Improves on the series previous entries though some parts feel unnecessary.
D –H- M- S
0-16-52-23:74 Single Player 100%
0-23-38-51:00 Spec Ops 100%
4-05-49-29:00 Multiplayer 100%
5-22-20-43:74 Total 1000/1000 Gamerscore
Now from my score and times you can see I like the game a lot, which is true but it's far from perfect.
If you've played the modern warfare or world at war you will be happy to know that the controls and general feel of the game remain the same, the sound and voice acting is still to a high standard and the graphics are just as good. The campaign's story however can be slightly confusing to why such events are unfolding, which has been pointed out many times before. The game's campaign has a story line similar to a Hollywood movie and some parts of the game (like jumping a gorge with a snow mobile) seem a bit too surreal for an otherwise serious tone of the game. And near the end of the game it becomes a bit of a reservoir dogs ending, which doesn't necessarily detract from the story but it does mean it repeats moments again and again.
Its notable to point out that the Veteran mode has been altered, gone are infinite spawning enemies and grenades and the player's health is more durable then previously (take around 4 good shots to kill rather then 1-2 shots in previous games). So I can see a lot more people gaining the achievements for completing it on the veteran modes.
The spec ops is a nice addition to the game which lengthens it playability, containing 23 individual missions (2 being co-op only) task you with all sorts of objectives from clearing out the enemy to disarming several bombs to last stand situations. Some of these missions borrow from COD4's missions for example the ghillies in the mist mission is among the spec ops missions but reversed. Though one or two of them are seemingly too difficult for a single player to complete (especially two of the last three missions to unlock)
Finally the multiplayer, and probably the main reason why anyone bought the game. The multiplayer is the same as the previous but fine tuned and with a bunch of extras thrown in. one being emblems and titles, these are purely a fancy badge that is displayed in the lobby and when you do something note Worthing in a game like capture the flag. These are unlocked by completing challenges and attaining ranks (with some only available to higher prestige levels). The game also displays after game stats a lot better too noting anything you did the best in with a accolade.
The game now also has custom kill streak rewards and death streaks, though some of the kill streaks seem over the top (the tactical nuke for one) and usually lead to players sneaking off somewhere and with the help of a buddy on the opposite team work towards them rather then actually play the game. It can get a bit too frantic for people, as you can stock up on kill streak awards you are able to unleash an armada of gun ships and harriers which leads to easy kills unless players have equipped a certain perk to ward off enemy air support (the cold-blooded perk).
A change to the perks system has also been done, some perks from the previous games have either been removed or merged with another to make several new perk and some which are entirely new. For example Juggernaut has been removed and instead a death streak called the pain killer which quadruples health for around 10 seconds after spawning.
The game features a new set of maps, larger then the previous games to compensate for the amount of aerial bombardments available. However this can lead to games being a bit boring since the game cap has remained at 12 player (and 18 for ground war) so its easy to lose track of the enemy and wander around for 5 minutes until being picked off by a enemy hiding in a corner or a sniper. They have also put in a host swap mechanic so when the host leaves the game (or the ping is too high) it will pause the game and swap host connections.
The list of weapons has changed somewhat as well, where the dragunov is in the single player it is omitted from the multiplayer. And some of the weapons stats differ greatly from the bar charts in the class menus (for example the model 1887). One of the most fun additions is the riot shield which makes pretty much invulnerable to enemy fire from the front (and back if you've swapped to secondary) and can be used to great effect. The prestige mode returns keeping the rewards that were added in from world at war (and addition 5 custom slots to the max ten at max prestige) with some additional titles and emblems.
Overall the game is fairly stable and for the fans it is everything they hoped for, I enjoyed it but I do feel some things are out of place for such small teams in multiplayer (the tactical nuke as I previously stated).
Though I have the 360 version I should mention if you haven't followed the news that PC version lacks dedicated servers and instead poses the same match making system as the console versions.