Highlights

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's War mode needs more attention and variety to realize its full potential.
  • The lack of map variety in MW3's War mode compared to its predecessor WW2 is a major setback.
  • With rumors of 2024's Call of Duty being set during the Gulf War, War mode could finally thrive with realistic settings and better rewards.

While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has received a lot of criticism over its perceived lack of original content, it does have some unique multiplayer offerings that just need a bit more appreciation to realize its full potential. Away from the campaign and Zombies modes of the release, the underused War game mode is arguably MW3's most with the most potential going forward.

War has only appeared once before in the franchise before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and the recent title has not done much to give the mode enough variety ever since it launched in 2023. As attention is starting to turn towards 2024's Treyarch-led release for the Call of Duty franchise, War deserves to become a staple of the series' multiplayer going forward, as long as it gets the amount of content that it needs to truly shine.

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Call of Duty's War Needs More Attention Going Forward

War was first introduced to Call of Duty with 2017's Call of Duty: WW2, being a larger-scale objective-based mode that is a big departure from the usual 6v6 gameplay of the IP. With both teams switching between attack and defense, players work their way through several zones of linear maps, giving a layer of strategy and teamwork to Call of Duty that most of its other modes do not offer.

After a long absence, Sledgehammer Games revived the mode for Modern Warfare 3, showing how War can exist in essentially any setting and does not necessarily have to be constricted to huge real-world conflicts like the Second World War. While fans were interested in re-experiencing such an interesting mode in MW3, it is clear that the recent title has not done nearly enough to bolster its take on War.

The most glaring example of this lies in the map variety of War in Modern Warfare 3, with only one experience being available for some time after the game's release. Operation Spearhead was the only War map in MW3 for three months until the launch of Season Two of the title on February 7. Season Two of MW3 introduced the new War map Operation Tin Man, although this still makes MW3's War map roster pail in comparison to WW2's launch War maps.

Call of Duty: WW2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Number of War Maps at Launch

3

1

Call of Duty 2024's Setting Could Be What War Needs to Thrive

Despite the lack of variety in Modern Warfare 3's take on War, the game mode is receiving a lot of positive attention throughout the community, with the promise of more maps in future seasonal updates creating a lot of hype. As long as it is carried forward with a greater launch map-pool and better rewards for play, War could easily become a staple feature of this year's Call of Duty release and beyond.

Current rumors point toward 2024's Call of Duty entry to be a continuation of the Black Ops series, allegedly being set during the Gulf War. This would give Treyarch a lot of real-world inspiration for a more robust War mode within the project, with WW2's War mode doing so well thanks to its realistic settings. If these rumors end up being true, then 2024 could finally be the year that War is taken a step further, with increased variety and rewards giving the mode a firm foothold in the future of Call of Duty.