The singleplayer is fun and the story is more coherent than MW2's, but it isn't really on par with Black Ops's more interesting premise.

The multiplayer is still fun, and the new killstreaks and support "pointstreaks" (you don't lose progress in them when you die, get a point for completeing objectives as well as killing) make killstreaks more balanced so people who don't camp or play the game for inifinite hours can have an effect.

There are still issues that kind of damper the multiplayer; things like craptastic players, a slightly annoying lobby system, lag, and even some things that really could've been fixed, like akimbo {whatever} (they should just take the damn thing out already) and dolphin diving (i.e. going prone immediately when shooting or getting shot at) that are even more problematic when lag is present.

Overall, it's still definitely worth the $25 I paid for it; it's worth noting/foreboding that every lobby I join has >1/2 its members on their nth prestige, though.

This game gets my under-$20 seal of approval. The mechanics work and the game isn't too short, but it's not really memorable. It starts with an interesting premise, but then doesn't do much with it. The shooting is satisfying, but sometimes the not-strongest guns feel a bit weak (the standard ammo for them can kind of become useless).

Third person action and tower defense all at the same time. Originally, I thought this game was a cheap piece of crap, but after playing with some friends for a few minutes, I was hooked. This game is a lot of fun, but I've only played with the Apprentice character so far, with the other three+ character types having different playstyles. But I like the Apprentice's tower defense and ranged attack-focused gameplay, so it might take me a while to switch.