The
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare narrative structure is amazingly similar to that of the
Back to the Future trilogy. It's got a first installment that has no problem standing on its own, but its second and third acts heavily depend on each other. In this regard, Activision has committed a cardinal sin by not porting
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to the Wii. I can guarantee that the majority of customers for this specific version of
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 have little to no experience with 2009's game, and as a result, they may enjoy the campaign a bit less than if they had played the previous installment.
So it may be surprising for most Wii-exclusive players to find that America is neck-deep in the sh*t. Russian nationalists have invaded in full force, the direct result of unsavory actions taken by a sadistic terrorist named Vladimir Makarov. As the franchise usually requires, you'll switch personas at intermittent points during the campaign and do quite a bit of continent-hopping. It's a high-octane adventure that takes you all over the world to kill bad guys and blow things up in the name of liberty. It doesn't make much sense, but it sure is fun.
Remember when I said nearly everything has been scaled back in order for the game to work on Wii? I meant it; Modern Warfare 3's competitive multiplayer doesn't feature as many players as the other versions. Here, ten is the max. That's enough for most of the maps, but anyone who's played the game on a next-gen platform will definitely notice the discrepancy.
Are you ever annoyed by gamers who lean on latency problems as an excuse for their crappy skills? If you're playing Modern Warfare 3 for Wii, you can probably trust them to be truthful in this regard. Occasionally, bullets appear to travel directly through other players, even if the red dot sights and ACOG scopes argue differently. Unfortunately, there's often only one way around this problem: you have to play the game its way. By that, I mean you must learn to lead enemies with your shots, much like a quarterback does with his throws. It's a pain, though I'm expecting (and hoping) that this problem will patched up by the time this review goes live.
Aside from the aforementioned hobbled player count and lag issues, Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer suite is intact. Each of the ten gameplay modes offers intense twitch shooting action, and your actions constantly shower you with rewards and experience. That is, provided your actions aren't limited to "running around and getting killed every ten seconds." A few of the modes incentivize teamwork to an extent, but as of this writing, there are very few communicators. This isn't the developer's fault; after all, Wii hasn't exactly embraced online gaming.
Special Ops makes its debut on Wii as well, but in a stripped-down state. If you were hoping to partake in more than just the admittedly entertaining Survival Mode, you'll be disappointed to know that the Missions that comprise half of Spec Ops on next-gen are M.I.A. on Wii.
