Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is a game that needs no introduction. The franchise has been around so long, it’s almost old enough to drink (and probably older than over half its fan base). MW3 runs on the same engine as MW2 and Warzone 2.0. Gunplay feels crisp and reactive, and servers are usually stable enough where most interactions feel fair. You’ll still contend with annoying players and unfun map design as a consequence of modern COD’s TTK and how this game ported all of MW2 2009’s maps, nuisances and all. Speaking of nuisances, last year’s annoying UI returns too.

To say that I went into this year’s Call of Duty with low expectations is probably a massive understatement. Despite Activision-Blizzard saying that there would be no COD in 2023, somehow they went ahead and broke that promise with the release of MW3. The game is an immediate outlier due to being a direct sequel to the previous year’s COD, something that hasn’t happened outside of the game’s earlier years.