No other franchise invokes such hatred and love from gamers around the world. The latest iteration of Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has released and has smashed sales records. Is this latest iteration of the series repeating the same formula, or enough to warrant the $60 purchase?

At this point in the current generation of consoles, gamers and critics have come to expect a certain level of quality. Last generation, titles got progressively better, before the inevitable plunge into the now current generation. This late, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 should represent the best the series has to offer with the current technical limitations, and unfortunately it’s far from it. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare represented a critical step in the maturation of the series, providing tense action sequences, cutting edge graphics, and an addictive multiplayer. Some of the successful elements still exist, but the entire package is overall disappointing.

Modern Warfare 3 starts off immediately where its predecessor left off. Captain Price is tending to Soap’s gunshot wounds, and players take control of several note-worthy characters in what is essentially World War 3. The set pieces are great; however they often feel too familiar to those already shown-off in the series. In essence, it’s a collection of all the tricks and lessons the developers have learned over the course of their development with the franchise. Is it new and exciting? No, but it’s certainly polished, despite the lack of a graphical upgrade.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is running on a dated engine. Despite the tweaks and adjustments both Treyarch and Infinity Ward have made with each yearly installment, it just can’t compete anymore. The lighting and textures are sub-par, and often times appear blurry in some instances. The character models still remain solid, along with the gun models, however the entire graphical side is lacking, especially given how deep we are into this generation.

Animations can make or break a game, and Modern Warfare 3 has opted, yet again, to use the same, re-hashed ones all over again. I don’t mind them keeping a few signature ones, however reusing all of them just comes off as lazy. It also breaks the immersion factor. Seeing the same animations which have even been used in Call of Duty 2 is a bit concerning. If I wanted to see those, I would play COD 2, or even the first iteration of Modern Warfare. Not only that, but they just don’t cut it anymore. When you compare them to titles like Uncharted 3, or any of the other high-profile titles that have come out, they seem woefully behind the curve. Let’s be honest, it’s not like they have a small budget.

The sound design is great, with good effects, voice acting, and music, even if it retains some of the same faults as the animations. Repetition is really Modern Warfare 3’s greatest enemy, not Russia.

Despite a short campaign, which is only going to last you around 6 hours, the multiplayer has always been the emphasis of the Modern Warfare series. Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t exactly bring much new to the table, and really lacks the innovation the first one had. There are a lot of little improvements to the multiplayer experience, but nothing that stands out significantly. One of the biggest points of emphasis has been put on the kill-streaks. Instead of just handing out a ton of kill-streaks now, players must choose a strike package associated with what type of player they are.

For someone who just isn’t that great (like me), the support package makes more sense then going with the assault package which contains things like the Attack Helicopter. It’s not a game-changer for the series, but it certainly cleans the U.I up, and makes it easier for the player to identify with his/her style. Unfortunately there are some issues with the multiplayer. Like the previous titles there are some balancing issues, particularly with the P-90. There are also some latency issues, which haven’t been completely addressed yet.

Spec Ops makes a return and like multiplayer sports a bevy of small additions. Each of the 16 multiplayer maps are available in Spec Ops and provides a nice distraction from the competitive and single-player portions of the game. A new social service has also been introduced called Elite. Available for free or in a premium service, Elite offers players the chance to socialize and compete in a variety of ways.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is a fun, yet totally predicable and repetitive romp through the events of World War 3. Those that have disliked the franchise will not find anything to sway them with this iteration, however despite the minor improvements, fans of the series are sure to enjoy what MW3 brings to the table.

A copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was provided to PS3Vault for reviewing purposes.