Yeah, difficulty is really arbitrary, or rather, it's location-based rather than plot-progression based. Which, I assume, is fine enough for an open world game like MW5. But what bothers me is that you have the core concept of HBS Battletech, ie. you own/manage a mercenary company, but none of the strengths or depths of that game.
Lancemates? No personality, no banter, no progression, no nothing.
Ship? You don't manage or upgrade it.
Missions? Utterly generic, no real story/world or even emotional impact.