MW3 players praise highly requested gun animation change

Nathan Warby
MW3 player aiming down sights

Modern Warfare 3 includes a weapon check animation that plays whenever an Operator respawns, but after players became increasingly frustrated on small maps like Shipment, the devs have introduced a change they seem to love.

Modern Warfare 3 players go to great lengths to ensure they secure they’re in the best possible position to win each match. From running the best audio or controller settings to using a meta loadout, there’s a lot of preparation that goes into a game.

So, when they’re killed by something that’s out of their control, whether it’s a glitch or a hacker, it’s easy to see why many finding extremely frustrating.

One of the surprising features that was reportedly leading to annoying deaths was the gun check animation, but the devs have released a change that players have praised as a huge “W.”

In an X (formerly Twitter) post about Gun Game being added to Quick Play, Sledgehammer Games said: “Additionally, weapon check animations will no longer play upon respawn in small map playlists, allowing you to get back into the fight uninterrupted!”

This means that the animation will play out as normal on regular modes, but has been removed on smaller playlists like Meat 24/7.

Before the change was made, Modern Warfare 3 players found that the split-second animation that triggered on every respawn was leading to unfortunate deaths where they couldn’t react. This was especially clear on maps like Shipment, where you often spawn near an enemy.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise that fans welcomed the change, taking to the comments to heap praise on the devs.

“This is a w because on shipment it’s awful,” said one reply, before leaker ‘TheMW2Ghost’ added: “THIS CHANGE IS GREAT!! I was close to making a post about it but yall already on it! Love that!”

While this may seem like a relatively small change, players are clearly over the moon that the devs have taken steps to give them more of a fighting chance after spawning on smaller maps.

For more on Modern Warfare 3, be sure to check out everything we know about the Season 1 Reloaded update, as well as when Ranked Play is set to arrive.

About The Author

Nathan is a Senior Writer at CharlieIntel. He’s an expert in EA Sports FC, Call of Duty, and Overwatch, as well as superhero games, including Marvel’s Spider-Man. With a master's degree in Magazine Journalism from Nottingham Trent University, he worked as a Trainee Reporter for Derbyshire Live before moving into games media, with bylines at Dexerto, Cultured Vultures, and more. You can contact Nathan by email at [email protected].