Sunday 15 November 2009

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Review


So a lot of you are going to see that this is my review and hopefully read it out of... I dunno, habit I guess. A lot of you however, aren't going to bother because you're so sick of hearing about this by now you actually want to physically stop playing Videogames. So to start, I'm going to tell you what's bad about Modern Warfare 2.

The campaign mode within MW2 is shockingly average. The story goes nowhere, and it feels like Infinity Ward have just recycled pages that were torn out of classic war films like Black Hawk Down and Red Dawn (You read the latter right. For a reason that makes practically no sense, the Russians invade America in a scene that isn't even a homage to Red Dawn, it just is Red Dawn. In fact, the level is even called "Wolverines") It's a mess basically. Whereas the first game didn't have much of a strength to it's narrative, MW2 doesn't even have a narrative. In it's place stands a long selection of twenty minute set pieces. Despite all this however, the campaign is enjoyable. Some scenes are shocking, some upsetting, some... downright tasteless but I won't go into that. Modern Warfare 2 may not be worth buying for the campaign alone but I would call you a fool if you didn't complete it. The campaign is, I must admit, my only niggle. For all it's joy and excitement, it is at the end of the day "Scripted, all the way down to the last bullet" as a friend so rightly put it.


But then, the campaign certainly isn't why people flocked in their millions to purchase MW2 and it's certainly not the reason why this blog has deteriorated since Tuesday. Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer is once again just as deliciously addictive as before. It hasn't changed dramatically, but how is that a bad thing? All additions to the experience make it just that little bit sweeter (Customised Kill streaks, additional XP from headshots, deathstreaks, more perks, more ranks and a fudge load of new weapons) and everything that's been removed (Mainly glitches and a few minor animations etc.) has been done so in order to make this the definitive arcade-Esq modern warfare multiplayer to date™.

The new game modes are good fun, the maps are all lovely and overall it's an amazing game. I'm having a whole lot of fun with this game and I have a feeling I will be for quite a long time. To me, this was worth the £45 price tag alone. If you liked COD4 and COD5, I have every confidence that you will adore what COD6 has to offer. If you were never a fan, then I doubt you'll like this at all.

On top of the multiplayer is the new Spec-Ops mode, which is basically the Challenge mode from Timesplitters Future Perfect with online play. Spec-Ops is a collection of segments from the main campaign, edited for two players with a time limit slapped on. It's great fun, and it ranges from fighting off waves of enemies, to fighting your way up a burning bridge to racing your mate in a snowmobile. It may not be as impressive as the multiplayer, but it's certainly fantastic fun to mess around with for a few hours.

All in all, Modern Warfare 2 (I'm getting sick of typing that) is a fantastic game worthy of it's global acknowledgement as a landmark within this years release schedule. All though it's not game of the year in my eyes, (Uncharted 2 beats it by a long shot) it's still a very important game.

Modern Warfare 2 represents the lad's mag of videogaming. Whereas games like Uncharted 2 are the experiences you cherish forever, like classic cinema or novels, Call of Duty is the game that you and a few mates always smile back on fondly. It's the game that requires, nay, demands you crack out a beer, get a few bags of crisps and lie back on your chair. It's the game that you'll want to get 1000 gamerscore on. It's the game you enjoy, regardless of what you're labelled as.

(When I say Lad's mag, I mean it metaphorically. There seems to be a lot more girls playing this than most online games on the Xbox.)

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