Modern Warfare 3's latest exploit is wriggling around on the floor as a snake going mach one

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Snake? Snake?! Snaaaaake!

Ghost, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), looks bleakly at a fellow passenger in a transport.
(Image credit: Infinity Ward)

What is it about the Modern Warfare games producing the most cursed-looking movement glitches, lately? There was the horrifying "G walk" in MW2, which looked like your character was breaking out an all fours to tear into someone's jugular, and this 'Superman' glitch from the same year that made you look like a Hunter from Left 4 Dead.

Now Modern Warfare 3 continues this unholy tradition by letting players wriggle across the ground at top speeds. Before I get into how this is happening, here's a clip of it in action, courtesy of vvinta_ (Winter) on Twitter, who becomes an actual snake on a plane as she slithers towards her enemy:

According to this rundown by YouTuber Rehtycs, you can 'snake' by first turning on automatic sprint in your movement settings. Then, head into advanced keybinds and change your Stance Down bind to scroll wheel up (with the delay set at zero). Run, jump, scroll your mouse wheel up while you're in midair, and you've become a snake. Hiss.

This isn't even the first time you've been able to go serpentine in a Call of Duty game—Black Ops 1 had a similar glitch back in the day. It's just as busted now as it was back then. Movement is a huge part of MW3, and reducing your hitbox by this much while moving this fast has some major implications.

Which is why, as announced by SledgeHammer games on Twitter, it's getting squashed.

A post that reads: ❗️ #MW3 Multiplayer We're investigating an exploit that allows players to sprint while appearing in the prone animation.

(Image credit: @CODUpdates on Twitter/X.)

I'm reminded of the recent "Smooth Criminal" bug in Counter-Strike 2, where players could lean around corners like Michael Jackson. That was snuffed out similarly quickly because, while hilarious, it gave a pretty gnarly gameplay advantage that couldn't stay in the game.

The exploit has already been slotted into the "known issues" section of the studio's public Trello board, and while I'm always sad to see dumb nonsense like this go, it's probably for the best. There's harmless glitches, and then there's turning every single match into a belly-sliding horror show full of assault-rifle wielding penguins.

Harvey Randall
Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.