Modern Warfare 3 players unconvinced by ‘open-world’ CoD

The future of Call of Duty is here, and while we were promised Sledgehammer Games’ Modern Warfare 3 would change the story forever, did you really expect the shooter series to go full God of War Ragnarok or Tears of the Kingdom by embracing open-world themes?

While it’s good news that single-player campaigns won’t be coming to a close with Modern Warfare 3, your typical story is getting an overhaul. You might be a little confused by the idea of Open Combat Missions, but basically, the standard Campaign is about to become a lot less linear.

Call of Duty fans unconvinced by Open Combat Missions

Open Combat Missions (OCMs) are a brand-new addition to Call of Duty’s single-player, supposedly allowing for more creativity as you tackle the Campaign however you want. It’s definitely a unique twist at a time when some are criticising CoD for running out of ideas and churning out titles, but not everyone is sold.

With the first footage of OCMs debuting at Gamescom 2023, Open Combat Missions encourage you to use stealth to sneak around enemies or simply go in all guns blazing. Although this variance should appear to everyone, it’s instead led to someone calling out an “open-world” Call of Duty.

One critic wrote, “This system is either gonna be the greatest thing ever or turn the campaign into a soulless DMZ Clone,” while another added, “Not everything needs to be Warzone.” A third critic summed up, “Hope this doesn’t turn out to be multiplayer/warzone maps with bots and some misc objective.”

Others were less critical, with someone cheering, “Excited to play. W changes from the last iteration and hoping it’s executed well,” and another saying, “Sledgehammer is COOKING SOME GOOD STUFF.” Others were more on the fence, saying, “Whether this is good or not, I truly respect the willingness to try something new and interesting!“

Modern Warfare 3’s OCMs could fix single-player

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For as long as we can remember, it’s been Call of Duty multiplayer that’s held the franchise up. You only have to look at the success of Warzone helping keep CoD afloat to see single-player tends to be something of an afterthought. The problem tends to be replayability, with the Campaign easily being finished in a matter of hours.

It’s clear the OCMs are designed to get you to return to missions and try them from a different angle, but whether that makes up for the pull of multiplayer, remains to be seen. Sledgehammer supporters are right, at least Modern Warfare 3 is trying something different, and when CoD is accused of going stale, that can only be a bonus.