One of the the common complaints levelled by critics at the last few games in the hugely successful Call of Duty series is that the games' underlying engine tech is getting too long in the tooth. Speaking with Official Xbox Magazine UK, Treyarch Design Director David Vonderhaar has come out in defence of the performance of the so-called IW Engine, asserting that much has evolved in the years since its creation, and reminding us that it still hits a smooth 60 frames per second on consoles:

"Anybody who comes at the engine needs to remember it's the 60 frames they love in the first place," Vondehaar reiterated. "And we can make it beautiful - that's through years and years of working with the engine, improving upon it and improving the pipeline and improving our approach, our lighting rendering.

"People like to talk about the engine, but the truth of the matter is that this isn't like something that was invented six years ago," he went on. "At this point that engine doesn't resemble anything like any engine - we've ripped out the UI system, the rendering and the lighting are all new, the core gameplay systems are all new."

"To me, it's like I never really understood," Vondehaar confessed. "It runs at 60 and it's gorgeous. What exactly is there to be upset about with the engine?"

The pursuit of 60 frames per second is a noble one on consoles, but we're not so sure the argument holds up when the PC version of the game is considered. Treyarch might do better to stick to promoting their gameplay innovations this time around as the draw factor. What does everyone else think?