Makarov has proven himself to be one of CoD’s greatest villains, yet his latest reimagining has left players severely disappointed at how “watered down” he became.
2023’s MW3 has been the center of much attention, for better and worse. While fans have had their fair share of criticism on the multiplayer component, overall reception has been positive due to the return of CoD’s arcade-like roots.
On the other hand, the campaign itself has been blasted to the moon and back, as it’s been at the forefront of heavy criticism and jokes, most notably Christopher Judge’s roast during The Game Awards.
One of the many campaign critiques was its villain, with players roasting the implementation of a reimagined Makarov.
Note: Spoilers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will follow.
CoD players compare Makarov of new and old
For those out of the loop, the new Modern Warfare trilogy saw the developers retell the tale of the previous trilogy via a “reimagining.” Fans have seen many familiar faces, albeit with minor shifts to their personas or roles.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
One constant, out of Captain Price and Ghost, is Makarov, the nefarious villain from the previous trilogy who basically started World War 3. Makarov returned in MW3, and after how evil he was years ago, fans were excited to see if he would remain consistently villainous.
However, while his reimagined self remained a villain, his persona felt anything but that. Reception of his return has been evil, with fans claiming he’s the weakest villain to date. Others have charted his “fall off,” such as this post shared to the Call of Duty subreddit.
“MW3 has quite possibly the worst campaign in the series,” one player replied. They continued: “Good thing Multiplayer and Zombies are fun because god damn the story was not doing the game any favors.” This seemed to be the general consensus, as players felt Makarovs’ return was heinous in execution, not in action.
There were also roasts of the character’s appearance, with many feeling he looked anything less than scary. One player replied: “Also to note that the guy on the right doesn’t look terrifying or menacing at f**king all.”
Keep in mind, with Call of Duty’s revised approach to storytelling via Warzone, MW3’s Makarov may see his villainous nature fleshed out.
