[Campaign rating & review]

The campaign is Call of Duty's typical Hollywood-level action spectacle with some fun espionage work, but overall feels more like little stepping stones towards a third game than a wholly standalone story.

I was sad to see Captain Price sidelined for the majority of this game's playtime, since he was my favourite character from the first in this reboot. I still don't feel like Gaz's new voice actor fits in with this group... He comes off more like the awkward "I'm cool, too" kid at school who nobody really likes but puts up with & fake laughs at their jokes, as to not make them feel left out. The new Soap is a decent replacement for the original, and the new Ghost is good enough also. Alejandro is a great new addition, too! It's a likable group of characters.

The pacing suffers from the game makers feeling they can't just have the campaign made up of you running & gunning your way through each mission, so instead tries to mix up the gameplay for what feels like every other mission with a new take like "you'll control the CCTV in this mission and guide Ghost through the level". To be fair, they're mostly all fun in their own right and there's a nice bit of variety, but when it's all in such a small timeframe and with a story mode that is so short as it is, it feels like too much. It sounds like a stupid "typical Cod Fanboy" complaint, but I really did barely feel like we got to do much "just shoot enemy soldiers" like normal! Although, I did like the larger & more non-linear missions, as well as the longer mission where Soap is defenceless and has to scavenge for supplies while making his way back to Ghost and avoiding enemies. They were enjoyable and quite memorable!

I also felt like there were one too many villains, since we not only had Hassan and Valeria to worry about, but later on Graves and Shepard as well (although he is sadly relegated to cinematics only and barely holds any weight as an advisory unlike in the original, to the point where I would have forgotten all about him if it wasn't for his name being the same as in the 2009 game). Had they focused more on just a couple of them, it might have felt weightier overall. Especially since I keep forgetting the lackluster "final battles" with each one of them, as it is...

On top of all this, it also ends on another "here's a recognisable name" like with the first reboot game, hoping to set off those member-berry goosebumps in excitement for the next game. It also squeezes in a "nod" to the original MW2's infamous No Russian as well in the form of an end credit tease. The whole story just feels uninspired and doesn't make this entry stand on its own or able to carve out its own character, compared to the original lot.

MWII's campaign is made up of lots of fun variety, solid gunplay and a likable cast of characters, but unfortunately just doesn't come close to the levels of engaging story telling like with the original MW and MW2, or even what I remember from the 2019 campaign.

Overall rating: 5.3/10

A fun mix of mystery, paranormal intrigue, horror, surprisingly tense combat and a compelling episodic structure - all while playing as an author getting a little too involved with his own writing. I'm sure both were heavy inspirations, but it very much feels like a story about Stephen King finding himself in the world of the Twin Peaks TV show.

It has a lack of variety when it comes to the enemies & gameplay, and it maybe gets a little full of itself and melodramatic at times, but it's a very admirable narrative-led title nonetheless.

Great songs ending each episode too 🎶

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Loved Fallout 3 from beginning to end about a decade ago, and New Vegas plays very similar to that but with an arguably more memorable & interesting setting and story.

The overall "Las Vegas"/Casinos/ a gang made up entirely of Elvis Presley impersonators stuff is just pure fun to explore and lose countless hours in to.

Can't say it's perfect though! My main "problem" would have to be in just how easy the gunplay becomes by adding just a single companion to your journey. Most enemies become a minor inconvenience, even in large groups, and I barely feel like I can actually get chance to finish any one of them off without the Sniper companion in particular doing it all for me.

Still, great fun and I'll no doubt be continuing with my journey through the wasteland remains of Las Vegas in the future!

Overall rating (not completed): 7.9/10