Line #22 YMMV/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3


1	* AbridgedArenaArray: Dome. Other maps tend to get middling votes in, but Dome easily gets 5+ votes if it's a selectable map for the next round. It's essentially the ''Modern Warfare'' equivalent of [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps Nuketown]] for being tiny yet open. Failing that, it's the ported version of Terminal from ''2'', which gets almost as many votes if it's up against anything except Dome.
2	* AssPull: The Russian military having enough might to invade ''all of Europe simultaneously'' within only three months of pulling out of a full-scale invasion of the U.S.. The game handwaves this by saying that Makarov's chemical attacks had weakened the local defenses sufficiently enough, thereby allowing ground forces to casually roll in and occupy the capital cities ([[ArtisticLicenseMilitary never mind that real-life militaries are already equipped and trained against chemical weapons]]). However, even with the series' ''own'' AlternateHistory implying that the Ultranationalists have the largest military force on Earth [[note]]which contradicts a line in ''[=MW2=]'' wherein Shepherd says that America has "the largest military force known to man" (though that could just be [[BadassBoast an overstatement]] which would not be out-of-character on his part)[[/note]], their over-abundance of resources and manpower directly conflicts with the losses they were already shown to have sustained in their war with the U.S.. ''[=MW2=]'' made a big deal of showing how their resources were stretched pathetically thin, with their soldiers needing to loot local homes and military bases for supplies (e.g., they're shown using stolen American Javelins to attack the evac site at the Washington monument), and it is implied that the nuke which Price detonated over Washington D.C. had destroyed much of their air force. Then ''3'' begins with them being forced to call off the invasion after Team Metal hijacks their commanding submarine and uses its missiles to wipe out a substantial portion of their Navy. Even if one concedes that the forces which occupy Europe are explicitly stated to be ''ground'' forces (rather than air or sea-based forces), that still doesn't explain how they have suddenly amassed enough tanks and well-trained soldiers to occupy and repress survivors in ''every'' capital city and military base in the entire continent of Europe, especially given how many of their soldiers you've been killing over the past two games. It also doesn't explain how they managed to make it [[EasyLogistics all the way from their border to Paris in only a day]]. WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation in particular had a lot of fun with this:
3	-->'''Yahtzee''': Now I've never invaded Europe [[NoodleIncident except for that one time]], but I would think that's a project you might want to stagger out a bit if you haven't forged an alliance with any galactic empires lately! [...] Presumably while waiting for the order, large groups of Russian soldiers were all camped outside each European city [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} disguised as trees]].
4	* BestLevelEver: The game has quite a few great levels, from taking on Ultranationalist commandos in India with the mood all perfectly set by a fantastic opening cutscene, to sneaking in Russian-occupied Prague assisted by Kamarov and freedom fighters. But none quite stand out as much as the absolute power trip that is the final mission: "Dust to Dust". Playing as Price with assistance on ground from Yuri and intel from Nikolai, you storm the hotel in which Makarov is hiding whilst mowing down what remains of his Ultranationalist Inner Circle. The thing is, you're decked out in juggernaut armor and [=LMGs=]--you take far more damage here and only go back to normal halfway through. It's a nice bone thrown to the player after Makarov and his men have killed so many of your allies and civilians. Finally, when you get to the end of the level, you at last get to kill the bastard by wrapping a cable around his neck and plunging him to a painful death by hanging.
5	-->Objective Completed.
6	* CatharsisFactor: Given that Makarov lead the airport massacre, caused WorldWarIII, detonated the nuke that kill 30,000 soldiers, and [[HeroKiller killed Soap]], it’s very satisfying to give Makarov his slow death.
7	* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/CallOfDuty here]].
8	* DisappointingLastLevel: Though the final level where you get to mow down the Inner Circle in a Juggernaut suit is widely agreed to be one of the best levels in the entire trilogy, the second half of the campaign is considered rushed and [[AntiClimax anti-climactic]], as the number of levels which rehash familiar concepts and assets from earlier in the trilogy begin to outnumber those with new and original mechanics (clearly a result of the game's TroubledProduction). For starters, the two missions set in Germany are highly evocative of the Washington D.C. levels in ''Modern Warfare 2'' (complete with an InMediasRes sequence of the player character looking at their hands in slow-motion), and "Iron Lady" has an AC-130 segment which is widely seen as weaker than that in the first ''Modern Warfare''.[[note]]Which is HilariousInHindsight given that the reason ''[=MW2=]'' had no AC-130 level was specifically ''because'' the devs thought it would pale in comparison to that of ''[=MW1=]''.[[/note]] "Eye of the Storm" and "Blood Brothers" are an admitted retread of "All Ghillied Up" and "One Shot, One Kill", but are still positively regarded due to the former's tragic atmosphere and the latter being the game's WhamEpisode. "Stronghold" is likewise seen as an enjoyable, stealth-based remix of "The Gulag", but would perhaps be more fondly regarded had the aforementioned "Eye of the Storm"--which is also stealth-based--not happened ''only two levels ago''. Lastly, while "Down the Rabbit Hole" does provide a serviceable denouement to the story, it is still an obvious rehash of "No Fighting in the War Room" with a Predator UAV sequence lifted straight from the second half of ''[=MW2=]''[='=]s "Contingency".
