Where this falters in comparison to Battlefield:
1) Battlefield has the better graphics. The graphics in this game can be kind of ugly. It woulda been good with more polish, but they are acceptable.
2) Battlefield has way more vehicles and has more of an 'epic scale; feel than this game. If you want destruction and a bigger focus on teamwork, Battlefield is the way to go. If you like vehicles and huge maps, this isn't the game for you.
3) Classes are not as distinctive here. There are no snipers calling out positions. There are no vehicles to repair. There is no medic to revive people. Most of the classes feel very similar except they have different guns.
Where this excels in comparison to Battlefield:
1) As I said before, I found this more fun than Battlefield due to the simple fact that it is a lot more pick up and play. It reminds me of Call of Duty in that respect. The flow of action is way more frequent due to the smaller maps. In battlefield, I could literally run around for minutes and not find anyone. I get killed and I have to go traverse through the huge stage all over again. Not so in this game. You will frequently encounter enemies. Teamwork is encouraged in this game but not a must to have fun.
2) Less vehicles. That means less of your teammates calling dibs on whatever overpowered vehicle is left on the map. It means less people spamming helicopters and tanks everywhere and thus it means less 'forcing' of using a particular class so you can actually get the rocket launcher to blow the said vehicle up.
3) Different map size will force you to use different guns/play style. This game has a couple of maps that are advantageous for snipers since they are wide open and a couple of maps that are advantageous for assault/spec ops since they are smaller and more closed in. It can get fatiguing playing in those huge battlefield maps all the time.
Where this falters in comparison to Call of Duty:
1) The reward interface isn't all that good. Call of Duty MW2 had all sorts of interesting ribbons and things for you to get when you did certain things in battle. It had guitar riffs when you unlocked stuff. You get ribbons here, but it isn't dramatic. The unlocks don't feel as dramatic either. Call of Duty simply has a better presentation.
2)Depends on whether you like it or not, but doesn't have the momentum shifts of Call of Duty. In Call of Duty, you could be way behind and get a killstreak and call in something like a helicopter and the helicopter nets you all kind of kills and your team catches up. Stuff like this pumps up the adrenaline. In MOH, it's a more calm, methodical grind.
3)Due to low recoil, the guns don't feel as distinctive as they should. This issue wasn't going to be as bad as I thought. I thought the low recoil would make the game feel like laser tag, but it manages to avoid that. The low recoil does rob the game of feeling like you're using very different guns to an extent. Most of them can shoot at extreme distance and couple that with low recoil, they may not feel all that different to you. For example, in MW1 the AK and had a lot of kick. The M4 was weaker but had low recoil.
4) There aren't a ton of game modes or maps. Hopefully EA will get on the ball with this. It can get repetitive playing the same modes and maps over. One thing COD has is variety. This game needs a bit more of it.
5) There is no lobby system. One of the things that was so enjoyable after a match of call of duty is being dumped into the lobby and hearing what the other team thought after you dominated them or they dominated you. You never really get to hear how the other side feels.
Where this excels in comparison to Call of Duty:
1) There are no training wheel perks. You don't get rewarded for dying. You don't get super soldier perks where you are flying across the screen, stabbing people a mile away. There is no cheesy perks like juggernaut.
2) There are no claymores. Grenades have a tiny blast radius. "Noobtubes" will get you killed if you don't know what you are doing with them since they aren't overpowered. I haven't complained about 'grenade spam' once in this game. This must be one of the reasons the game avoids feeling 'crowded', even though some of the maps are small. Not having to worry about some losers throwing frag grenades all over the place is refreshing.
3) There are little to no vehicles depending on game mode if you couldn't stand them in other games. In the combat mission mode which is one team going from base to base trying to take it over, there are tanks, but they aren't overpowered. In team deathmatch mode, no vehicles, which is something that got annoying in World at War when one team took all the tanks... and if you were on a team that didn't know or particularly care to deal with them, you were in trouble.
4) Avoids 'noobifying' the experience. There are no killcams to tell you exactly where your killer was. So if you manage to get a great flank and you know how to stealth, you are actually rewarded since your enemy will actually have to find your position. No martyrdom is amazing. You don't have to do a hundred yard dash every time you kill somebody because a magic grenade drops out of their pocket. You don't have to keep shooting someone and waste a clip because someone is going into last stand.
5) You actually feel like you're in a war at times as you hear bullets whizzing by, explosions going off, etc. Call of Duty never really felt like you were actually in a battle. Had more of a 'gamey' feel.
6) This game goes right back to focusing on gunplay. That's what made MW1 so good, and to a lesser extent, WAW (my fault with WAW was the sort of tinny feel to the guns). The feel of the guns is good. Weighty, but not sluggish. This game takes away from all the extraneous nonsense that started coming in with COD MW2 and goes back to focusing on your ability to find decent cover and to shoot and aim a gun.
7) Less kids playing. That means no 13 year olds making annoying sound effects over and over.
Overall:
This is a solid game and you'll especially enjoy it if you just want to go back to the gunplay. It is a bit barebones in terms of interface and maps and has an overall unpolished feel, but this is quite enjoyable if you just wanted to get back to the focus on shooting instead of killstreaks and vehicles. This is not an innovative title nor is it some huge blockbuster, but it's quite enjoyable for what it is. I'd give it an 8.
