Any non-spoilery single player impressions?
It's very familiar to anyone who's played a CoD campaign before. I've completed 3 missions. There hasn't been so much "Follow me as I walk slowly" hand holding gameplay so far, but again it is very familiar. The exo suit and tactical / lethal grenades are an interesting addition that allows you to be a bit faster in engagements, but you still can't go too mad with it by running out in the open. I've had fun so far. The gadgets are cool, as are the missions. The story so far is interesting. I'm on the forth mission and it feels like the real story hasn't even begun. It's been a lot of set up, which is great. So a lot more to come. So far so good.
I was really hoping for a memorable soundtrack since. CoD4, W@W and MW2 really stick out. It isn't too memorable so far though.
Multiplayer impressions:
Hard! In my first game I went on a 12 killstreak off the bat. Great fun while it lasted. Then I just had lobbies full of seemingly god like reaction players all night. I've played so many hours of CoD before. I was really good at Black Ops 1/2, World at War and CoD4. In this game however, I'm dying a lot...like 6 kills 23 deaths. It could have just been a bad night. It could be that these are really hardcore players I'm playing against early...but there are so many people who play CoD now like they're in a MLG tournament. Some reaction levels are insane. I've also been pre-fired a ton around corners. I feel like I'm at a 50% disadvantage for not wearing headphones.
Shotguns are near useless and won't go down well for you. One in particular that has a fast fire rate and rips through the magazine fast. Very, very shot range and you need to hit all your shots pretty much. I used overkill with this shotgun. I can't imagine how much worse I would do if it were my primary. There aren't many close range situations and Assault Rifles dominate with 80% of players using them. Sniping is going to be rough too as the game is so fast now. I might have got sniped myself about twice in 3-4 hours. Which again might show the mentality of players these days to just use whatever is best to win (Assault Rifles).
I actually consistently performed fairly well with the heavy weapon laser. It drops people quicker than expected and is good for short, medium and even long distance engagement if you can control the recoil. That is a fun weapon to use. Hardly anyone else was using it - their loss!
Boost jumping is somewhat discouraged unless you're using a perk to keep you off the radar when activated.
Some loot you earn expires and is stripped from you. Some loot stays. I couldn't see anything to notify which were temporary and which weren't.
Spawns are a lot better as is map design compared to Ghosts.
Tons of challenges and unlocks. The camo challenges are much better than Ghosts. No more laying down 100 times with Sniper Rifles or getting 50 point blank kills. It's headshots, hip fire and medal based. I believe I saw 500 headshots for one camo though, so it will take you a while still.
Overall I did have a lot of fun, and it seems like a solid MP. Not so much camping, no BS to complain about. I died a lot which enraged me a bit, so I can't figure out if I'm just bad at CoD now or if everyone else is trying a lot harder than they used to.