The Modern Warfare franchise proves that it has finally run out of original ideas with the third instalment in the phenomenally successful series.

Kicking off the single-player immediately following the events of Modern Warfare 2, we rejoin the injured ‘Soap’ McTavish and heavily-mustached Captain Price as the world teeters on the edge of World War Three. Following on from the standards set by its predecessor, MW3 could almost get away without a story, as in the end it boils down to little more than exposition filled cut-scenes book-ending the bombastic in-game set pieces.

Spectacle is the name of the game this time around. Hardly a mission goes by in Modern Warfare 3 where your iron sights aren’t drawn to a cinematic explosion, collapsing building or hovering Osprey. Sadly these exceptionally pretty scenes are just that – an event happening out of reach of the player which acts to instill a sense of drama or urgency. Sadly these moments are necessary to ensure there is even a modicum of drama in the game since the game play feels more like going through the motions than saving the world.

Each significant moment from Modern Warfare 2 is shamelessly repeated in Modern Warfare 3. Sneaking past guards on a sniper mission, gunning down soldiers from the turret of a tank, breaching an old fortress-like complex, breaking down doors? They are all present once again and feel so familiar that they could have been copied and pasted. Even the controversial ‘No Russian’ mission is alluded to, discussed and shown so many times that you would not be judged for thinking it is still 2009.

The single-player game seems to have gone beyond the shock-and-awe tactics of the 2009 hit and the infamous massacre mission. In its place is some of the most gratuitous, self-indulgent violence you will find in a video game. It is easy to lose count of the numbers of innocent, racially diverse bodies you trip over on your way from objective point A to objective point B.

There is a moment in the original Modern Warfare game where you crawl broken and beaten from the wreckage of a helicopter following the detonation of a nuclear device. Your movement is slow and for several long moments you are limited to the dark interior of the vehicle before you emerge into the devastation. The city which you had been playing in moments before is leveled, and as you turn to see the blossoming mushroom cloud, you lose control over the character as he succumbs to radiation poisoning and expires.

Make of it what you will. Hidden within those not-so-subtle moments of game play may be some comment on the nature and horrors of modern war. There is nothing like that in Modern Warfare 3. The violence is constant and without meaning – nothing but a shameless hollow spectacle.

However, at the end of the day, one does not become the most successful entertainment launch of all time without having something more significant to offer than a six hour single-player campaign. Multi-player is what makes Call Of Duty an annual record-breaker.

If you have played the last two Call Of Duty games you will find the multi-player experience in Modern Warfare 3 fairly familiar. There are new guns, new perks and streak rewards and balancing in what guns you can carry (shotguns can no longer be a secondary weapon for example).

The most significant additions to the well-tested formula are the Spec Ops Survival mode and ‘Kill Confirmed’ mode. Ticking the box which states that all games must include a Gears Of War Horde Mode variant, Survival mode pits the player against various waves of enemy combatants and vehicles, building up cash to spend on weapons and ammo.

It is a nice to have extra cooperative content bundled in the box but opposed to the tongue-in-cheek fun of the Treyarchs Nazi Zombies it feels dry. There is no enough feedback to the player to make it feel fun to continue battling the endless terrorist forces.

The second addition of note is the ‘Kill Confirmed’ game mode in the traditional competitive multi-player. Forcing players to run to the body of their downed enemy to collect their dog tags (and the point), the mode is ideal for deterring campers and snipers.

In addition to this, it encourages an additional level of co-operative multi-player since you can run to collect the dog tags of your fallen allies to deny an enemy kill, or collect enemy tags for team mates. It keeps the player moving and it is a welcome addition to the otherwise well-trodden COD multi-player experience.

The multi-player maps feel a little less unique and individual than in previous games. Problems with larger levels putting off players who could spent minutes at a time looking for the enemy team has lead to Modern Warfare 3′s maps being scaled down to one relatively generic middling size. In some respects this is nice because the player does not find himself stuck on an sprawling level being picked off by unreachable snipers, but after several hours game play each level starts to feel interchangeable with the next, and they lack an identity whether it be for better or for worse.

Modern Warfare 3 is the end of the Modern Warfare trilogy thankfully and the time has come for the series to receive a significant overhaul. The game has clearly suffered from a troubled production given the departure of West and Zampella (and most of Infinity Ward) and vast swathes of the game play feel tired and reused from previous titles. The multi-player component is as solid and competent as it has been in any of the previous titles and, at the end of the day, it is the real reason that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch of all time.