Put about 4.5 hours into it last night, and I *think* I'm at the lest level, not sure though. I only have campaign impressions so far (No spoilers):
Good:
+ Controls and feedback feel like a COD game should. Was never broke and they didn't fix it
+ Far more variety of weapons to pick up during the campaign. You can really tailor your combat style.
+ Every level has multiple, open area, intense, over-the-top, crescendo set-pieces that would stand just fine on their own as final levels in other shooters.
+ Epic story is fucking epic. Its the 2012 of shooters, for better or worse.
+ Love the variety in the missions.
Not Sure:
+ "That level" hit me harder than I thought it would. Half way through playing I also got a disk read error (from a HDD installed game!) so I had to replay the entire thing again. Not sure I'd want to give it a third go actually. Kudos to IW for having balls though.
Bad:
+ Opening levels are much harder than later levels. Very frustrating to start the experience with a jam covered face for most of the time.
+ Lots of weird glitches where dead enemies will be stuck to geometry, hanging and twitching and writhing. Also saw a good many allied soldiers staring blankly into walls, with their guns poking through the other side, oblivious to the fight.
+ No noticeable AI improvements. Enemies will still rush you and then cop a squat in the open. You still can't rely on allies to cover the rear or flanks. You have to be a one-man-12-eyed-multidimensional-monster-of-war. Speaking of which...
+ Ramirez *must be* an army of one. While his commanding officer hides behind store counters and overturned tables, he ceaselessly barks orders at Ramirez to go and run past enemy helicopters and whole battalions of infantry, in the wide open, to singlehandledly defeat entire offensives. Its
this part of the game that got on my nerves. For all the dedication to realism, this game really does expect you to singlehandedly wipe out entire enemy armies, and if you don't do said task at a full gallop, expect to be screamed at constantly. I know a game like this needs to throw tons of enemies at you, and that mechanic works when you're in the midst of a giant battle with large numbers on both sides. But the mechanic completely breaks down when its a solo mission, or just you and one or two other guys. "Hey guys, I know you want me to hurry it up, but I kindof have 50 dudes surrounding me from every rooftop, window and doorway. It'll take me a minute."
+ The story details can be hard to pick up on, as its almost always presented snippets of conversation during load screens or in-game chatter, easily missed with all the explosions going off everywhere you look. Going to fuck with my center channel tonight to see if I can make the voices clearer.
All in all, I am looking forward to replaying the campaign - it feels like its balanced more for multiple playthroughs than for making the best initial impression.
