Earlier this week we saw the much anticipated release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the latest in the online multiplayer, first person shooter franchise. From the moment the game was announced there has been massive hype, with game trailers and teasers driving CoD fans crazy with excitement. With that much heart-pumping expectation, it would have been easy for the game to fail to deliver. But a few days after the release, the consensus seems to be positive.

Let’s look at a few new features in the game, as well as what people are saying:

• Mother of All Bombs – A lot of people were divided on the old Nuke feature from the past. This is an improvement on the general idea that you might enjoy. Rather than a weapon, it is a hidden reward for people who have a 25 kill streak. That streak has to be gun-based, and any air strikes won’t count. So keep it on the ground. Once you reach 25 kills, there will be a sudden bomb that takes down the opposite team. It’s pretty cool.

• Support Selection. When you choose Support you will be given a list of non-aggressive, continuous assault methods. These are the only ones that will keep going after you die, rather than resetting, such as when you select Specialist or Assault. They have UAV’s, Advanced UAV’s, Recon Drones, EMP’s, Escorted Air Drops and more.

• No More Mill Streak Centric Rewards – There is a new system on MW3 that allows you to accumulate points for kills, competing tasks, capturing flags, setting bombs and more. These points add up, with different amounts offered for different acts, and then are applied towards the usual streak rewards and upgrades.

• Elite Mode. If you are willing to pay the insane $50 subscription fee, you can join Elite Mode. This is a social networking site, of sort. But one that offers you  various upgrades, downloads and special items. They also give you the ability to connect with other players on a more direct level outside of the game, update your Clans and upload replays. It probably won’t be worth it to anyone but the most rabid of gamers.

What People Are Saying

Which brings us to the general reviews.

Brett Molina of USA Today said:

“In many ways, Call of Duty multiplayer has become the Madden of first-person shooters. With annual releases, don’t expect the overall experience to change drastically. “

Adam Najberg of The Wall Street Journal said:

“I know impassioned Battlefield 3 fans won’t be swayed or converted by this or any other MW3 review, but I do think the new Activision game, with its strong single-player and continued excellent online and multiplayer modes is more well-rounded and is a more-complete game for the money, if you’re only going to buy one FPS game this season.”

Anthony Gallegos of IGN said:

“Despite its flaws, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 takes the fantastic series we’ve come to love over the years and iterates on it with great success. The multiplayer is hands-down the best it has ever been, with more features, more modes and a ton of new levels and ways to interact via Call of Duty Elite. The singleplayer campaign and Spec Ops mode add value to the overall package, creating something that may not be perfect, but is too damn addicting to pass up.”

So, there you have it. The general consensus seems to be that it might not be the groundbreaking, breathtaking, spine tingling brilliance that people have come to expect from the CoD franchise. But it is still a solid game with plenty of positive, larger maps, interesting new features and great game play.

All in all, probably worth a buy this holiday season.