CoD is CoD. And that's that...
I'm not a great fan of CoD since MW3. Black Ops, Ghost... Those installments could easily be called total rip-offs. Same engine, same type of missions. Nothing that would satisfy MW1/2 fan. Played them for few hours and left it.
CoD:AW brings nothing new in terms of formula. BUT! It enhanced most aspects of typical CoD gameplay mechanics. AW is much more dynamic. But it is still CoD game, so nothing in terms of basic structure have been changed. This is both good and bad.
Good:
+ Everybody who liked how MW games told the story would also love this one. Very well directed, great voice acting, and story it self is very Die-Hard-like which makes it perfect for a FPS game. To be honest I have always missed that in Battlefield games. CoD have this great advantage over rest of the shooters that story is actually pretty good.
+ Gameplay is smooth and satisfying. But much more than in previous CoD. Exosuit is a nice addition. It serve it's purpose. Several great guns, fun to use gadgets. All you need to go from point A to point B without snoring.
+ Game looks really good. BUT! It sometimes looks very, very bad. Not sure why but some cutscenes have very poor textures. it wouldn't be anything to brag about if rest of the game wouldn't look so nice.
+ Co-Op. This is where CoD was always shining. This is by far the best feature of all CoD games and it is also present here. I do not normally buy DLC's but I seriously considering purchasing HAVOC DLC. Zombie mode must be awesome. For all who love old time split screen: this is perfect game for you!
Bad:
- Complete lack of need for tactics. Areas are almost always quite narrow so if you know from where the enemies will come from you can finish the game on Veteran and die just few times. This is the worst in CoD games and AW did very little to improve it. Having Exosuit should challenge you to use it often but... Difficulty here is based only on how many bullets needs to hit you for you to die. But enemies comes from one direction so positioning is not an issue. You do not need to push forward. Just seat and wait...
- MP is for no-lifes. If you do not have the best reflexes in you town... Well you will die and die, and die again. This is really a lot like Unreal Tournament. Not for me. I'm too old for that, I guess.
- Graphics inconsistency. Like I said before. I wouldn't mention it if overall game wouldn't look so good.
Overall this game is worth having if you have a buddy for Co-Op missions. But MP is not it's strong side. I'm waiting for a day when I could play FPS with story as good as in CoD, with MP as good as in Battlefield, with a tactical elements of Crysis. Such game would sell more than all those separately.