Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II review — More variety, storytelling and fewer controversies

During the beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, I scored 42 kills and only seven deaths in one round of Ground War in multiplayer combat. And while playing the final game from Activision’s Infinity Ward (and nine other studios) in the past week, that kind of moment never came again.

All glory is fleeting, as they say. And while my run as an esports champion has peaked, Call of Duty has had a fantastic run over the last 19 years, selling more than 425 million copies as of the spring of last year. The only question is whether Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft is acquiring for $68.5 billion, can keep it going. Activision announced the game is off to a good start, with $800 million in sell-through (sold to consumers) in its first three days of sales, breaking all previous records.