Review: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

by Ben Brody [ Friday, 13th of November 2009 - 03:33 AM ]

Over 300 people were standing in the cold for some four hours waiting for the same thing. Many of them planned on calling in sick the next day or skipping out on school just to get some playtime in. Many people were reminiscing about COD4 or saying how they played a bunch of COD4 to get psyched up about MW2. So did it live up to the hype? Is MW2 the best FPS of all time? The answer is both yes and no. Yes, it is a really good game that expands upon the COD4 universe, it ties up some loose ends and sets the table for what will most likely be an amazing sequel. No, it's not amazing and mind-blowing enough to make non-gamers gamers like Half Life or Wolfenstein or Doom all did.

There's a fine line between a story thats great with lots of twists and turns and a story thats downright too confusing. MW2 crosses that line but it doesn't matter much in the face of action. You haven't lived until you've breached a wall, then cleared out the room with an automatic shotgun (AA-12) whose rate of fire is greater than that of an M4A1. Or maybe busting out akimbo Desert Eagles is more your thing. In any event, the action is unsurpassed in terms of FPS's.

The story takes place five years after the end of Modern Warfare 1, and features two main characters (four are playable, okay five, but he doesn't really count, you'll know what I mean): Private Ramirez, who is an Army Ranger, and Roach, of Task Force 141, an elite team of different nationalities (think Rainbow 6). For any of you that haven't played the game, I don't want to spoil the story for you, but I will say that the ending sets up perfectly for a sequel. It is very very short and while the plot is fairly easy to understand once the game is finished, I do feel that adding about four to five missions would've really fleshed out the story and made it flow better than it did.

The story's a paltry five and a half hours long but the game includes a bunch of mini-missions in the form of Special Ops. Each mission lasts anywhere from two to ten minutes and can be played by yourself or with a friend. The missions range from maps in game to what could either be missions cut from the game, or missions built specially for Special Ops. The Golden Gate bridge mission is not in the campaign mode for instance, but it is in Special Ops and is my personal favorite.

The locales, while maybe not as gorgeous and beautiful as Uncharted 2's, are stunning graphically wise. The maps are more realistic and down to earth than Uncharted 2's, and range from a snowy clifftop to the barrios of Rio de Janeiro to a bustling airport in Moscow to an oilrig and everywhere in between. The graphics are about the same on both the 360 and PS3 however I felt the 360 was a little crisper and clearer where the PS3's were a little more smoother and polished, whichever you prefer is the one to get, they mostly look the same otherwise.

What the game lacked in single player, it certainly makes up for it in multiplayer. The basic modes are back with the addition of new perks and killstreaks and weapons. Deathstreaks are new as well, if you manage to get yourself killed a whole bunch of times without killing anybody yourself, you will get a deathstreak bonus like last stand (where you can still move around and shoot after you've been taken down, and can even get back up after awhile) and painkiller (which raises your health for a period of time). My favorite new attachment, the heart beat sensor, completely negate the need for a UAV, as a small screen attached to your gun shows the position of any teammates and enemies that happen to be nearby.

The third person mode is really really unnecessary. It's about as fun as the third person mode in Fallout 3 and while it does add another new feature to the game, I feel that it really could've been cut. The issue with third person shooters is that you can manipulate the camera to see around corners and peek over edges when the other person can't. While its only available in the third person playlist, the one time I played it is the only time I ever will. The killstreaks are awesome too. My favorite is the AC-130, which allows you to take control of the gunning controls of said plane (it's like the COD4 mission, Death from Above). While it's a little one sided (you can basically wipe out the other team) it is really really fun. The predator missile (which is also controlled by the user) is a blast as well.

The bottom line about Modern Warfare 2 is that while it is an awesome game, it's not a perfect game. It's more of the same, not much has changed since COD4 but as the phrase goes, don't fix what's not broken. While I wish that the single player campaign was longer, I do feel that it is very action packed and the inclusion of the Special Ops mode helps bolster the game. The multiplayer is the bread and butter of the game and many people will still play the game without touching the single player side of things (though they will be missing out). The game is available as on the 360, PS3, and PC.