Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Preview

Fans of the long-running FPS juggernaut, Call of Duty, surely know what to expect with the annual franchise by now. Each year sees a fairly entertaining — if brief — single-player mode that manages to pack in countless set pieces during its runtime, but we all know the real reason why players flock to the series time and time again: Multiplayer! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a beta version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) in order to try out the latest in multiplayer mayhem.

Although Call of Duty has bounced around time periods from game to game, it should come as no shock to learn that this is firmly set in modern times. Crazy, right? That means no laser rifles or M1 Garand’s here, just technology and weaponry you’d expect to find in this day and age.

The first thing I saw upon loading into the game was a menu asking if I wanted to purchase the Battle Pass. This being a Beta version, I politely declined. From here, the main menu is presented the same as the last few COD titles have been laid out, meaning it’s still just as simple to navigate the various tabs for joining a game, customising your loadouts, and so on. That being said, the most recent set of titles from 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot onwards (as well as Warzone) can all be played via this same launcher, so at least it’s easy to switch between games. Providing you have a few hundred gigabytes of free space to be able to install them all!

Once I was in the actual Modern Warfare III multiplayer menu, it was surprising just how dull and grainy it looked. Obviously, war isn’t supposed to be full of bright colours and smiling soldiers, but the bland backdrop and generic Operator standing around don’t exactly get me excited to play. Of course, you could spend some money to get a more interesting-looking Operator, but that, in my opinion, would be a waste of a few quid.

Still, sitting around on menus isn’t why millions of people play Call of Duty every year, so it was time to play! There were a good number of modes available, from the classics such as Team Deathmatch and Domination to the new Cutthroat mode, a quick-paced race to eliminate two other teams of three. With many of these game types being mixed in together in specific playlists, I began my first match with Hardpoint on the Rush map.

A quick aside, I was impressed by the lack of wait time from selecting a playlist to starting a match. Even with this being a Beta, there was clearly no lack of people playing, but it was still nice to not have to wait around in menus whilst a painfully long timer slowly ticked down.

Once the round began, all my time spent playing Call of Duty games since the Xbox 360 days came flooding back, and although nowadays I don’t play them half as much as I once did, it still played like that tried and true formula I know and love. That said, it does feel slightly faster-paced than Modern Warfare II did, and the momentum certainly feels improved upon, letting you slide across floors and clamber over walls at a much faster rate. Call of Duty’s movement has always felt fluid, but there is a definite improvement here.

So, with one win under my belt, I hopped into a Cutthroat game. This new mode was great fun to play and is definitely one I could see being even more enjoyable when grouped with two friends. The basic premise is you have a set amount of time to eliminate the other two teams. Run out of time, and the objective changes: be the first team to capture a control point. There are no respawns (although you can be revived by teammates) and with everyone rushing to the capture point before it’s available to take, it quickly descends into a 3v3v3 stand-off, taking pot shots whilst trying to keep your own head attached to your shoulders. Whilst Cutthroat may be fast and furious, the returning Ground War was anything but. With two massive maps available in the beta exclusive to this mode, this 64-player team-based mode is pretty much Domination on a much grander scale. My main issue was that with a 32-strong team, getting everyone to help with the objectives is basically impossible, meaning that formulating plans to capture specific points just doesn’t happen. There was just too much running and not enough gunning in this mode, with sprinting from one capture point to the next, potentially having zero encounters with an enemy.

After the disappointment of Ground War, I returned to the smaller-scale maps that I knew best. Since the beta includes a select number of maps remastered from the original Modern Warfare 2 — including Estate, Skidrow, and Rust — most players will probably remember the basic layouts at the very least, and with a nice graphical upgrade since their debut back in 2009, it was cool to see them with a fresh coat of paint. There is, however, little to no difference in the overall graphics of last year's title, which was slightly disappointing.

Whilst no single weapon stood out to me as overpowered or impressive, I did manage to rack up more kills with a submachine gun, surprising as I don’t usually stick with them for too long. No matter which weapon you opt for, though, firing lead into the opposition still feels fantastic and punchy, especially with the DualSense’s adaptive triggers!

Despite all the positives, I can’t help but feel I’m perhaps a little too old for Call of Duty and the direction it’s taken. I can’t emphasise how little I care about the Battle Pass or spending additional money for some hideous weapons skins or a God damn Nicki Minaj Operator pack. That said, not all of Modern Warfare III was available in the beta, so I was unable to try my luck in Zombies with a few friends, nor could I have a fun (albeit probably brief) time with the campaign. Yes, the multiplayer didn’t blow me away with anything new, but Call of Duty and innovative gameplay design are not two things you hear in the same sentence, so those of you who enjoy these yearly titles will, once again, be impressed by this latest title.