Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Well hey now, that's three video games in five days for me. (Four if you count Carcassonne. Let's not.) I don't have a ton to say about this particular game that Sweeney didn't mention two and a half months ago in his post, and it's not because I'm too tired to come up with my own opinions. I just agree with everything he's already said about the game, and how it was exciting and fun as hell but was probably ultimately the most forgettable and least impactful installment of the Modern Warfare trilogy. This isn't to say it was a bad game or even a disappointing game; it's just that when the first Modern Warfare game came out in 2007, the things it was doing were almost entirely unprecedented, whereas this 2011 game doing some of the same old stuff for the third time in five years just doesn't make the same mark. The rule of the sequel, both in video games and action movies, is that each successive installment needs to be bigger, bolder, and more over-the-top than the previous one, and since Modern Warfare 3 is both a video game and an action movie, you better believe it does everything it can to raise the bar. In a nutshell, the plot is that World War III has broken out. The game begins in the smoldering war zone once known as Manhattan, and within twenty minutes of gameplay you've lit up the NYSE building, attached mines to a Russian submarine in a submerged tunnel, and experienced a high speed Zodiac raft chase in the Hudson Bay weaving around a sinking Russian carrier group. Wow! The Team America-esque world tour of destruction has only just begun, though, as you'll also try to stop chemical attacks in London, call in an airstrike on the Eiffel Tower, and soak the streets of Berlin in the blood of your enemies. (It wouldn't be a World War without mass death in Germany!) Jesus. Remember in the first game when having a nuke go off in the Middle East felt like a huge deal? And then how the second game was controversial because of that airport massacre?

I liked this game as much as I could have expected to. I also beat it in less than five hours. It was what it was - simple, straightforward, over-the-top, and loaded with cutscenes. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, try this game on for size. Better yet, just play the whole trilogy. It might only take you twenty hours. Coming up shortly for me will be Black Ops, the only Call of Duty game I have yet to beat.