Modern Warfare III review part 2: Why multiplayer saves the day again

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When I reviewed the single-player campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III a few weeks ago, I gave it the lowest score that I had in years.

But now I’m ready to offer my assessment of Modern Warfare III’s multiplayer gameplay — and it’s much better than I expected.

I always like to point out that there is a lot at stake. As of last year, Activision’s first-person shooter combat franchise hit $30 billion in lifetime revenue and 425 million premium copies sold to date. Now that it’s under the ownership of Microsoft, Activision Blizzard wants to keep on impressing everyone with its never-ending hit game, which now has more than 3,000 developers and no less than 10 studios working on it. This is one of those games where there are unlimited resources.

But the relevant question this year is whether or not the team had enough time. Bloomberg reported that Sledgehammer only had a year and a half to develop Modern Warfare 3, or half of the time a studio would normally have to lead the development of a new Call of Duty. That story suggested Modern Warfare 3 was originally planned as an expansion to Modern Warfare 2.

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I haven’t independently confirmed that reporting. Activision denied reports that the game was rushed. And it’s worth noting there are more studios working on Call of Duty than ever before. Aaron Halon, studio head at Sledgehammer Games, said in a statement that the game has been a labor of love where the