Hello to the people tho followed for PixieHollow stuff! I just wanna let you guys know my ask me anything box is open! Go ahead and ask any questions about the au as well as doodle ideas!
The last one is me trying to get better at drawing gaz’s face, since I haven’t drawn him much and wanna be able to draw him. And then the rest is Prikolai/Nikolai
I'm gonna be going in chronological order with the missions. If you want my opinions on *that* scene, then scroll close to the bottom. This is a very lengthy review and I cover every mission.
First of all I absolutely loved all the nods to the original mw games, I noticed the most from mw2 09 since I've actually played that one, but there was some mw3 og references too.
I actually had to pause and take it all in from the first mission. The gulag looked EXACTLY like the one you save Price from in 09. That combined with the fact that Makarov had the same prisoner number as Price did: 627. I really did love the way they set up this mission, I found it a lot easier to play through than previous games. I honestly didn't expect Makarov to be the prisoner until I got to the cell, but it was a great parallel to 09.
I wasn't a fan of how they brought Graves back with no explanation. If they explained it in mw2 raids then I missed it cause I haven't played them all, but I was confused about the timeline and why Graves was even directing Farah in her chapter. This could also just be me being a massive Graves hater, cause I can't stand him. On the plus side ALEX AND FARAH TOGETHER WOOO. I love them they're so married. The open world mission was really unique and fun to play through, the objectives could've been a bit clearer, but again I was kind of ignoring Graves there, half bc i hate him half bc I was focusing on not dying. I need visual cues.
I don't have many thoughts on the Price mission except that it was good to play him first the first time since mw1. I was a bit confused as to how that mission was meant to be done stealthily? The helos were so well guarded, I had to go in loud for all of them.
The next price mission was also pretty fun and was actually pretty easy to do until it came to leaving the bunker. I must've died so many times to that damn juggernaut. I kept getting that "enemies are too close" warning that wouldn't let me finish the mission until I literally had 5 seconds left. I was FRANTIC.
LASWELL MY BELOVED. the first words out of my mouth were "omg laswell looks so good in fatigues" getting to play as her was such a treat bc I LOVE her. It took me a few tries to figure out how to go about it, but I got it. Loved the nods to the og mw3 with Yuri being the Informant. Getting out of the building with the gas chasing me was stressful, but not so bad. Nikolai saves the day. As a metalhead, hearing Nikolai listening to metal at the beginning was really nice since it's a change of pace from what media usually depicts metal listeners as.
I think it was an interesting choice to have us play as Samara in the hijacking chapter. I'm not going to talk much on this one cause it felt a little on the same lines as the mw2 09 airport scene in tasfefulness. I felt so helpless watching everything happen. It really solidifies the kind of antagonist Makarov is going to be for the rest of the campaign.
On the crash site mission it was nice to play Farah again, especially with Alex on overwatch. I was a little lost for most of this mission, but once I figured it out, it was fairly easy. The end wasn't very clear that you had to help Alex, so I failed the first time.
Omg the flashback mission. Loved it so much. Genuinely so well written. 09 refs on 09 refs. It played out so much like a direct opposite to the airport chapter in 09. Definitely didn't hit Makarov too many times cause I could. Seeing 09 Ghost there genuinely made me so happy, I know we've had 09 ghost outfit in game for a while but seeing it in campaign and updated was SO GOOD. The cutscene was another reminder of how 'Two steps ahead" Makarov is. A lot of people had the hc that Ghost and Soap met on the platform in kill or capture in mw2 but this confirmation that they've known each other for at least 4 years was really nice. Gaz was genuinely so beautiful in that cutscene too oml.
I missed a lot of the banter in Oligarch cause I was so focused, but seeing clips of it reminded me of the stealth Gaz Price mission and Alone from mw2. I did notice on the monitor with the codes, it looks like it's literally the coding for the mission. Milena's interrogation was a really good scene of good cop bad good between Ghost and Soap.
Highrise is not only a nod to the old map, but to me it reminded me of the Ramirez mission in the building in mw2 09. It was pretty clear that it was a difficult to navigate mission in game testing since there were SO many arrows spraypainted on the walls. I didn't even notice them until about halfway through and I still got lost. The end with getting Nolan exfil was pretty difficult, but still fun.
Frozen Tundra. oh boy it reminded me so much of the second snow mission in mw2 09. Hated leaving Shepherd to fight, but overall pretty fun mission. Loved everyone's snow camo.
Gora Dam, the first and only Ghost mission. Fun, but I had to restart more than a couple times due to the difficulty. I wish there had been checkpoints. Reminded me a lot of the Atomgrad raid 1. Couldn't take "Makorov poisoning the water supply" line without hearing Woody from toy story saying "someone's poisoning the watering hole"
Don't have much to say about Danger Close other than Gaz is so real for not even acknowledging Graves. I thought it was an odd choice to have Alex and Farah not care about Graves' previous actions. It was pretty much the same as the mw2 22 shadow company overwatch mission, little bit easier though.
And finally the piece de resistance: Trojan Horse. What a whirlwind. very difficult mission that I had to restart many many times. Barely any cover, not clear when more enemies are are spawning. As for the... end. I have a hot take. it didn't feel rushed to me. I think the urgency of diffusing the bomb was a good way to end the playable sections. It was HEAVILY inspired by mw2 09 and I think a lot of people missed that, or just didn't know that. The way Makarov shot soap at first was very reminiscent of the end of mw2 09 where you're fighting Shepard and are under the assumption soap is dying and Price is about to lose. Soap using his last breath to help price, help everyone was very in character, as were everyone else. A lot of people think it was cold and unemotional, but it felt realistic to me. It felt in character, they had a job to do and the only one that strayed from that was Ghost. It hurt of course, I think I spent about 15 seconds just staring at Soap and Ghost trying to process it. I actually Clipped that part and when I rewatched, I realized I completely didn't hear Gaz telling me to help him diffuse the bomb. In fact I didn't hear him until he said "he's gone captain" and then asked for help. The reason it was so different from mw3 was because it happened so suddenly. In the og, Price spent like 20 minutes thinking that soap could live if he got help, them watched him die. Here, however, he saw him get shot in the head, pretty cut and dry no coming back from that.
Soap's funeral was also well done. They don't need to be emotional messes, especially since cremation takes time, it's been at the very least like a week since his death. Everyone grieves differently. I loved that they spent the time to take his remains to Scotland. It shows they care. It shows that they respected him greatly.
The mid credit scene was predictable but exactly what I wanted. When Shepherd walked on screen I audibly said "I hope price is waiting in there with a gun" and sure enough. It did feel open ended to leave room for a mw4, but I think whether or not we get one doesn't matter. This story has been told, if Activision chooses to continue, I'll likely play it, but it isn't needed.
Overall, the campaign did a very good job at its purpose: showcasing gameplay for mw3. It's what the campaigns are for at the end of the day. It showed off guns, controls, operators, and maps. The open combat missions gave us a little insight into what the MWZ gamemode might be like. I personally thought everyone was in character. I know a lot of Soap and GhostSoap fans are disappointed with the outcome, but it felt like a respectful way to end Soap's story. As a GhostSoap shipper myself, i feel like we got enough content and backstory of them.
