Black Ops 2
I started with consoles for gaming and online connectivity for the ps3 was sick! Black Ops 1 was fun and all, but was lacking in some of the environment. The equipment in the game being so cool at the time. The scorestreaks which added a lot creative kills and deaths. The community for it was awesome (when it wasn't toxic lol) and people weren't just speaking in separate channels. It was the last game for me that turned randos into long term friends. In total I had about 500+ days worth of game time and had everything unlocked. It's just one of those games that I can turn on and enjoy for hours.
Sadly, this benchmark of gaming has ruined so many games for me (and continues to). The speculation for another game, the lore, the internal leaks for dlc, the music, the sound design and UI... not many games have met those expectations.
UI in that game was so intuitive and clean. Never had I been confused on where things may be, or how it may work. Creating a class and the trial and error involved was so fun. Always exploring for other ways to use the weapons available. End of round kill cams being so important, and not just someone going off. Letting whatever player (good or bad) have some type of victory.
It was a laid back game (at least on PS3) where people weren't trying to advertise their steam or 'pop off' each match. You found a good player and friended them. Most either wanted to learn from them or challenge for shits and giggles. Everything was balanced enough where you had a chance to kill everyone... not all this insane movement shit.
In the final years that I played it, the game was turned to what WAW and MW1&2 were/are: Hacker lobbies or not finding any players to fight against. Crazy to think that this game came out 10 years ago. Time fucking flies.
Glad to hear that the game is still supported with 3 party hosts like plutonium.