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We can’t really be a gaming blog without mentioning one of the most anticipated games of this year. That is, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. While still showing the quality of previous Call of Duty titles, I can’t help but feel disappointed with this entry.This short (Yeah.. Right.) review shouldn’t really be taken as if from somebody who has lots of experience with the franchise as personally, I never liked the Call of Duty series much, only playing CoD1 + EXP and CoD4, so I can’t really judge it as well as other people against other entries in the franchise however from the many people I’ve asked, they all agree that this game, while still remarkably good, has quite a lot of faults. This is however a view of the console port of the game. I haven’t played any other CoD’s on console so I can’t really pull out a judgement on that so any technical comparisons will be to the PC version.

The singleplayer for this game is, as with all other installments (or so I’ve heard), fantastic. It is almost perfect in every way. Every battle is atmospheric and immersing, the voice acting from each soldier is superb and the sense of urgency is clearly shown through the actions of the characters. However there is a reason why it’s almost perfect and not perfect and that is because of the setting. Looking at each battle individually, the single player would be superb but looking at a bigger picture of the game, it isn’t that great. The game moves at a far too fast pace, taking you from one place to another with almost no reason why except for the objective at hand. One minute I was running from Russian parasite mobs in a bombed out city to scaling an icy mountain in some random country that I’ve already forgotten. (Or something similar to that in that order). I guess I also have to take note of the controversial airport scene. Honestly, it was mediocre at best and only served as a kick the dog moment for the big bad. Other then that, it wasn’t anything great. I can see how it would be controversial but honestly, I think that going around killing civilians out of pure sadistic pleasure in Grand Theft Auto (I am so guilty of this) is more concerning then an airport massacre in this game as you’re not even required to shoot even 1 civilian. What really bugged me about the single player mode was that it was FAR TOO SHORT. I begun playing this game during the morning and have already finished the campaign by mid afternoon (what’s that? like 5-6 hours?). Most people I know have taken only around 4 hours to clear the game but I was playing on hardened so it took me a bit to clear the game. The difficulty however, isn’t too challenging and, although there might be some frustrating areas, you’ll get by after a few rounds of trial and error and thoughts of where you went wrong.

So in the end, the single player is a great albeit short and unforgettable experience as it’s far too convoluted to make much sense on why you’re trying to reach a certain objective. The gameplay is still great though so if you never really cared what you were doing and what everybody was talking about in the other CoD’s, you’ll be happy with this one, however to others, it’s hard to feel a bit unsatisfied.

Trust me. This is alot more awesome than it looks.

Phew now that that’s over. Time to get onto the Multiplayer aspect. I’m only going to analyze the Spec Ops mode and a brief overview of the other normal multiplayer because frankly, I never really enjoyed the normal multiplayer types as I felt it was far too spammy with nades and etc (In CoD4). Maybe someday I’ll give it a whirl.

So what is Spec Ops mode? It’s the fabled co-op mode that they were promising. Honestly, this mode is a bit of a mixed bag for me. It has its good and bad points but it manages to land on the good side (and with this being CoD, the good side is great and the bad side is just good). It basically consists of a set of missions designed for 2 players to work together. Personally I think this is both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that it allows in a massive amount of mission variety. The bad thing is that, there really isn’t much continuity between missions and with many of them being relatively short, there isn’t much of a punishment system as if you fail, you can start over again without any worries. Sure it may be nice to tackle little side-quests with mate but personally I prefer to work together to a bigger objective through smaller ones with a partner. (You could compare this to RE5 with Mercernaries being Spec Ops and the story mode being a co-op campaign, except imagine it without the RE5 gayness in a CoD setting. Yeah. It would be epic)

The gameplay in these missions is great although the co-op kinda feels redundant in normal mode since you can withstand so many bullets. In veteran however, it is an extremely exhilarating experience where you really have to work together to get to the end successfully. Although the problem is with the bleeding out system. Its a bit like the dieing mode in RE5 except you can’t get killed while in dieing mode. Oh and the timer is huge (In normal you have 2 minutes to reach your partner and revive him, In veteran it’s still a whopping 1 minute). So pretty much the only way to die is for both of you to go into bleeding mode status (Yes a dog ripping out your throat will still leave you bleeding out). In the end it’s all about the experience in playing this with a mate and I must say, the co-op mode is extremely fun with somebody sitting next to you. So even though there are some minor quirks which I was unsatisfied with, this game still managed to squeeze a large amount of enjoyment out of me in being pretty damn awesome.

This could be you and your drinking buddy shooting yetis with guns.

To sum this all up. The single player, although short and disjointed, presents an atmospheric story which is only ruined in the way it’s presented. However the gameplay overcomes this fault leading to an enjoyable experience although not to the extent of CoD4 (debatable, but I think that CoD4′s story made much more sense than this although it doesn’t have as many epic set pieces.) Spec Ops mode is a blast to play with a friend and as long as you have somebody to play it with, the game is worth getting just for this mode alone as it should keep you satisfied for a very long time. (C’mon 25+ missons)

Having only briefly played the PC version of MW2, I can’t really give a definite comparison between the console and PC but what I have noticed is that the PC version feels dumbed down in comparison to its previous incarnations. The most prevalent would be the lack of a leaning system, meaning you have to strafe out into the open to kill things, i.e CS style. This has been in CoD since the early days so it does feel kind of strange without it but it doesn’t impact too much on the gameplay. I’m not sure whether consoles have had a leaning system with their finite amount of buttons so I can’t say that it got dumbed down for consoles but it feels different without leaning. The game also does feel a bit tailored to the console crowd though as some of the missions seem a lot more forgiving in layout. Other then that, it’s still the same core game.

