All Modern Warfare 3 campaign missions, ranked

While I’ve seen a lot of hate for the Modern Warfare 3 campaign stirring online, I happen to enjoy it. Because I enjoy the MW3 campaign, this ranked mission list might differ from your own.

I haven’t played a Call of Duty campaign in a really long time, so the MW3 campaign was a return to form for me. Though I’ll admit the MW3 campaign has weak spots — notably, the lack of cohesion, pacing, action-packed hands-on events, and a good ending — the missions in a vacuum aren’t bad.

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What is the best mission in the MW3 campaign?

The best MW3 campaign mission, in my opinion, is Reactor. Personally, I love the Open Combat Missions (which I know is controversial). They’re tight missions with a lot of freedom; I feel like it’s a page ripped from Deathloop which does a semi-open world very well.

Though exploring at your own pace and doing whatever you want is great in these missions, I wish there were more unlockables and secrets to discover. They are all a little too short, too. That said, these Open Combat Missions are a great first draft for more nuanced and detailed Open Combat Missions in the future.

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What is the worst mission in the MW3 campaign?

The worst mission in Modern Warfare 3 is the last mission, Trojan Horse. While there are a few other missions that aren’t particularly fun or are just unnecessary, Trojan Horse carries the weight of delivering an amazing finish and, while it doesn’t even come close, it’s also unforgivable in some other ways.

The mission itself is pretty basic and boring — run forward and shoot enemies. There’s never a moment where you need to jump onto a train or do a shootout between two trains. Besides escalating the story to its highest moment and then cutting it short, there’s a major story beat within Trojan Horse that is handled pretty carelessly. Overall, Trojan Horse is anticlimactic and handles the story of Call of Duty with haste and carelessness.

All MW3 campaign missions, ranked worst to best

Now that you’ve gotten a taste of my opinion on the MW3 campaign, hopefully, you’ll understand my overall ranking. From worst to best, here is my ranking of the MW3 campaign missions:

• Trojan Horse
• Deep Cover
• Danger Close
• Frozen Tundra
• Crash Site
• Oligarch
• Passenger
• Precious Cargo
• Highrise
• Operation 627
• Gora Dam
• Flashpoint
• Payload
• Reactor

While I love Reactor, Gora Dam, and Highrise, I think Precious Cargo, Oligarch, and Crash Site are the weaker Open Combat Missions. Reactor has so much to see and do, Gora Dam has a fun environment to explore, and Highrise has a lot of verticality that presents a lot of gameplay options. Precious Cargo is good but a little too cramped and crowded, Crash Site is too short, and Oligarch is too rushed.

Flashpoint is one of my favorite non-Open Combat Missions because you have an added challenge of pedestrians in the way. I really like Payload, and it really does battle for my top spot, because it is fairly open while still being linear. It’s got a great amount of stealth, a great amount of exploration, and a timer rush at the end.

Deep Cover is so short; it feels like a waste of time. On the other hand, Passenger is really short, but it’s one of the only high-adrenaline big moments in the campaign which is why I enjoyed it. Danger Close is pretty boring because you just play as overwatch. Frozen Tundra was a huge waste of potential. Also, the snipers are annoying.

Those are some of my thoughts on the MW3 campaign missions, but what do you think? Do you like the Open Combat Missions or do you think they ruin the campaign? In general, the MW3 campaign isn’t great, but I don’t think it’s as bad as people paint it to be.

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