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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare vs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is an FPS game from Treyarch (2007) while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) is an FPS survival game from Infinity Ward (2011).

Quick answer: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) are too close, or too thinly reviewed, to separate on the numbers; the table below shows what each holds.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

2007 · Treyarch

92Metacritic

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

2011 · Infinity Ward

7.8GamingPickz Score

$39.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is filed under FPS. In contrast, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) under FPS and Survival.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment in the Call of Duty series. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous entries and is instead set in modern times. Developed over two years, Modern Warfare was released in November 2007 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. A Wii port, developed by Treyarch and subtitled Reflex Edition, was released in 2009. It was followed by two sequels that continue the storyline: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Modern Warfare 3 (2011).

Description from Wikipedia

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

The best-selling first-person action series of all-time returns with an epic sequel to the multiple GOTY award winner Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Plot

The mission " All Ghillied Up " is set in the abandoned city of Pripyat , Ukraine. In 2011, civil war breaks out in Russia between the government and Ultranationalists who seek to restore the country's Soviet-era influence. At the same time, Khaled Al-Asad leads a coup in an unnamed Middle Eastern country and executes its president, Yasir Al-Fulani. (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Critical response Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare received "universal acclaim" for its Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions, and "generally favorable reviews" for its Wii version, according to review aggregator Metacritic . Critics praised the game's move from World War II to a contemporary military setting, its set-piece-driven campaign, production values, and multiplayer mode. GameSpot s Jeff Gerstmann described the campaign as brief, but… (Wikipedia)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

No Wikipedia detail on file.

At a glance

Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)
GamingPickz Score—7.8/10
Steam rating—Very Positive (89%, 39,710)
Critic aggregate92/100No aggregate
PriceUnknown$39.99
Install size—16 GB
Steam DeckUntestedunsupported
Released20072011
DeveloperTreyarchInfinity Ward

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare vs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011), point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareFPS game
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)FPS survival game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareNo descriptive tags
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)Action, FPS, Shooter

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Content and scale

    Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare—
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)39,710 reviews · 16 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  4. Price

    Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareUnknown
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)$39.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 0 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

Where they differ

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is also

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) is also

ActionFPSMultiplayerShooterFirst-PersonWar

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) is relaxed, easy to pick up.

System requirements, side by side

Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)
Minimum GPU—Shader 3.0
Minimum CPU—Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600
Minimum RAM—2 GB
Install size—16 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare · Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011).

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and 0 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011). A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) in scope?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare lists little scope data. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) has drawn 39,710 Steam reviews and installs in 16 GB.

Is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) better?

Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.

Which is cheaper, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)?

One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.

Should I get Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) are too close, or too thinly reviewed, to separate on the numbers; the table below shows what each holds. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

All comparisons

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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