Call of Duty: Modern Warfare review – great game, shame about the politics

PC, PS4 (version tested), Xbox One; Activision
There are pulpy thrills, cinematic visuals and heart-stopping gameplay to enjoy here - so long as you can stand the rewriting of history and cheerleading for US militarism

It doesn't take long for the guilt to set in. You're holding a handgun in London's Piccadilly Circus as terrorists run wild with assault rifles and flames bloom from a recently ignited suicide vest. As terrified civilians run past, screaming and wounded, you're thinking: "Where is the next mission checkpoint?"

Call of Duty is perhaps the most divisive mainstream gaming brand of all time; a gung-ho, partisan blockbuster combat romp selling us a vision of rough and ready spec-ops superstars travelling the globe with their guns and their competence, helping freedom fighters while killing rogue paramilitary groups, without pausing too long to consider the differences between them.