Ive finally got round to playing it now too, and I know what you mean. It just dosent feel as 'polished' as MW2 was, I know it was a diffrent dev team, but as you say, they had 2 years to get it better.
At least the guys behind MW1 and MW2 no longer work for Activision, and have started a new company called Respawn, for EA!
It also suffers from 'you havent played it from day 1, so your ****' . I just couldnt even compete with all the level 45+ already, with all their fancy weapons.
Anyway..for us car nuts, new Need for Speed on Friday, with a very clever Autolog system, which lets you know if someone on your frinds list has beaten one of your track times.
oh...and Kinect, its awesome! I rule at Dance Central!!