For years now, the annual prospect of a new Call of Duty game typically meant more of the same—familiar beats, samey campaign missions, and an already well-refined multiplayer package with little tweaks and scenery changes. But with this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, “more of the same” feels more on the nose than ever. Released last week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has broadly faced indifference or negativity from professional reviewers, saddling the PlayStation 5 version of the game – which has the most published reviews of any platform so far – with a meager 56 out of 100 Metascore review average from Metacritic, based on 48 reviews to date. This is the worst review average for any core Call of Duty entry in the franchise’s 20-year history. Franchise fatigue potentially plays a role, as this is the second Modern Warfare trilogy in the series. Reviews complain that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III feels like a compilation of existing pieces of the franchise, with multiplayer maps carried over from 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 and dull new campaign missions. It appears that the publisher was trying to stick to its annual Call of Duty release cycle, as the game is undoubtedly Activision’s biggest cash cow. YouTube reviewers have called Modern Warfare III the “biggest disappointment of 2023,” a “colossal failure”, and an “absolute disgrace”. Even dyed-in-the-wool series fans appear to be fed up with the latest result of Activision’s yearly appetite to pump out another blockbuster entry. It remains to be seen if it’s worth finally taking a year off from the grind.
This is bad news for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, as professional reviewers have given it a meager 56 out of 100 Metascore review average from Metacritic, and YouTube reviewers have called it a “disappointment”, “failure” and “disgrace”. This could be due to fatigue from the franchise’s 20-year history, and the fact that the game appears to have been rushed together, with multiplayer maps from 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 and dull new campaign missions. It appears that Activision was trying to stick to its annual Call of Duty release cycle, as the game is undoubtedly its biggest cash cow. It remains to be seen if it’s worth finally taking a year off from the grind. #CallofDuty #ModernWarfareIII #GameReviews #Activision
You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: Gamers Hate ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’—What Went Wrong?
