There was a time when Call of Duty games would sweep Game of the Year deliberations. At its height in the PS3 days, the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfares of the world would regularly scoop up awards while Uncharted: Drake's Fortune could only sit and watch. A lot has changed since then, which is perhaps a testament to the quality of 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as the franchise returns to the conversation of what takes top honours.
Building on 2019's rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward delivers another exhilarating and intense campaign that breaks away from the traditional FPS levels of old with some gimmick missions involving driving, stealth, and that classic AC-130. It's easily one of the best single player offerings from the Call of Duty series in a while, which with a growing list of co-op levels to tackle, provides those uninterested in online multiplayer with something to keep coming back to.
It is those ferocious bouts that many fans play the game over and over for, however. While some of the changes made to levelling and unlocks take some time to get used to, the action itself is at an all-time high. It's a compliment to say the shooter doesn't ship with a single disappointing map, and the list of locations to settle your differences on will increase with post-launch support.
Modern Warfare 2 may not reinvent the wheel, but in combination with Warzone 2, it feels like the series is once again dominating the competitive shooter scene on consoles. After a few years out of the game while Fortnite and Apex Legends dictated the course of the online scene, the king is back on top. The FPS genre doesn't get much better than this.