Just another mess of a CoD game.
The graphics are really good, although not realistic at all. It looks like a pixar movie with tiny dolls. Everything seems small; I guess due to the far/near blur effects along with the way everything moves. If you want a game that actually looks realistic try any one of the Battlefield games.
This is an improvement over MW2; it provides additional game types as well as a more advanced kill-streak reward system. And this game is a massive improvement over Black Ops, which had a very cool campaign story but an absolute garbage multiplayer.
Of course that is not to say the multi-player here isn't a complete garbage heap online, either. The horrible spawn system is in full effect; completely determining the outcome of every game. You can complete a match with a K/D of 10 and 30; 20 of your deaths happening within milliseconds of spawning. The next game you'll go 40 and 5, with the luck-of-the-draw spawn system turning the tide in your favor. In addition the piles upon piles of kill-streak rewards do all the work for you, giving you virtually no sense of an earned victory when you win. Kills in this game are not earned. They are handed to you when you camp or get lucky with the atrocious spawn system. Either way, it requires no skill or strategy. Like Black Ops, this game is hungry-hungry-hippos online. Chaos. ADHD. Annoying children. Screaming. Grenade spamming. Bullets flying everywhere. A big, loud, obnoxious mess. So many CoD fanboys still actually believe they're "good" at this game. No one is "good" or "bad" at this game. If your reflexes are somewhat decent and the spawn system hands you your kills, does that really give you a sense of accomplishment? For me, not at all.
The class system is an improvement over MW2 as well with a great variety of weapons, attachments, and perks. What really makes this game fun, actually is the private match squad system. Everything is fully unlocked, taking away the need to venture into the general population of all the pre-pubescent brats and wanna-be rappers in order to be able to build the classes you want when you play with your friends privately. Seriously, why do half of the people in the CoD community feel the need to display their terrible rapping abilities for everyone? FYI: RAP MUSIC SUCKS, AND YOU SUCK AT IT, WHICH SAYS A LOT ABOUT HOW TALENTLESS YOU ARE. Turn off your blue-tooth.
The multiplayer maps are the biggest weakness. Most of them seem like Black Ops re-skins. Others are just bland. A select few of them are neat. But NONE of them are sniper friendly. Activision built a whole array of sniper class weapons, gadgets, and perks but there is no line-of-sight where a sniper rifle can be used where an assault rifle couldn't be used just as effectively. Perhaps some of the future map packs will feature some sniper-friendly areas. These maps are just essentially a collection of small boxes. Wherever you are, you're basically in a small room or hallway. And due to the awful spawn system you'll either be one of the lucky ones that racks up kills, or one of the poor and unfortunate saps that spawns in one of the many random locations, runs 3 feet, and gets shot in the back.
Speaking of sniper rifles, back again is the infamous "quickscoping" technique, used by unskilled clowns that have convinced themselves it's cool to run around with a sniper rifle as if it's a pistol and let the auto-aim function do all the work for them. It's such a cheap and talentless way to rack up kills, but since the community is chock full of talentless players that wouldn't know strategy if it ignited a tactical flare in their rectums I'm not surprised it is back by popular demand. Oh well.
Another addition to this game that is actually quite impressive is the "Elite" package. It's basically an online strategy guide and offers all DLC for a lump sum price.
I do think this game is fun as a private match with friends. Sure it takes no skill at all; but when you're playing with your buddies that doesn't really matter. Get 5 - 8 of you in a free-for-all private match and you will have hours of fun. But get into the general population and it's a coin toss. Either you'll just mow down enemies as the spawn system dictates, or you'll suffer death after death and be overwhelmed with the desire to stomp a kitten to death. Either way, this game pretty much sucks.
The year 2011 had practically NOTHING to offer in terms of online MP FPS. Homefront: disaster. Brink: an absolute atrocity. Battlefield 3, the most anticipated FPS of all time: a completely broken mess. And now we have MW3...more of the same limp-wristed superficial action. But at least it FUNCTIONS. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 still holds the title on PS3 for the best FPS online multi-player game (if you actually care about skill, strategy, and earning your kills instead of letting the spawn system and kill streak rewards do all the work fro you). And if DICE/EA ever decide to fix the tattered, broken mess that is BF3 it just might save the genre. Until that happens it appears the military online MP FPS is an endangered species.
My advice to you: pick up Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and/or wait to see if EA/DICE patches BF3.