Summary
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's cast of characters, including Task Force 141, stand out despite the game's flaws.
- Alex Keller, a fan-favorite character, has had a strange history in the Modern Warfare series, but his inclusion in MW3 feels wasted.
- Alex Keller lacks relevance and agency in the MW3 campaign, leaving fans disappointed and hoping for more in future installments.
One of the Call of Duty franchise's best hidden strengths is its usually great cast of characters. While a lot of Call of Duty characters end up falling to the wayside due to being trapped in generic soldier and tough-guy archetypes, there are some Call of Duty entries that have managed to break the mold with their own cast of allies and villains, and it's often these entries that are considered some of the best in franchise history. Obviously, Modern Warfare's Task Force 141 is the perfect example of this, and they're once again a highlight in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
By all accounts, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's campaign isn't all that great. While Modern Warfare 3's campaign has some severe pacing issues, a detrimental lack of set pieces, an absurdly short length, and a weak story, its character dynamics still stick out. This is the first time in the reboot series that fans have really seen the whole band get together, with not just Task Force 141 coming together again, but Laswell, Farah, General Shepherd, Makarov, and Nikolai. And along with them comes the return of another fan-favorite face, Alex Keller, though unfortunately, his inclusion feels completely wasted.
Alex Keller Feels Wasted in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Alex Keller Has Had a Strange History with Modern Warfare
One of the main protagonists of 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Alex Keller was set up as a main player of this rebooted universe, though he was seemingly killed off-screen during the game's climactic battle, sacrificing himself by destroying Barkov's facility. It took only a year before Alex was resurrected in Call of Duty: Warzone, where it was revealed he survived the gigantic explosion and only came away with one missing leg.
Alex then appeared more recently in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Raids, where he was seen working alongside Graves. Naturally, all of these teases over the last few years have made fans pretty excited for Alex Keller's triumphant full return in a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sequel, and though he's in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, it still feels like fans are awaiting that big return.
Alex Keller's appearance in Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare 2's Raids exemplifies a big problem with modern Call of Duty's storytelling. Rather than just getting the main plot beats from the core series' campaign, fans now have to experience everything Call of Duty-related otherwise they could miss huge story points, most of which aren't really explained in the mainline campaign.
Alex Keller Gets Nothing to Do in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Alex Keller does make a full return in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but he really doesn't get much to do. Alex first appears alongside Farah pretty early on in Modern Warfare 3's campaign, still assisting the ULF in their continued fight for their homeland. After uttering just one or two lines of dialog, Alex is told to wait behind and let Farah complete the mission, and he isn't seen or heard from again until the end of the mission.
This trend continues throughout Modern Warfare 3. Every time Alex appears in-game, he's told to wait behind, the player controls Farah, and he disappears until the mission's final moments. The player never actually gets to control Alex Keller during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's campaign, and what's worse is that he has virtually no relevance to the game's story or action. Though Alex is technically there during most of Farah's missions, he doesn't do anything. Even in the mission where he's supposed to be providing overwatch for Farah, he does little else but make a few comments about enemy movements. With Alex being such a major part of the first Modern Warfare, it feels very disappointing that he wasn't given more to do in MW3, but there's always next time.
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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
The war has changed. Call of Duty returns with an all-new campaign, modernized versions of classic Multiplayer maps and an open-world PvE Zombies experience. The campaign, a direct sequel to the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, sees Captain Price and Task Force 141 face off against ultranationalist war criminal Vladimir Makarov as he extends his grasp across the world. In Multiplayer, the 16 maps that launched with Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 return with upgraded graphics, new modes and innovative gameplay features. In Modern Warfare Zombies, team up with other squads for the first time ever as you work together to survive in the largest Zombies map yet
- 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
