Modern Warfare 2 Review

On November 10, at approximately 9pm my History lecture had finished. I eagerly rode the bus back to my dwelling with one thought in my mind "3 hours....." You see, a new kind of history was about to be made. The sequel to the most played video game of all time was dropping from the skies and gracing the human race. Call of Duty's, Modern. Warfare. 2. The game that brought in 4.5 million preorders, 1.5 million more than all the copies of Halo 3, matching GTA IV's total sold copies. On just preorders. It went on to sell 7 MILLION in 24 HOURS. In one day it shattered the records and became the highest selling piece of media eva. For realz.

A close friend from back home and fellow Brock student, Josh White informs me via text message that he will meet me at my house before departing to go to the release event at the local EB Games. I arrive at 9:50pm, with Mr. White arriving seconds later. We look at each other with delirious excitement, like young boys discovering porn for the first time and quickly depart, forgetting the camera I was supposed to visually document the event. With no buses running at night and being too cheap to procure a taxi, we walk 50 minutes to our destiny. Discussing the new perks and weapons and maps the way tween girls talk about the Jonas Brothers.

We come upon a already large group of fellow gamers and immediately join the ranks in the line. Shortly more arrive, and more, and more. All the while we converse about our favorite moments and kills from the previous game. Old consoles come up, old games that took us through our childhood. Many of us laugh and giggle, partly due to memories, but mostly due to the contagious euphoria of the new game we awaited. People brought their gaming laptops, and some even brought a whole setup, playing COD4, sitting upon lawn chairs and the street curb.

The midnight hour struck and a young man opened the door stating in a matter-of-fact way "15 people at a time". A groan echoed through the company and we followed suit. 15 males entered and soon returned with grins on their faces, and 15 more went in. During this procedure a presumptuous soccer mom followed by her 10 year old spawn decided that because she worked at the mall she could cut the line and get a copy. This was not wise. The crowd swiftly reacted and blocked her passage with a chorus of "FUCK YOU, YOU CUTTING BITCH!!" She retorted a snarl and used a separate passageway inside. Minutes later she emerged and the angry horde was soon upon them with all the wit that xbox live had to offer. Out of all the outrage, all I managed to hear was "YOU BETTER HOPE YOUR FUCK OF A SON DOESN'T GO ON LIVE!!!"

And so the line diminished until it was our turn. He hurried inside and proceeded to the cashier. The antagonist of my previous ODST shamble looked vacantly at me as he asked "What game would you like to buy?" Biting my tongue against a smart-ass remark I gave him my receipt. As he handed me my own copy of the Jesus game, he began to enter a code and asked the most useless question of any gamer. "You want the $3 guarantee, right?" ...........h....h-h-h-HOW DARE HE!?!?!? I felt blood pulse through my face. I snatched the copy and stormed out. The anger quickly left as the shock of what was in my hands became ever more apparent. Trying, and failing to control my excitement, Josh and I left the mall and hailed separate cabs, no time for talk, no time for friends now. I will not wait any more, not for my preciousness. $9 cab ride later and I was in my room playing the ever so famous shooter:

YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

MEET THE NEW BOSS!!! SAME AS THE OLD BO-- *ahem* Let's get to it shall we? The Campaign. The first thing you'll notice is that the graphics have been upgraded and renovated. A much needed splash of colour is seen everywhere. The amount of detail put in from the storm clouds in the distance to the broken tiles in the blown up cafe you're taking cover in is well done. The gameplay is identical to that of COD4, which in my book isn't a problem at all. Its the typical run-and-gun kind of shooter, but its excellent execution of such does itself a credit to the FPS. New gameplay features like the riot shield and the predator missile allows the player to handle each situation differently, which changes the pace and prevents the repetitiveness that many games lead to. Before I go on further about the campaign, think of the absolute most intense action movie you've ever seen. Got it? Now give a x10 multiplier to it and have it last that way for 6 hours. Calling it intense doesn't do it justice. Its fucked up crazy. Things happen in it that you wouldn't believe it if I told you. The story is presented much like MW2's predecessor. The satellite view of the world with it's busy lines of code scrolling across the screen with our heroes discussing the situation as background. Its something I have always liked because it was a different presentation of the next level, and it forced the player to really listen to the voices and see that quality voice acting means it doesn't need a cut-scene to make it good. However, there are cut-scenes in here that will blow you away! I'm not going to give any spoilers but I will say that at a particular part near the end, I had no idea you were looking through the eyes of an astronaut. Amazing. The game also gives essentially interactive cut-scenes where the player has to do something or is physically experiencing an event. In COD4 it was the player dieing in the nuke blast. In MW2 it was something as good or better happening almost every other level, but it never got boring in the slightest. I have to say the level "No Russian" was one of the most gut-wrenching part of any video game, not like a horrifying realization "would you kindly" moment, but a "oh meh gawd, what am I DOING" kind of thing. I would never even think about my actions in other games, but the way the music set in, and just how it played out really made me feel something that I normally wouldn't. Now the campaign is short but it is better that way, here's why: Most campaigns are around 10 hours right? Its 10 hours of unchanging gameplay right? MW2 changes it up many times and takes out the bullshit filler. It makes for a shorter single player experience, but its a better one overall.

