It’s wartime once again as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 suits you up for a pretty intense battle on the Wii console.
Ever since the original Call of Duty was released way back in 2003, everyone knew the series was on to something. Brilliantly scripted firefights, awesome storylines, and cutting edge graphics were all present in the release. Fast forward 8 years later, and the Call of Duty franchise has virtually dominated the first-person shooter genre with no competition strong enough to dethrone it, and even EA’s once highly-praised Medal of Honor series has now been left in the dust.
The strengths of Call of Duty lies in its attention to detail and captivating firefights that will leave you unable to tear yourself away from the screen. In Modern Warfare 3, the action picks up right after the events of the previous Modern Warfare. World War 3 is at its most intense moments as Russians invade New York and the deranged Vladamir Makarov attempts to escalate the conflict further by releasing chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. It’s up to the series’ familiar faces Captain John Price, Cpt. John “Soap” MacTavish, Russian informant Nikolai, and newcomer ex-Spetsnaz soldier Yuri to stop the insanity.
The game puts you in the shoes of various soldiers across different locales, but for the most part you play as Yuri. There are many different objectives in the game designed to let you experience the sprawling vicinities to their fullest. From New York, Paris, London, and the occasional backwater outpost, the Wii Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game takes you on a global tour de force as you make your way across these war torn locations and attempt to rectify the conflict. Multiple objectives include getting to a certain checkpoint, holding your ground, planting explosives, gunning down all opposition, and of course chasing after the bad guys who started this entire mess. The whole campaign is held up by a fantastic storyline that ultimately seeks to provide closure to the Modern Warfare series by delivering a satisfying climax.
As an added bonus to the stellar campaign, multiplayer is back and supported on the Wii. Players can go head-to-head with other Call of Duty fanatics with all the features, items, and unlockable content present in the Xbox 360 version. The leveling mechanism is still present, and voice chat is also supported. Furthermore, a new Survival Mode is available for the Wii so that owners can get the full Call of Duty experience even after they have completed the main campaign.
Unfortunately, the Wii console simply does not stand up to the graphical capabilities of the Xbox 360, and it shows when you compare the two versions side-by-side. The locales and battlegrounds aren’t nearly as impressive on the Wii as it is on the Xbox 360, the framerate skips every so often, and the game has difficulty rendering long distance images, making it hard to fire upon enemies further away.
The same problem plagues the online multiplayer, and this is further compounded by the frequent lag. Despite dedicated servers, the slowdown is extremely noticeable, and players may get frustrated being fragged by a less competent opponent all because of the lag time. The game also does not feature a split-screen mode, so local multiplayer co-op is out of the question.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Wii game is available for the Wii console. It can be played with the standard Wii remote, a Wii remote-Nunchuk pairing, or with the Wii Zapper. Online multiplayer is supported.
Despite being on the aging Wii console that doesn’t do as much justice to the breadth and scope of the game as its Xbox 360 counterpart, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is still an awesome game for the Nintendo Wii. There is almost zero competition in the shooter genre that can hold a candle to the Call of Duty series, and if you’re looking for an excellent time blasting away bad guys and saving the world, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the thing for you, even with its minor flaws and hiccups.