November Assassination #1

Well, finally made it to this entry! Playing Call of Duty shortly after playing Doom 2016 makes it extremely obvious why I liked the former so much more. Doom is a perfect example of an action shoooter whereas COD is a pretty good showcase of a tactical shooter, although probably somewhere in between pure tactical and pure action. That said, you'll need your gear (night vision goggles, drone predators, etc), reloading takes forever, crouching or laying flat on the ground can be the difference between living and dying, and time to kill is super short, you can go from hero to zero in a matter of a second or two.

Which is to say -- COD is not a bad game, it just feels a bit lacking in terms of gameplay when compared to a game like Doom 2016. But what it lacks in gameplay, it excels in narrative and level design, for the most part. To be clear, it's not a bad game to play, but you'll frequently be put in situations where winning requires less skill from you and more upfront knowledge about where the threat will come from, kind of a try-die-repeat situation. Like the Oddworld games. With lots of cheap deaths. Some levels feels like choreography, you're either at the right place at the right time or you will die. Which is fine, but bothered me a bit.

Levels are what carry this game. I generally loved the snow levels (Cliffhanger, Gulag), the Rio levels (Takedown and Hornet's Nest), the oil rig (Only Easy Day Was Yesterday) the aircraft cemetery (Enemy of my Enemy) and the last assault (Just Like Old Times) rocking ass. The second snow level (Contingency) was a bit meh with visibility messing stuff up and the chopper making things generally unfun. The American levels, while recognizable, kind of sucked, in particular the suburbia one (Exodus). The White House ones were generally better, although the blackout one was very meh (Second Sun). The tower defense (Loose Ends) was generally a pain in the ass, with so much trial-and-error required. No Russian is a classic but not impressive to play through. Endgame manages to put a mid vehicle mission by the end of the game again. Overall it's a solid campaign, with some hiccups here and there.

Narrative is fine, weapons are generally fun to handle but the constant reloading and 'stop-and-go' progress through the levels make me miss Doom. Still fun, still worth playing, but yeah, it is what it is