9	* GoddamnedBats:
10	** The chemical troops in Survival mode. They're no tougher than regular soldiers and poorly armed, but their gas clouds slow you down, and they plant gas claymores that will often hit you and slow you at the ''worst'' possible moments.
11	** In the same vein: claymore specialists. Like chemical troopers, they're not well-armed or armored, but they leave surprises lying around the map which you likely won't notice while running away from Juggernauts and bomb-dogs. They're not powerful enough to kill you outright unless you're already wounded, but setting off one while getting shot at is a death sentence, and their mere presence on the map will leave you ''very'' paranoid.
12	* HarsherInHindsight:
13	** The scenery of the Russian Invasion of Europe--especially the Czech Republic; right down to the execution of civilians and the survivors forming a resistance--now hits much harder in light of the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, during which Russian forces have committed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre various war crimes resulting in many civilian deaths]] and is generally seen as the first international conflict to hit Europe since the Yugoslav Wars, prompting numerous Ukrainian civilians to join their military and fight off the invasion. Fortunately for the Ukrainians, Russian forces encountered extreme difficulties and failed to subdue its relatively weaker neighbor (with two years and several hundreds of thousands of casualties having passed without them taking a single major city), while this game has them conquering half of Europe off-screen in a matter of days.
14	** The DLC Special Ops mission "Arctic Recon" has you storming a ''Slava''-class missile cruiser, planting beacons to guide cruise missiles in to sink it. Fast forward to 2022, and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Moskva Moskva]]'' (formerly ''Slava''), the lead ship of the ''Slava''-class, was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Moskva sunk by two anti-ship cruise missiles]] during the above-mentioned conflict.
15	** In the sixth mission, "Back On The Grid," Price tells Soap [[spoiler:to "try not to die this time"]]. Guess what happens later in the story...
16	* HilariousInHindsight:
17	** Creator/BruceGreenwood, who voices Overlord in this game, had previously acted as one of the inept National Guardsmen in ''Film/FirstBlood'', the first film in the ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' films; the ActionHero Rambo himself would later appear as an optional PlayerCharacter in the multiplayer mode for ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'' and ''Call of Duty: Warzone''.
18	** Back when the game was released, it was subject to heavy criticism and review-bombed on Metacritic for being a MissionPackSequel, a sentiment which was not helped by how a lot of non-fans had become fatigued by the ''Call of Duty'' craze. However, the game still rated highly with critics and once again managed to set record-breaking sales. Come 2023, [[Videogame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareIII another game with the same namesake yet set in a different universe]] has been ''even more'' negatively received by players and critics alike. And as the cherry on top, [[spoiler: said game ends on a SequelHook whereas this game is a proper GrandFinale for the ''Modern Warfare'' sub-story before it was rebooted in 2019]].
19	* InferredHolocaust: Russia's [[AssPull miraculous]] performance in Europe--being able to overrun all of the continent up to Paris--is attributed to [[UsefulNotes/ThePoorMansAtomicBomb chemical weapons]] being deployed liberally against the capital cities and military bases ([[ArtisticLicenseMilitary never mind]] the fact that modern militaries are [[HazmatSuit equipped]] and drilled against such). Try not to think too much about what happened to the civilians in cities like Berlin, Brussels or Warsaw.
20	* NarmCharm:
21	** Despite the supposed silliness of the extent of Makarov's villainy in this game, one can't deny how well it depicts someone who goes [[FromNobodyToNightmare from random mook to a straight-up world threat]].
22	** In "Mind the Gap," after the train crashes under Westminster and you and your teammate are left to fight your way through the remaining baddies alone, Wallcroft says: "Come on, mate! Let's give these bastards a proper British welcome!" It sounds hilarious on paper, but the sheer awe of the level, combined with Craig Fairbrass' outstanding line delivery which perfectly balances thrill and fear with anger and exasperation over the loss of several fellow S.A.S. members in the train crash turn what would otherwise be a {{Narm}}ful line into quite an [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome moment]].
23	** The Exploding Truck in Davis Family Vacation is seen as hilariously abrupt by many, but that is just [[TruthInTelevision how terrorist attacks play out]] [[RealismInducedHorror from the perspective of a civilian.]]
24	* ScrappyMechanic:
25	** Lag compensation. Infinity Ward did managed to remedy this somewhat by slowly patching it to better recreate the feel of ''[=MW1=]'' and ''2'', by then, it was too little, too late, and the majority of players had already moved on.
