Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Campaign Review: Activision's First-Person Shooter Runs Out of Ammo

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Over the years, Call of Duty campaigns have delivered the closest distillation of Michael Bay-style cinematic set piece action in video games. The first-person military shooter franchise, perhaps the most popular series of games in the world, has increasingly tilted in favour of its money-spinning multiplayer modes, with gradual introduction of battle passes, microtransactions, and downloadable content, but some of its single player campaigns remain a benchmark for bombastic sequences in the medium. Memorable missions from Call of Duty titles are part of gaming folklore — the raw shock of a nuclear detonation, the tense deliberations of a ghillied-up sniper, and the disturbing implications of a false flag terror attack; CoD campaigns have sustained their commitment to over-the-top, knockout moments with imaginative mission design, the “Oorah” machismo of American military might, and immersive cinematics that punctuate the action.

Through the franchise's single-player history of stirring highs and dismal lows, however, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III's campaign represents a new nadir. As a soft reboot of 2011's Modern Warfare 3, and a direct sequel to last year's Modern Warfare II, Activision's latest shooter plays out like a greatest hits album, harkening back to iconic missions from the series, but suffers for a sore lack of originality and inventiveness throughout its short campaign. You play through sequences you've seen before, taking control of a gunship to rain down death from above on the targets on your thermal sensors, infiltrating a heavy guarded gulag in the night, and hunting rogue snipers in the snow. But none of them are delivered with trademark flair and extravagance we've come to associate with a CoD