Is Modern Warfare 3 the shortest Call of Duty ever?
As we speak, millions of players around the world are flocking to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s early access campaign. It won’t go on sale worldwide until November 10th, but for those who have pre-ordered the game , the campaign was activated a week earlier. However, there is one sore point that concerns fans of the ever-popular first-person shooter. Despite costing $70, MW3 appears to have the shortest campaign in the franchise’s history.
It’s a sort of confirmation that Modern Warfare 3 was never intended to be a full game and was originally intended to be released as an expansion to Modern Warfare 2 (2022). That’s a claim that started when all of the transferred content between games was revealed, but now that the campaign has been revealed to be so short, players are more convinced than ever. It was never intended to be a “complete game,” and that is reflected in the drastically short campaign.
How long is Modern Warfare 3’s campaign?
Image credit: Activision
If you’re the type of player who fights through the levels and doesn’t stop to survey the landscape or collect side objectives, then you’re in for a surprise. Including cutscenes, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will likely only take 3.5 hours from start to finish. On average, the MW3 campaign lasts just four hours – which would make it the shortest Call of Duty campaign ever.
Sledgehammer Games reportedly took no time at all to create the campaign, and that’s clear to see in the length of the game. From start to finish, the scattered, high-octane missions can easily be completed in a single sitting – even on a harder difficulty setting. Each mission offers the player some choices, giving them the illusion of an open-ended approach, but in reality each objective can be accomplished in the same way: “run and shoot.”
Even if you play slowly, you won’t get more than about five hours of playing time with Modern Warfare 3.
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But does it matter?
These days, the majority of Call of Duty’s core community buys the annual release of its multiplayer offering. Millions of players won’t even touch the franchise, choosing instead to enjoy the multiplayer and perhaps the Call of Duty Zombies modes. In the past, we’ve seen games released without a campaign at all – so a short campaign isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Overall, it’s a cinematic, hard-hitting mode, although it’s rather short and a bit confusing due to the short timeline.
Some players claim that the length of the campaign is not the problem. What’s even more concerning is how forgettable it is – almost nothing of note happens, and despite some scenes where Sledgehammer Games was pushing for shock value, nothing really emotional or memorable ever emerges.
Modern Warfare 3 releases worldwide on November 10th and a whole new wave of players will experience just how short the game is.
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