I made no bones at all a few weeks back about the fact that I just wasn’t impressed by the Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta. I stand by that opinion. The beta was a piece of junk.

The full game, however. That’s another story entirely.

I’m only about an hour into the campaign so far but I think it’s safe to say that Modern Warfare 3 simply doesn’t have the chops to hold its own. In fact, given that we’re coming up on the end of the year I’m going to go ahead and say this might be the best game of 2011. (Arkham City is a close second and Gears of War 3 is coming up third, in my view.)

What makes it worthy of such praise, you ask? One word: everything. From the graphics and sound, which are jaw dropping at their worst, to the intense firefights and the fantastic camera work, this game’s campaign is a masterpiece. I’ve played most of the big military shooters of the past ten years. This one just shot my old favorite – Call of Duty 4 – in the face.