If you release your own bias and fairly see this game, you would find crucial additions to the Call of Duty series.
I gave this game a fair and honest chance at the SAME time I tried Battlefield 3 (Modern Warfare 3's all-time competitor) with the same fairness and honesty. In other words, I played both games and, without the snappy, angry, and hateful thoughts of other reviewers, I came to the conclusion
that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is, overall, a great multiplayer game. Unlike those who rant and complain and seethe with hatred for this game, I will review this game simply by listing the top 5 and bottom 5 things about Modern Warfare 3.
The Five Best Things about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3...
1. (Multiplayer) The new Pointstreaks system that replaced the killstreaks system --- In all past CODs, killstreaks provided air support rewards to players who could get a large number of kills without dying. Everyone knows this, but what you might not have thought about was the negative consequences of killstreaks. Essentially, killstreaks are VERY hard to accomplish, and most players would usually get up to five or seven kills per life through normal gameplay. However, the most exciting killstreaks (in Black Ops, for example), such as Attack Dogs and Gunships, required such an insane amount of kills that people would either camp the entire match (ruining the experience for rushers and true players), use modded controllers (and I know people who use them, unfortunately), or abuse bugs. As you can tell from what I've just explained, I have never been a great fan of killstreaks; I have always thought that they broke the Call of Duty series; I have always thought that they needed to be fixed. In MW3, the new Pointstreak system shows that Infinity Ward is at least TRYING to fix the killstreak problem. First of all, you get pointstreak rewards by earning POINTS, not kills. Why is this important? Well, you are now rewarded for capturing flags, taking down air support, and completing objectives. So now you won't have a party of morons camping in domination, or at least you shouldn't because completing the objectives, in objective modes, is encouraged a hell lot more than in past CODs. In addition, the new SUPPORT pointstreak allows players to get rewards even though they die. So again, players aren't pressured into camping or cheating in order to get insane amounts of kills: they can still be rewarded for taking risks, dying, and still getting air support. Now, I am aware that people have criticized the support poinstreak for being unbalanced. I completely understand that the stealth bomber is unbalanced in MW3, which is why I don't ever use it. However, all of the other support rewards don't directly kill the enemies, not even the support juggernaut (because it is terribly underpowered), so I don't see a major problem overall with the support pointstreak.
2. (Multiplayer) The new Specialists pointstreak -- In all past CODs, you camped or cheated or use modded controllers to get insane amounts of kills which would unlock rewards to get even more kills...I'm glad to say that MW3 added a little more diversity to the standard "mass genocide" requirements of past CODs. Meet the Specialists poinstreak (out of 3 pointstreaks: assault, support, and specialist). It allows you to unlock more perks after getting a fair amount of kills. Why is this helpful? Because now you're able to get two perks from the same tier! That's right - and it's utterly brilliant. You see, all Call of Duty games have put really good perks into the same tiers so that you'd have to give up one good perk to get the other. For example, Sleight of Hand, Extreme Conditioning, and Scavenger are all excellent perks...but you can only pick one!!! (Because they all fall in the same tier.) Now, with specialists pointstreaks, you can start off with extreme conditioning and, after two kills (only 1 with hardline!) you are able to unlock sleight of hand or scavenger! If you think about this seriously, this is actually a Call of Duty fan's dream come true. This was beautiful. And MW3 was responsible.
3. (Multiplayer) The new game mode Kill Confirmed -- Kill Confirmed is a new game mode, in MW3, where you have to kill players and touch their floating dog tags to earn points for your team. Essentially a slight variation of Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed has become a staple game mode that I really hope all future Call of Duty games will have FOREVER. Why is Kill Confirmed so great? There are two main reasons. 1) Double XP -- Yes, that's right! You see, when you kill a player, you receive the normal XP as if the game were Team Deathmatch. Then, when you touch the floating dog tag, you get another share of normal XP! So, by giving players a normal amount of XP for killing players AND touching dog tags, players end up receiving double XP in the process! (Really, how cool is that?) 2) Kill Confirmed matches usually last longer - about ten minutes longer than Team Deathmatch. This is useful because it allows most players additional time to earn more pointstreak rewards. I remember earning two support juggernauts in only one game of Kill Confirmed because the game was long enough for me to actually get something worthy done. (Once again, good job MW3!)
