Modern Warfare 3 is the lowest-rated CoD game ever

Joseph Pascoulis
mw3 character holding a weapon in the rain

Despite being incredibly popular, Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare 3 has become the franchise’s lowest-rated title ever.

Modern Warfare 3 has a lot to offer, from a story-focused campaign to multiplayer and Zombies. The campaign was released early, which allowed players the chance to experience the story mode prior to the madness of multiplayer.

The campaign didn’t receive the best of reviews, with many criticizing the Open Combat missions and overall length.

Now that some time has passed, the reviews for the game are pretty set, especially now that player focus has switched to multiplayer and Zombies. The scores are in and it doesn’t look too good for Sledgehammer Games, as MW3 currently has the “the worst review scores in Call of Duty history.”

MW3 review scores

MW3’s review scores on Metacritic and Open Critic are 53 and 58 respectively, which stand as the worst scores in Call of Duty history.

These scores come from big names such as GameSpot, GamesBeat, and IGN, who scored the game as low as 4 out of 10. The user score on Metacritic is “overwhelming dislike” and OpenCrtic’s is “weak.”

Some are slightly confused at the scores, as one comment under WarzoneIntel‘s X post said, “I must be on a different planet because I’ve played COD for years and I love this one.”

It’s important to note that these scores are reflective of the campaign, not the multiplayer or Zombies, which players are enjoying much more, as one comment read, “MP and Zombies is actually really good.”

That said, it’s still not a great look for Sledgehammer Games, and some worry that the scores and reputation of being the lowest-rated CoD title of all time could sway Activision to make more games like MW2, when the community generally feel MW3 is an upgrade:

“The multiplayer is significantly better, but Activision is just gonna see mw3 bad mw2 good and make more games like it.” Others pointed out the positive reviews on PlayStation, which has a 4.09 out of 5.

While the scores may make MW3 the lowest-rated CoD game of all time, a glance at the community’s opinions would suggest the opposite, as players seem to be much happier with SHG and their development ideology of making community-requested changes:

Some have even gone as far as to say that MW3 is “one of the best cod releases in a long time,” wishing that “they would rate this game differently for its Multiplayer…its worlds above where the past COD games were at, the best MP for a COD that I have played in ages.”

Ultimately, if you enjoy MW3, these review scores shouldn’t impact your opinion of the game, as the community may think back on MW3 with joy in the future. We’ll have to wait and see how the game’s reputation holds up in the future, but for now, check out everything you need to know about MW3’s Prestige system.

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About The Author

Joseph is a Senior Writer at CharlieIntel, specializing in shooters such as Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Overwatch. He also enjoys Souls-likes, the Resident Evil franchise, and Tekken. After writing for KeenGamer, he joined CharlieIntel in 2021. If Joseph isn't writing about games, he's most likely playing them. You can contact him at [email protected].