The Call of Duty series is currently one of the most successful franchises in the gaming industry, and every title manages to create more hype than any other game in its genre. Personally I feel that the series has lost its soul a long time ago, and the gaming experience has been in decline ever since the first Modern Warfare was released and destroyed all competition in the market. Unfortunately this happens to all titles that are milked by their greedy publishers and there is no way anyone can stop this, especially when a title is single handedly generating half the revenue of the company.
Plot: The game starts with the protagonist being tortured by an unknown enemy, and from their on the levels are based on what the character’s memory can trigger, which basically revolve around Vietnam, Cuba, The Arctic, and Russia. The game is a trip down memory lane of a veteran soldier fighting the biggest wars in the highest ranking elite forces, in the course of which you uncover a series of repressed memories that will help you open your eyes to the bigger picture of what really happened in your past.
Audio and Video Quality: I must say that the environments and the character diversity in this game impressed me. Texture quality is inferior on the PS3 when comparing it to the Xbox 360 version, but its all about the gaming when it comes to First Person Shooters. Sound quality is not impressive, it doesn’t match the quality you get from Killzone 2, Uncharted, or Gears of War, yet its superior from most average titles, and a lot of the environment noise found in previous titles, was decrease.
Game-play: The controls are spot on, and the feel of the gunplay adapts to all the distinctive weaponry and environment changes. There is a huge diversification of the game-play, starting from stealth missions, to air combat, to vehicle mini games, eagle eye view strategy, all the way to full blown shoot-em up action. The different vehicles are all unique, yet the controls for all different vehicle seem to be the same, heavy and non reactive not allowing you to be as accurate as you want to be. The A.I. in this title suffers, like all the predecessors, in certain instances your team mates can run though an enemy infested battlefield without anyone shooting at them or backing an eyelid, but the enemies tend to target you and only you at all times. Stealth missions are immersive and to say the least they are more balanced and more subtle than Splinter Cell Conviction. It’s a shame there aren’t much stealth missions in a game that bears the title of the elite force which operates undercover and lingers in the shadows of the enemy, rather than destroying 60% of Cuba in broad day light, but then again historical or logical accuracy was never a strong point in this franchise.
Personal Impact: To be honest I didn’t expect much from the game, and I thought it would be another repetitive FPS like the rest of them, but I immersed myself in all the different levels, and I absorbed the story like a sponge, this game is probably the best title in the series. I wanted to hate this game with all my might, but I couldn’t, because truth be told, I didn’t put the controller down until the story came all together leaving me staring at the TV motionless, amazed with Goosebumps along my body, and yes, I loved it.
Overall Rating: 8/10
By Matthew C.