26	** The spawns in multiplayer are absolutely atrocious. It is entirely possible for another player to spawn right behind you immediately after if you kill them--this is called "revenge spawning."
27	* SequelDifficultySpike: The game on Veteran difficulty is insane compared to the second game. Not only can you survive much less damage, but enemies are suddenly psychic and have superhuman reflexes and perfect aim. The only concession is that they're not constantly spamming you with 6 grenades at the same time like in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar''.
28	* {{Sequelitis}}: Though still wildly successful upon release, ''[=MW3=]'' is generally seen as a bit of a letdown compared to its predecessors. Admittedly, much of this is a case of ToughActToFollow since ''[=MW1=]'' and ''2'' were runaway hits which would define the FPS genre for years, but even fans of this game generally concede that much of its gameplay and various setpieces--particularly in the later half of the campaign--are overly derivative of missions from ''[=MW1=]'' and ''2''. Story-wise, Makarov's villainy, the tighter focus on the now-disavowed TF-141 trying to thwart Makarov via covert ops, the return of the Russian loyalists and greater focus on the ongoing turmoil within the Ultranationalist movement are widely applauded, as is its more somber narrative which graphically showcases [[WarIsHell the true cost of war]]. The fact that the game neatly ties up its plot threads and doesn't continue the ''Modern Warfare'' tradition of ending on a cliffhanger is also commended. However, the implausibility of Russia having enough manpower to invade ''all of Europe'' within only three months of pulling out of a full-scale war with the U.S. is broadly derided, as is the game's [[RealIsBrown drab color palette]], more standard AmericaSavesTheDay tone and rushed ending which sees the entire Russian-NATO war being resolved in ''a single'' pre-mission cutscene. The multiplayer and Spec Ops missions aren't seen as much of an improvement over those in ''[=MW2=]'' either, although Survival Mode is considered a worthy addition.
29	* TakeThatAudience: To the MoralGuardians and other such players, the alternative ending to "Mind The Gap" can be seen as this. There was widespread controversy directed at the franchise after the previous game's "No Russian", and both it and Mind The Gap gave players the option to skip their upsetting content. However, unlike "No Russian," this has an effect on the story--If the skip is chosen, "Davis Family Vacation" does not take place, and [[spoiler: the otherwise empty van which the SAS stopped blows up, killing all but Wallcroft and maybe Burns (you). So in saving a family of 3, including a little girl, you just killed around 10 SAS soldiers instead]]. [[SarcasmMode Well done…]]
30	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The previous game's American campaign ended with the cast speculating when they'd go to Moscow, the the implication that they would [[HeWhoFightsMonsters stoop to Russia's level]] when they invaded. Instead, we're just treated to more of Russia invading other countries before its ReasonableAuthorityFigure leader is rescued and the Russian Ultranationalist leadership [[KarmaHoudini gets off scot-free]].
31	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Russia in this game is depicted as both a military superpower able to convincingly challenge NATO and a semi-reasonable actor that, could the renegades be disposed with, would be on the path to peace and cooperation with the West. Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine, and especially its escalation of it in 2022, showcased a very embarrassing military performance on its part and caused the USA-EU bloc to go full-hog on sanctions that severed almost all of their pre-war economic relations, dating both images firmly to the early 2010s when the game was made.
32	* VindicatedByHistory: Upon release, despite beating the record-breaking sales set by the franchise since ''Modern Warfare 2'', a lot of the playerbase had become more vocally fatigued by the traditional ''Call of Duty'' formula--not helped by ''Modern Warfare 3'' [[MissionPackSequel looking and playing too similarly to its predecessor]] while its [[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} rival series]] had an [[VideoGame/Battlefield3 installment]] released around the same time which looked like a breath of fresh air by comparison. This left ''3'' with an unfortunate reputation as the black sheep among the ''Modern Warfare'' trilogy, especially when comparing it to the previous games or [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII its immediate successor]] which enjoyed a much more celebrated fan-favorite status. However, revisits to this game in the latter part of the decade--both in its more-or-less immediate aftermath with ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'' having no returning or memorable characters and [[StillbornFranchise a story cut short]] due to negative fan reception, and especially in the wake of the [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019 2019 reboot]] being even ''more'' divisive in its writing and characters--led to renewed appreciation and a more dedicated fanbase keeping its multiplayer alive. It helps that this is one of the few games in the franchise to conclude its plot nicely, rather than continuing the first ''Modern Warfare'' tradition of a DownerEnding, [[AntiClimax unsatisfying ending]], or [[GainaxEnding an ending which raises more questions than answers]], something which was sadly played completely straight with the rebooted threequel, ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareIII'', which is among the most critically panned campaigns in the franchise's history.

Context YMMV / CallOfDutyModernWarfare3