There really isn’t much to say about the MP aspect of the PC version though. A quick google search would tell you just how bad it is. Everything that PC players have taken for granted have been removed. There is no server browser meaning you have to rely on a matchmaking system to get into a game and even then, the game is hosted locally due to the lack of dedicated servers.

The matchmaking itself is quite bad as essentially all you can do is choose the game mode you want to play, meaning you have no say on what map you want and the timer on that map. Hell from my experiences, hardcore mode is only enabled on only a set number of modes. If the host happens to have a bad internet connection then you had better hope he drops out as the host-migration system makes the player with the best internet connection the host (luckily). The lack of dedicated servers really takes its toll on people who game during the non-gaming hours as if the matchmaking system cant find a host close to you then it takes you all the way to hosts in Europe and the USA. Good luck trying to play in there. Gone are the days where you would skim through a server list at the dead of night looking for a local server with a group of people playing on it. The fact that it integrates with steam may deter many but honestly, I have no problem with it as steam works well with what it does. It allows users to communicate while gaming and join eachother’s games easily and it works pretty well at that although it was a hassle at times to get into the same game, it didn’t take too long. Having come from a CS background where dedicated servers were the norm making it easier to play against teams in a distraction-less setting and considering the outrage from CoD4 gamers, the lack of dedicated servers is a bit troubling for MW2 as with its current system, I don’t see how they can efficiently work clan matches together. It seems that Infinity Ward tailored the game to the pub players without much thought for the competitive scene or are too far up their own asses gloating about IWNet to care. I didn’t get too much hands-on time with the MP but these were the pretty obvious issues that really detracted from it in comparison to other games. (I don’t really want to get started about mods)

Don’t worry. Riot Shields actually do that.

Oh and before I forget. The graphics. There’s nothing I can say other than praise for it. While it doesn’t look drastically different from its predecessor, it still looks remarkably good. However the highlights would be the environments. From assaulting an island base’s walls to an escape in a snowmobile in a snowfield to the destroyed cities of America, all of these areas look absolutely fantastic. The weapons look finely detailed and the characters look authentic (although that might not be a good thing during the airport scene. It probably wouldn’t have got that warning if you were shooting barbie dolls).

Dot point form.

Singleplayer

• + Enjoyable gameplay on par with previous entries
• + Immerseful atmosphere that makes you feel you’re part of the action
• + Absolutely breathtaking scenarios
• - Disjointed plot that feels rushed
• - Some plot points don’t feel as dramatic as they should
• - Short

Multiplayer

• + Spec Ops is a blast to play with mates
• + Challenging Spec Ops missions that will keep you playing for a while
• + Same core gameplay that made CoD4 as popular as it is today (Pre-MW2 release)
• + Additional features to the perks, kill-streaks and rewards
• - Can’t help but feel Spec Ops could’ve been a bit more
• - Riot shields are kinda annoying at times

Other

• + Graphics are fantastic
• + Great voice-acting that doesn’t detract from the mood
• - Leaning feature feels missed
• - Lack of dedicated servers and forced matchmaking on PC really sucks
• - Matchmaking options are limited

Does this game live up to its hype? Yes it does. With such a high standard set by the previous game, the addition of a Spec Ops mode more than reaches the standard. In some ways it surpasses it but in others, it falls flat. Even with its faults, It is still a solid title in the franchise and shouldn’t be missed although some decisions on the direction of this game would make you ask “WHY!??”. The faults are easily ignorable leaving this quality to be a remarkable title in its own right though the PC version could’ve been much more. Personally I would recommend the console version over the PC because they’re essentially the same experience bar keyboard + mouse but with the console, you have split-screen at least, and you don’t have to go through that period of despair knowing that those conveniences you took for granted in the PC version aren’t available anymore. Either way this is easily ONE OF the best games to come out this year so far. So why am I disappointed with it? It’s good but it could’ve been so much more.

If you think this looks awesome then Yes, you will like this game.

@Dante.- TL;DR version

Great Game. A solid A+. While not perfect it does most things right takes it one-step further albeit with a few steps back.

9/10 (7.5-8 for PC because of the FLAWED online [Your Mileage May Vary])

Notes.

CoD4 = Modern Warfare 1

Leaning = Looking around corners without moving (Self-explanatory tbh)

Yes I am sorry if this didnt make much sense to you, Nothing I write ever does.

~EDIT~

OK. So with more MW2 playtime under my belt I think I should add some more comments about MW2.

Firstly about the single player. The pacing feels kind of strange and the way they dump you into missions is a bit iffy. In MW1 most of the missions were linked and it was fairly obvious, but in this, you seem to just be thrown in any location that would be awesome to have a firefight in. The pacing of the battles and the setting feels a bit, lets put enemies everywhere because people like shooting things, very un-needed.

The MP itself is actually pretty good. The reduced player count means theres less NADE SPAAAAAAAAM. But the one thing that jarates me off would have to be the Riot Shields. They are glitchy as hell as you can sometimes get knifed from the front while holding one out which makes no sense at all and they can repel almost all gunfire which is kinda cheap. Other than that, I really enjoyed it.