Call of Duty (CoD) games are like underground trains in London. If you miss one, you can be sure the next will be along in five minutes. Publisher Activision has released a CoD game each year since 2005, with each new entry in the franchise quickly demolishing the sales record set by its predecessor.

CoD: Modern Warfare 3 — the latest sequel — launched on Tuesday and promptly sold nearly 10m copies on its first day. It’s the finest game in the military FPS series since 2007’s genre redefining CoD 4: Modern Warfare, though its impact is diminished by the fact that we’ve played three other CoD games in between.

Modern Warfare 3 picks up where Modern Warfare 2 left off a couple of years back, with the world engulfed in a war incited by Russian ultranationalists. As is customary for CoD, the single-player campaign follows the conflict around the globe through the eyes of a number of soldiers.

You’ll find yourself in the army boots of characters as diverse as a Delta Force operative and a former member of the Russian Spetsnaz as the net closes on the game’s villain, Makarov. The British SAS hard man Price is also back as a playable character.

The gameplay focuses on the familiar checkpoint-to-checkpoint firefights of previous CoD games, interspersed with plenty of on-rails vehicle sequences as well as the occasional stealth mission. Modern Warfare 3’s aim is to be an action movie in game form, and this is a target it razes to the ground with its cinematic set pieces.

mw2 — Urban warfare, CoD-style (click image for larger version)

You can barely walk five metres in-game without a helicopter plummeting to earth in a plume of smoke and a ball of fire or a skyscraper crashing to the ground into a heap of twisted metal and crumbled concrete. The excess eventually becomes as tiring as it does in a Michael Bay movie, but the standout moments are spectacular.

With scenarios ranging from the night-time infiltration of a castle through to urban warfare in Manhattan and Paris, there is plenty of variety on offer. Some of the more memorable moments include a chase through London’s underground rail system with trains hurtling by and a zero-gravity level in a depressurised aircraft.

Unlike its many imitators, Modern Warfare is wise enough not to drag any of its missions out too long and mixes up the action enough to keep you on your toes. Yet there is much in the campaign that is a little too predictable, especially in the many moments it recycles from CoD4. It does not shock and awe the way that CoD4 did when it first came out.

mw1 — Hostile reception in Modern Warfare 3 (click image for larger version)

One can criticise CoD’s campaign for funnelling the player through narrow corridors from one scripted moment to another, but it does this style of FPS gameplay far better than imitators like Battlefield 3. That said, there are moments where one wishes the challenge came from smart artificial intelligence and clever level design rather than overwhelming numbers of grenade-spamming enemies.

Once the campaign is over — which will take all of five or six hours on the normal difficulty level — it’s time to dig into the real core of the Modern Warfare experience. CoD’s celebrated competitive multiplayer is the FPS champ for a range of good reasons and Modern Warfare 3 builds on the traditional strengths that date back to CoD 4.

Rich in content and options, Modern Warfare 3 is accessible to casual gamers yet offers boundless depth for the serious player. With numerous game modes to tinker with as well as an initial selection of 16 maps, there is plenty of content to come to grips with. As usual, the community and customisation options are extensive.

The casual player may struggle at first to tell what sets Modern Warfare 3 apart from Modern Warfare 2. But the deeper one digs into the competitive multiplayer, the more apparent the many subtle tweaks and enhancements become. Kill streak rewards and perks, for example, have been neatly balanced to even out the scales in multiplayer matches.

Modern Warfare 3 trailer (via YouTube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzaxlddWbk

Kill streaks — rewards such as air support, a predator missile or a drone that reveals enemies’ positions on the map — have been rejigged to cater for both aggressive and defensive styles of play. These rewards are also granted for achieving objectives as well as kills in objective-based modes such as capture the flag, rewarding teamwork and tactical play as much as aggression.

Perks — passive abilities that allow a player to reload a weapon faster, aim more steadily, move more silently, and so on — are also better balanced than they were in earlier CoD games. Another change is that you can level weapons up by using them, earning various perks and proficiencies for them in the process.

As is usual for CoD, the player rank progression system is addictive and gives you plenty of reason to soak time into the game. You can easily build out a range of custom weapon load-outs and perks that are perfect for different maps and gameplay modes, testimony to the tactical depth CoD offers under its fast, twitchy gameplay.

The Special Ops mode is back in an extended format. Special Ops can be played cooperatively or alone. This time, it offers a choice of mission scenarios where you are tasked with goals as diverse as defusing bombs or rescuing hostages, as well as a survival mode that pits you against waves of successively tougher and more numerous enemies. It’s richer and deeper than the already comprehensive Special Ops feature of Modern Warfare 2 and adds hours to the game’s shelf life.

In all, Modern Warfare 3 is yet another slick addition to a series that has delivered games of a consistently high standard for more than eight years. This is not a franchise that Activision has abused as badly as it did Tony Hawk Pro Skater or Guitar Hero, but one that has been treated with a great deal of care and respect.

Yet the single-player game and the graphics engine in particular are starting to show signs of age, and even the multiplayer makes only a few conservative changes to an established formula. It’s only a matter of time before a new CoD inspires the same indifference as a new Madden or Fifa game. Perhaps a leave of absence for a year or two would do the franchise a world of good. — Lance Harris, TechCentral

Graphics 7/10
The graphics engine is starting to show its age, but runs at a crisp 60 frames per second and still looks great in motion.
Sound 8/10
Punchy gun sounds and powerful explosions make your living room sound like a warzone.
Gameplay 8/10
The Special Ops co-op mode, single player campaign and competitive mode have all been balanced and polished to near-perfection.
Value 9/10
The single-player mode is over in a flash, but there’s plenty of multiplayer and co-op content here to keep you going until the inevitable release of next year’s version.
Overall 7/10
Modern Warfare 3 is a glossy iteration of the world’s biggest FPS franchise, but the continued lack of innovation is somewhat disappointing.