Summary
- Fans of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are disappointed with the lack of overall content in the new release, despite enjoying new weapons and classic maps.
- The absence of the popular Gunfight mode in Modern Warfare 3 has drawn criticism from fans, continuing a frustrating trend of delayed additions of the mode in previous CoD releases.
- Activision has announced that Gunfight will be added to Modern Warfare 3 during its first in-game season, which is expected to launch on December 6.
Fans are becoming more familiar with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer experiences across its core online, Warzone, and Zombies modes. While fans are enjoying the opportunities of new weapons and re-experiencing classic maps from 2009's MW2, there is a clear lack of overall content that is already drawing a lot of heat to the new release.
While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has dabbled in other new modes for its core multiplayer, the absence of Gunfight is a glaring omission that a lot of fans are disappointed about. Gunfight has been a staple of CoD multiplayer for some time now, but this is not the first time that the mode has taken too long to be added to releases for the IP. The lack of Gunfight at launch for Modern Warfare 3 adds to an increasingly bizarre trend for the franchise that Call of Duty should not carry forward into future releases.
Modern Warfare 3 is the Latest Game to Drop the Ball with Gunfight
Gunfight was a mode first introduced to Call of Duty in 2019's Modern Warfare, being one of the key reasons that the game was regarded as a fresh take on the franchise's long multiplayer history. Away from the usual chaos of 6v6 CoD multiplayer, Gunfight tones things down to a highly strategic 2v2 experience. In Gunfight, both teams usually get the exact same loadouts on a rotation with no health regeneration, with the last team standing winning a round. These rounds have short timers of around 40 seconds and take place on intimate maps designed specifically for the mode, with a capture point appearing when a round goes into overtime.
Gunfight would go on to appear in the following titles, being a testament to just how popular the mode is with fans:
- Call of Duty Mobile
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Despite the consistent appearances and audience interaction with Gunfight, many of these titles did not include the mode at launch, instead waiting long into their life-cycles to introduce it. For example, the mode did not come to Cold War until its first in-game season, with the more recent Modern Warfare 2 waiting until Season 3 of its multiplayer to release Gunfight.
Modern Warfare 3 Missed an Easy Opportunity to Win Fans Over with Gunfight
The frequent delays of Gunfight's addition to recent CoD releases has been the subject of a lot of criticism within the franchise's community. Many fans consider the mode to be the perfect blend of teamwork, strategy, and individual skill. Some assumed that this frustrating trend would end with Modern Warfare 3, especially with MW3 already borrowing a lot of assets from past CoD releases, but sadly this has not been the case.
While fans were rightfully quick to voice concern over this, Activision recently announced some plans for Modern Warfare 3's near-future that bode well for Gunfight. It has been confirmed that Gunfight will be added to Modern Warfare 3 during its first in-game season, as it did for Black Ops Cold War in 2020.
While an exact date for Season One of Modern Warfare 3 is still unconfirmed, a good guess can be made by studying the past patterns of Call of Duty seasons in recent years. With this in mind, most theories point to December 6 as the likely date that Season One will launch, meaning fans thankfully do not have long to wait to finally get their Gunfight fix. While a Season One introduction of Gunfight is better than Modern Warfare 2's Season Three addition of the mode, the absence of Gunfight at launch has given more strength to a very disappointing trend for the IP.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 58 /100 Critics Rec: 14%
- Released
- November 10, 2023
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Sledgehammer Games
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- iw 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
WHERE TO PLAY
- Franchise
- Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
- How Long To Beat
- 5 Hours
