiplayer game modes rather than the single-player campaign. Others have supported this argument by saying that most only play the FPS shooter for the Multiplayer modes, with the single-player campaign being, more or less, a bonus. But, on the other side of the fence is the argument that Call of Duty used to have good campaigns, specifically the OG Black Ops from 2010 by Treyarch and the Modern Warfare reboot from 2019. Many argue that, while Call of Duty isn’t winning awards anytime soon, it should at least have a decent campaign on top of the multiplayer component.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s main draw right now is the 16 multiplayer maps coming out when the game officially launches in a few days. Modern Warfare 3 also boasts the largest collection of weapons, with a total of 114 guns arriving at launch. There are 37 new weapons coming with Modern Warfare 3 and 77 being brought over from last year’s game.
I had already completed the campaign just as it came out in early access and found it average at best. It wasn’t as bad as many others paint it to be, but it wasn’t something to write home about either. The single-player story was interesting, albeit very short. The Verdansk sections of the campaign were the most interesting parts and seeing the old Warzone map brought back to life was exciting.
Understandably, Sledgehammer left the door open for Modern Warfare 4, which is likely coming very soon. Given how Microsoft, Activision Blizzard’s new owner, is focused on expanding its development and publishing pipelines, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the company released a follow-up next year.
So, is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 worth $70? If you are buying it for the single-player campaign then absolutely not. But factoring in the upcoming multiplayer modes and the biggest zombie PVE ever, it is well worth the price of admission.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10.
