I’d argue every time they allow Sledgehammer Games to take the lead on a CoD title, it goes wrong.
MWII was a breath of fresh air amidst an over abundance of twitchy ultra-arcade shooters. It struck a balance between the arcade experience we expect, but deliberately slowing it down such that reaction time didn’t dominate gameplay.
In contrast, MWIII from SHG is a step backwards to such an extreme that along with Vanguard, I don’t think they’re qualified to be anything but a support studio for the CoD franchise.