It's about this time when Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer has run out of tricks in its bag. All of the beats have become fully routinized by the third entry: the Shocking Moment, The Betrayal of Trust, The Dramatic Killing of Beloved Characters. The ability to elicit shock or surprise has dwindled, and even the large scale spectacle that worked so well in the last entry has lost its luster. It's tempting to view this as a commentary on the numbing tedium of endless combat, with all of the interminable dreary gray settings, but I don't really think anyone in charge of the game was interested in operating on that level.

Also MW3 the only COD multiplayer I've ever played, and while it's not actually "good" in any real sense, it does scratch a particular Pavlovian itch with that contact/kill sound effect.