I’d like to preface this by saying that this was the first Call of Duty campaign I’ve ever played from start to finish. I’ve played parts of some of the older games but never anywhere close to completion.

For lack of a better term, this game is awesome. With an excellent mix of action-packed set pieces, fast-paced gunplay, and a surprising degree of moral ambiguity in the story, I had trouble finding much to dislike in this game.

It’s not perfect, no. Some things are a little too convenient or overly telegraphed but this game did exactly what every great story does and should do. It made me feel that I needed to know how it ends, that I needed to find out what happens to these characters.

Speaking of the characters, I think this game handled its four leads quite well. Each of them are sufficiently characterized so that if asked, I could tell you why they fight, why they have so much of a stake in this war that they’re willing to risk everything. Before playing this game I doubt I could have told you anything about most of them. I knew about Captain Price and I’d heard of Gaz but Farah and Alex were entirely new to me. Even so, I was able to get invested in their stories, and when the time came for Farah’s revenge, I found myself to be greatly satisfied by it.

This is an excellent act one to what I can only assume is going to be one hell of a trilogy and I’m so excited to see how this story continues into the future.