Modern Warfare 3's rushed campaign isn't going over well with fans who pre-ordered: 'This is hands down the worst CoD campaign I've ever played'

pcgamer.com:

The months leading up to Modern Warfare 3 have slowly shown us how this year's Call of Duty isn't quite like the others. Nowhere has this become clearer than in the Modern Warfare 3 campaign, which some players are calling one of the worst of the series, and not for the usual reasons a CoD campaign can fall flat.

Fans are pointing to the MW3 campaign's length, a brisk four-ish hours compared to the usual six to eight, and an overreliance on small «Open Combat Missions» as evidence that Modern Warfare 3 was rushed, or didn't get as much development time as usual for the series. The game's official subreddit is currently a flurry of disappointment, memes, and bewilderment at a CoD that doesn't seem like itself this year.

«This is hands down the worst CoD campaign I've ever played and Warzone is 100% to blame,» wrote Reddit user D_ultimateplayer in the current top post on the MW3 subreddit. «What a slap in the face. I am shocked and appalled. The writing was on the wall this entire time if you really think about it.»

Warzone has come up several times in the MW3 campaign reactions I've seen, probably because of how much Sledgehammer's Open Combat Missions resemble mini Warzone missions. These levels, which make up around half of the campaign, are small sandbox missions that break from the series' usual brand of on-rails setpieces. They're sort of like co-op missions played alone, except they incorporate Warzone mechanics like looting and armor plates. I'm having fun with them, but it is weird how much the campaign relies on them for the heavy lifting.

At the root of the feedback, I'd argue, is a matter of mismanaged expectations driven by how Activison has talked about Modern Warfare 3. It started in 2022, when Bloomberg