Let me preface this saying I went into this game with low expectations. After playing Black Ops 3s story, I wasn't expecting much. This is kinda a review I guess you could say, but also some advice and recommendations. Also, spoilers ahead. Other Reviews ------------------- Polygon, IGN, Kotaku, and all the other sources have their reviews up for this games story, and I know I'm late to the party I was just holding off buying. I think there's one major fault in all these reviews, or those who bombed the game for its lack of things in the story. Expectations, or hype. Some people went into this with expectations that were far to high. They thought it was going to be gripping and emotional and deep, and in some aspects it was. Not entirely but there were moments. So that might have ruined it. Gameplay -------------- IW does something better than the last three installations of the series. It is fun. The story is fun. Dog fighting, while not the most fluid and best flight system is pretty cool. It's fast and adrenaline filled. I will admit if you do all the side missions half of the game is spent in the Jackal, your space fighter jet. But it's fun, there's a variety of things to do, each of the side missions available at your hub different, some about disabling a ship from the outside, or some about assassinating high value targets. And you heard me right, side missions. You get to choose your missions in this story, and it's an interesting pathway for CoD and it gives it a sense of choice, feeling like a commander rather than your second dragging you around forcing you to follow the story. So it's fun, which I can't say for BO3. Story ------------------ The story of IW follows Lt. Nick Reyes, as after a catastrophic attack by the SDF (Settlement Defense Front, basically crazy Mars colonists who hate earth), the entirety of Earths fleet is decimated, leaving two working battle cruisers. The [i]Tigris[/i], and the [i]Retribution[/i]. Through events Reyes becomes commander of the [i]Retribution[/i], giving him clearance to order missions and strikes where he sees fit, hence the side missions. There's one major flaw with this entire story. The SDF is never really given a motivation. "We hate earth and will destroy it." Why? What has earth done to you? The figurehead of the SDF and lead admiral Salen Kotch hates earth the most for some inexplicable reason. This is a huge plot hole and kinda sinks a lot of the immersion and tension when you don't even know why the SDF hates you. The ending in IW does something not done that often. It's pretty ballsy, and interesting. This is a big spoiler. [spoiler]Nearly all the main characters die, including Reyes. Ethan, Omar, Reyes, and a whole other cast of minor characters sacrifice themselves to save Reyes, who eventually sacrificed himself to save Salt and three other soldiers. Some of them emotionally worked for me, others didn't. Ethan got me the most, as I assume did everybody, but Gators death was sad, I liked Gator. Regardless this is something I haven't seen in a long time in a games story, and I applaud Infinity Ward for it.[/spoiler] Characters ------------- I'm not gonna profile each one but highlight the ones I enjoyed the most. E3N (Ethan) - Obvious pick, the self thinking sentient AI Ethan is on here. While he may not be as amazing as BT from Titanfall 2 in my opinion, Ethan is still pretty badass and an awesome friend. He's a little more human and thought out in conversations, where as BT is more brute like and defensive, which is fine and BT was still funny and awesome. Ethan has some good lines in this game that actually made me crack a smile and a quick laugh. He's tough, loyal, and as I implied, pretty funny. Reyes and Ethan build a connection later on the story, and while it isn't really given much time to foster, the huge boost factor is one event in which after a failed attack Ethan and Reyes are ejected into the atmosphere of Titan, Saturns largest moon, and orbit. The left arm of Reyes suit was torn, leaking oxygen into the atmosphere. Ethan tries to stop it, only for Reyes to say stop as the tear is to big. Ethan and Reyes embrace, and talk as Reyes slowly suffocates, Ethan trying to comfort his friend. Reyes calls him his brother, to which Ethan remarks on his best lines, "Your mechanical robot brother." And to which Reyes laughs. It fades out as Reyes passes out from lack of oxygen. Of course you survive just in time by a rescue group. This is what showed me that the story itself doesn't have to be amazing but these little connections is what makes the experience good. Modern Warfare was the same, we all felt when Soap died. When Ghost died. It's not really the story itself, but it's the characters that give connections and make the story better. Ethan is the only outstanding example but Omar and Salt are two minor ones. Omar was a badass marine and the way he went out was the way a badass marine would like, in a big fiery explosion. I wish his death was a little more timed out, as it was very fast. Salt is your wingman for all the campaign, and while their bond isn't as effective at portraying a connection as Ethan and Reyes, it does its job at some points. All in all, the IW story campaign is fun, actually fairly lengthy, but that could be due to the fact I was playing on Hardened, and at some points emotional. Is it worth picking up the game exclusively for, well no. But zombies is fun, and the multiplayer is decent/meh. Don't count this game out, think for yourself before you make assumptions and judgements. [spoiler]But maybe I'm wrong and I'm bad ;)[/spoiler]