As most of you may know that the Call of Duty series runs off the baseline of the id Tech 3 engine, which was created back in 1999 (Quake 3). Call of Duty Modern Warfare engine was renamed to the IW 2.0 engine which is just a modified version of the id Tech 3 engine. Each year they build off this engine from Call of Duty 3 to the soon to be recent Black Ops 2 with a few additonal enhancements. Black Ops 2 engine will have the following enhancements: reveal mapping (improved texture blending), improved lighting effects, HDR and bounce lighting, self and intersecting shadowing.
Graphics are not everything when it comes to games, gameplay, is the biggest factor when I want to sit down and enjoy a game. Multiplayer needs to be fair and balanced from the core sit at home after dinner enjoy a game or two gamers to the stay up all night hardcore gamers.