Infinity Ward has fallen in quality since MW 2 (the studio heads were fired), but none of their last 2 entries fell off a cliff either. Thus I expected another solid, yet forgettable, paint by the numbers entry. What we got is no AW or Black Ops but the studio clearly found their footing again. I can't say that I liked the overly scripted 1st hour, and the overall revenge story is very one-dimensional (John Snow is wasted as a villain), but the extremely bleak tone still ended up being memorable. It's still a shame that the robot partner is the only character with depth, as tragedies need a relatable cast to emotionally resonate. Well integrated set pieces, a more open campaign structure, and varied space battles or flying segment all ended up amounting to a much better game than i first expected. Even if the Veteran difficulty was again reduced to what older shooters would qualify as "normal". The regular multiplayer is exactly would you would expect, so I immediately moved on, but the zombie mode ended up being another surprise. This is the 1st time I enjoyed it, since its introduction. The amusement park map very open and the game mechanics got streamlined a lot too. The competing Titanfall 2 is slight better, but shooter fans should get both. 8/10