4. (Multiplayer) The overall most user-friendly Multiplayer in the Call of Duty series right now -- Lets review what Call of Duty Multiplayers we have in all: COD 4 dropped their matchmaking firewall, so now many of the lobbies are modded or hacked. (So COD 4 is no longer a viable multiplayer to play.) COD MW2 is and always has been BROKEN! I recently watched a YouTube video and this guy shot a recording of two guys boosting in MW2....THIS YEAR! So, after three years have passed and two newer Call of Duty games came out, there is STILL boosting and bug abuse happening in MW2. (So MW2 is out.) Then there's Black Ops: the most laggy COD I have ever played. I personally tried out Black Ops's multiplayer since last year Christmas. After half a year of being stuck in a room or moving unintentionally, I am fed up with Black Ops's terrible lag. I went online to see if others were having this problem and, sure enough, I found many cases of people talking about "Blops multiplayer lag" - some calling the game "unplayable". (So, I personally have voted Black Ops out.) Now of course, there is also World at War. However, I have never gotten the chance to play this game (even though I would very much like to) so I can't comment on that. Which leaves us with MW3! A game that occasionally has lag problems but is usually very responsive and very easy when playing in parties and/or with friends.
5. (Special Ops) The new survival mode -- Basically, a zombie-style wave of regular soldiers keep on approaching you, trying to overwhelm you and another team mate. This is actually very creative and new, if you think about it. In the past survival modes, we were only able to play against Zombies which used physical strikes (hitting or grabbing you) and group brutality to challenge players. In this new "spec ops" survival mode, you play against enemy soldiers armed with guns and explosives. This has never happened before, so it is certainly new and creative to some extent. As you survive waves of enemies, you get cash (based on your performance) and can buy newer guns, explosives, armor, and even your own AI to help fight with you! Spec Ops is also a mode where you level up and earn newer privileges, just like multiplayer, so it is potentially a very deep experience.
The Five Worst Things about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3...
1. Lag Compensation -- A game flaw introduced in Black Ops returns to MW3. The flaw allows people with slower internet connections to ruin matches by shooting at people, who dodge for walls, and killing them even if they get behind cover. This is due to a pause where the game thinks a player, with a bad connection, hit and killed another player who actually got behind cover but died anyway as a result of this lag compensation.
2. Overpowered Guns Gone Wild -- The ACR 6.8, Type-95, and FMG9 Akimbos come into mind immediately when I talk about this subject. In MW3, these weapons have turned out to be so overpowered that you won't see a single match, in any game mode, without at least one player abusing these weapons. What makes overpowered weapons so damn frustrating is that it puts players who use "skillful" and "smart" weapons at an immediate disadvantage. I can't even remember how many times a noob (or choob) gets out his FMG9 Akimbos and kills eight guys in seconds. I also can't remember how many times I've been longshot by a guy abusing an ACR as if it were a sniper rifle. Overpowered guns always DESTROY any Call of Duty game's potential, especially MW3. However, keep in mind that every single COD of the past, including Black Ops and COD 4, had some overpowered weapons at least. This problem is terrible, but inevitable. And even though Infinity Ward tried to "nerf the Akimbos", referring to the FMG9 Akimbos, they remain overpowered and hated.
3. Crappy Spawn System -- The game will literally spawn you right near an enemy's flag, in domination, or right next to someone trying to defuse a bomb while in prone. At certain times, you start to get tired of constantly being "revenge-killed" by someone who didn't even have to try to find you. Furthermore, the DOME map is completely broken. Nothing else to say about the crappy spawn system after that.
4. Stupid, Moronic Community -- There is constant profanity in the voice chats, clan tags, and clan titles through out multiplayer. Let me vent and say my opinion very directly: MW3'S COMMUNITY SUCKS. Nearly everyone I meet on MW3 is a moron, jerk, or pervert. Now, (this is my personal observation and conclusion when I say) I think that Black Ops's community seems to be less outspoken than MW3. I mean there's still inappropriate images and text, but much less people cursing.
5. Campaign is a complete waste of time. That's because the Modern Warfare story has run stale. Now, before I criticize it any further, I must admit that the campaign tries (but ultimately fails) to connect more to COD 4 (which was a complete hit for both campaign and multiplayer). They added classic characters, such as Captain Mcmillan and Kamarov. However, the story still felt stale and I only played the story to the end to know exactly how the Modern Warfare series would end. Overall, MW3's campaign turned out to be a complete disappointment because it only served the purpose of finishing the Modern Warfare trilogy and therefore had to bend on quality in order to finish at all.
The Most Significant Thing about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is...
The game's overall great multiplayer that introduced a lot of crucial and necessary features to the series that I hope will be back for every single Call of Duty to come.