You remember the original 2011 trilogy closer, right? Big set pieces. Exploding Eiffel Tower. A sense of global scale that felt like a summer blockbuster on steroids. Fast forward to the rebooted 2023 release, and things took a sharp turn. If you’ve spent any time playing the modern warfare 3 campaign missions, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not just a sequel; it’s a fundamental shift in how Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward decided to structure a Call of Duty story. Some people love the freedom. Others? Honestly, they’re still mourning the loss of those tightly scripted, "on-rails" moments that defined the golden era of the franchise.
It’s weird.
The game starts with Operation 627. It’s classic CoD. You’re infiltrating a gulag, it’s raining, everything is moody, and the night vision kicks in. It feels right. But then, the game throws a curveball called Open Combat Missions (OCMs). This is where the community split. Instead of a narrow path, you’re dropped into a mini-warzone map. You’ve got a tac-map, some crates to find, and a "figure it out yourself" vibe. It’s a massive departure from the cinematic tunnel-vision we grew up with.
👉 See also: Characters LEGO Marvel Avengers: Who is Actually Worth Playing?
The Open Combat Missions Debate
Let’s talk about these OCMs because they make up a huge chunk of the modern warfare 3 campaign missions roster. Missions like Precious Cargo or Reactor don’t tell you where to walk. You want to go in quiet with a suppressed EBR? Go for it. You want to drive a cargo truck through the front gate while screaming? Also an option.
But here’s the catch. Because these levels are so open, they often lose that "movie-like" tension. When you can wander 200 meters away from the objective to find a plate carrier, the pacing slows down. For players who want a tight, three-hour adrenaline shot, these levels can feel like filler. Yet, for the completionists, there’s a weirdly addictive quality to hunting down every weapon crate and field upgrade scattered across the map.
Most of these missions reuse assets from the Verdansk map. If you played Warzone back in 2020, you’ll have a bizarre sense of deja vu. Walking through the military base or the stadium area feels less like a new story and more like a trip down memory lane, for better or worse. It’s efficient game design, sure, but it does pull the curtain back a bit on the development process. You start seeing the "game-ness" of it all rather than being immersed in the narrative.
Why Makarov Matters (Again)
Vladimir Makarov is back, and he’s still a monster. The mission Passenger is a direct, horrifying callback to the "No Russian" controversy of the original MW2. It’s uncomfortable. It’s meant to be. The writers clearly wanted to re-establish Makarov as a global threat who doesn't care about collateral damage. Unlike the 2011 version, this Makarov feels more like a shadow operative, orchestrating chaos from the periphery rather than just leading an army.
The mission Flashpoint takes us back to the Verdansk stadium massacre, and honestly, it’s one of the strongest points in the game. It’s scripted. It’s intense. It shows exactly why Task Force 141 is terrified of this guy. When the game sticks to its guns—pun intended—and delivers these high-stakes, narrative-heavy beats, it reminds you why we care about Price, Ghost, and Gaz in the first place.
Breaking Down the Mission List
If you’re looking at the total package, you’re looking at 14 missions. It sounds like a lot, but because of the OCM structure, some of them can be finished in fifteen minutes if you just sprint to the finish line.
👉 See also: Why Fear of Silent Hill Still Keeps Us Awake at Night
- Operation 627: The high-point for many. It’s the prison break that introduces the big bad.
- Precious Cargo: Your first taste of Open Combat. You're at a port. You're looking for GPS trackers. It's basically "Warzone: The Single Player Experience."
- Deep Cover: A shorter, stealth-focused mission that feels very much like the "spy" side of Modern Warfare. No guns, just a disguised infiltrate.
- Frozen Tundra: Classic sniper gameplay. It’s cold, visibility is low, and you're picking off targets in the woods.
The variety is there. You go from the mountains of Kastovia to the streets of London and back to the Middle East. But the connective tissue between these locations feels thinner than in Modern Warfare II (2022). You’re bouncing around the globe so fast it’s hard to keep track of the geopolitical stakes. One minute you're worried about chemical weapons, the next you're trying to stop a plane crash, and suddenly you're in a tunnel under London.
The Technical Reality of 2023's Development
We have to be real here. The development cycle for this game was famously short. Reports from Bloomberg and other industry insiders suggested this was originally intended to be a massive expansion for the previous year's game before being pivoted into a full premium release. You can see the scars of that decision in the modern warfare 3 campaign missions.
The OCMs feel like a solution to a time problem. It’s much faster to build a sandbox and let the AI wander around than it is to animate 20 minutes of custom, mo-capped cinematic sequences. This isn't necessarily a "bad" thing—plenty of people love the Far Cry-style approach—but it explains why the game feels like two different projects stitched together. You have the "classic" missions that clearly had more dev time, and then you have the open-ended ones that fill the gaps.
Is It Worth the Playthrough?
If you’re a lore nerd, yes. You need to see how the Soap and Ghost dynamic evolves. You need to see the ending, which... well, without spoiling it, let's just say it's polarizing. It leaves a lot of doors open for the future of the series, but it closes one very big door in a way that feels abrupt.
The gunplay is still the best in the business. No one does the "heft" of a rifle or the sound of a reload quite like the Call of Duty teams. Even in the less-inspired missions, just moving and shooting feels incredibly polished. The transition between third-person cutscenes and first-person gameplay is seamless, a feat of engineering that we often take for granted.
Actionable Insights for Your Playthrough:
- Don't Ignore the Crates: In Open Combat Missions, the weapons you find in orange crates are unlocked for your "loadout" for that mission. If you die and restart, you can spawn with that silenced sniper or the heavy armor. It makes the "Veteran" difficulty significantly easier.
- Toggle the Map: Use your tactical map constantly in missions like Gora Dam. It shows enemy patrols and vehicle locations. Knowledge is genuinely power here.
- Intel is Everywhere: There are tiny narrative nuggets hidden in the OCMs—laptops, documents, and overheard conversations. If you care about the Makarov plot, slow down and listen to the guards.
- Stealth is Variable: The AI in this game is... inconsistent. In missions like Deep Cover, they’re eagle-eyed. In OCMs, you can sometimes snipe a guy and his buddy five feet away won't notice. Use this to your advantage to thin the herd before moving in.
The modern warfare 3 campaign missions represent a Crossroads for the franchise. It’s an experiment in player agency that doesn't always stick the landing, but it’s a bold attempt to modernize a formula that was starting to feel a bit stale. Whether you think it's a "DLC-sized" campaign or a legitimate evolution depends entirely on how much you value those big, scripted Hollywood moments over the freedom to choose your own path.
👉 See also: Why Pokkén Tournament DX for Nintendo Switch Still Hits Different Years Later
The credits roll, the dust settles, and you're left wondering where Task Force 141 goes next. It's not the ending we expected, but it's certainly the one that will keep the community arguing until the next cycle begins.