Inevitable tabloid storm aside, none of the details matter too much. Here, though, it's an uncomfortable and unnecessary failure. It seems a desperate attempt to re-ignite the sort of controversy that Modern Warfare 2's No Russian level attracted, with its interactive airport shooting spree. There's also a badly judged story sequence in which a family is caught amid a terrorist atrocity on the streets of London.

In structural terms, there is a definite lull toward the middle of the campaign when the shoot-outs become achingly familiar, and the linearity frustrates. John Price, meanwhile, is confirmed as Call of Duty's finest human creation and the coda to his juddering character arc is perfectly judged and surprisingly cathartic. Although the action darts across the globe from the US to the Middle East, via Africa and Europe, the bridging sections explain almost all of it well, and we have a cogent mission plan. Joining them is Russian spec-ops newcomer Yuri, whose uncertain affiliations lead to some of the best plotting in the series, neatly flashing back to a couple of very key moments in the first Modern Warfare title.Īll this sound and fury signifies nothing really, but at least the story makes some kind of sense – and even emotional impact – this time round. While Delta Force and SAS squads take their part in the major land offensives, Soap MacTavish and Captain John Price of Task Force 141 are back behind enemy lines, tracking down Makarov in a personal quest for revenge. The US is fighting back and winning ground, while the Russian president seeks to re-assert his influence and depose the maverick leader, Makarov. Whatever the case, the campaign kicks off immediately after the insanity of MW2. Meanwhile, through the game's obsession with weapons, inventories and special powers – sorry, 'perks' – it is sometimes looking more toward Final Fantasy than at rival first-person shooters like Halo or Battlefield. The monstrous and bizarre story of Russian ultranationalists invading the US and then turning their feverish gaze toward Western Europe is essentially a re-reading of the 'reds under the beds' sci-fi of the 50s – except here, the aliens actually are Reds, though they operate like nightmarish terrorists and they have the limitless technological armadas that HG Wells imagined for his Martian warlords. M odern Warfare 3 is a science fiction RPG.

Call of duty warfare 3