This is a slow part in the singleplayer, seriously

Spec Ops is the new gameplay feature added which gives the player a chance to go through and replay the many scenarios brought up during the campaign. From fighting waves of hostiles to sneaking pass enemy patrols, Spec Ops brings a lot of re-playability to MW2. You can tackle these missions with a friend or go solo, either way its a blast. Some of those missions reminds me very much of Terrorist Hunt from Raindow Six Vegas 2. Where the player(s) objective is to kill a set amount of enemies in a level. It may have a much smaller role compared to the other properties of MW2, but I plan to be playing it much more in depth in the future.

Multiplayer. The apex, the daddy, the alpha male of COD4 makes a triumphant return like Gandalf charging into Helms Deep. New weapons, new maps, new perks, new everything! The only thing that hasn't changed is the awesome. MW2 starts the player off with low end but by no means underpowered weapons. and gives some of the classic perks you expect and some of ones that will blow your balls off. Perks like Bling allows two weapon attachments while Marathon grants unlimited sprint. And that's only the beginning. Each perk has a challenge attached to it. Once completed, a bonus is rewarded to enhance the perk eg. once stopping power is upgraded, extra damage to vehicles is also added. Killstreaks have been given an overhaul as well. In COD4, killstreaks were UAV, Air Strike, and then attack helicopter. In MW2, killstreaks range from random reward drop-offs, to sitting in the gunner seat of an AC-130, TO TATICAL FUCKING NUKES!!! However, matches would get too out of control and people would get stupid cheap kills so players are restricted to 3 killstreak awards. That is another thing that I love more about MW2 compared to COD4. It's much more balanced. The weapons, perks, and killstreaks bring the crazy excitement that you would expect, but spaces it out and has gives everyone a chance to escape the coming doom of a harrier strike. The Multiplayer is much more accesible that way and it also shows through the maps. Good map design entails that there are going to be massive death orgy areas with plenty of maneuvering space to flank around. You see that in all of MW2's maps. The maps are varied and interesting like a nuclear submarine port in Russia, and a Taliban cave-base in Afghanistan. OH! and my fav thing about any multiplayer map, well multiplayer in general, all killstreak awards like UAV's and helicopters can be shot down. In my opinion, there is nothing more satisfying than firing a stinger missile at a UAV, completely ruining the enemies chance seeing you. Here's a little montage of it:

So meet the new boss. Same as the old boss? No. COD4 is like the cool boss that sends everyone home early on Friday. MW2 just gives everyone the day off. This game is a stunning shooter that you probably have a copy of right now and if you don't you are a Wii owner and I don't want your kind desecrating our site with your presence. An incredible value for 3 modes of gameplay, it is completely worth your $70. Infinity Ward has done it again.


+ Significant upgrade to graphics and colour palette

+ Campaign has cool, well written story and is fucked up crazy intense fun

+ Spec Ops adds re-playability to those who aren't the multiplayer types

+ The multiplayer is balanced and is more fun than COD4

+ Upgradable perks, need I say more?

+ Upgradable killstreak awards, gunning from an AC-130 is a murderboner

+ Denying someones killstreak reward via missile launcher is oh so satisfying

+ Riot shields are like the new grav hammer, hilarious fun. Seriously, play an match with everyone using the shield only. Its great!

(I can't think of anything bad about it, is this the perfect shooter?)

MY RATING: 10/10