https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/nov/14/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-iii-review-exhilarating-game-engineering-rescues-a-tired-format

PlayStation, Xbox, PC; Sledgehammer Games/ActivisionCall of Duty’s developers are clearly struggling to fit this sprawling game into the business plan devised for them, but for now they are still managing

Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Call of Duty series has always been a game of two halves. The first: a cinematic dash through several chaptered set-pieces. You inhabit the action hero – cannons to the left of them, flame-throwers to the right – diving through checkpoints en route to a denouement involving Nazis, nuclear weapons or space lasers, depending on the era in which the game is set. The second: Call of Duty rendered not as a film but as a sport, a merry-go-round of endlessly cycling competitive matches played in teams of friends or strangers, vying to be the first team, or individual, to snipe or spray their way to the top of the scoreboard.