There are games, and then there are games, by that I mean, there are games that no one gives a shit about which are contrasted by the titles that every single person on the internet (and sometimes in real life) are talking about. It’s tough coming into a game like this and writing a review because you want to honest and unaffected by the masses of opinions already out there. My first action to achieve this is to completely avoid reading anything about the game, no reviews, no previews, no forum chatter. Play the game, write some thoughts, end of story.

The start of MW2 is very similar to that of the first in the Modern Warfare experience, a training run to get your bearings, then off into the action. This is where things change a little from the first, very quickly you are assaulted, yes by enemies brandishing guns and knifes and tanks, but also visually and audibly. During the action pieces in MW2 there is so much happening on screen that it is a little overwhelming, some people will have probably gotten a kick out of this, in fact, there will be a massive amount of gamers that will label it various things, realism or immersion for example. My first feeling was to call it clutter. If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If it were to happen in MW2 yes, yes it would, and you are crushed by it on its way to the ground, splitting your head and killing you instantly, the sound is deafening, and the blood splatter on the camera prevents you from being able to see what just happened, there are probably a thousand other trees falling around you at the same time just to ad to the confusion.

As a narrative, MW2 is split up into different sections played out by characters in different parts of the world. Pieced together then tell a story of a war, who is involved, the impact on the invaded nation, but perhaps not why, there is a reason given, but it is more the cause than the reality of what set it all in to motion and the motive behind it.

Given that you play different people on different missions, you can imagine that there is a varied number of settings and types of missions, my favourite were the stealthy infiltration type objectives. Snipers in the snowy woods, infiltrating an oil rig from underneath, these were the most enjoyable points of the experience for me, they highlighted how well the mechanics of the game work, the aiming/firing/reloading, it is the most competent shooter I have played in terms of how it handles and I think this is why it is such a popular multiplayer game.

Once I had finished the game, I was surprised that it was all over so soon, the campaign takes less than 6 hours to complete and while it could be argued that a harder difficulty could be chosen, I play most games on normal and Call of Duty is not one that I would be playing on veteran due to it’s frustrating choke points. The end sequence is a nice way to finish, but it is also not an ending that I would consider a fitting conclusion, lots of loose ends in the story and a matter of timing. The price of the game must be mentioned here, many fans will state that the Multiplayer is the enduring quality that will bring value for money. I agree, to a point. There has to be a point where a game simply doesn’t offer enough for it’s price point (at an inflated $150) MW2 is treading a fine line, that for some people it has crossed.

There is no co-op option for the main campaign, it is purely a single player affair, there is however the addition of a collection of challenges called Special-Ops. They allow both online and splitscreen co-op to complete missions, some are based off the experiences in the single player game, using the same locations, while there are others that are just found in the special ops. Good time killers and plenty of fun if you play with someone that you work well with in a team setting.

Many MW fans will have primarily had the multiplayer in their sights when weighing up whether they were going to spend the cash on this game come release. The multi is structured in a manner that will be instantly familiar to those that played the first. There are perks and customizable classes, some new perks have been added along with new kill streak combo bonuses plus the ability to customise what killstreak you actually want. Just like the single player campaign, the muliplayer is a lot busier with all the extra things happening, fortunately it doesn’t suffer from the same over bearing visual noise that I felt. The pace might put off a few people but I would imagine that they wouldn’t have enjoyed the first games multiplayer as the pace of the man on man fire fight is still the same.

Closing Comments

How do I see MW2 as a total package? It is the most competent shooter to date, the controls are solid, the mechanics of dealing death are wonderfully streamlined, and the multiplayer offers a level of frantic that is just on the sweet spot for myself and a lot of other gamers. The things that really stop it from being a truly mind blowing bundle are the fact that the single player experience is both too short, and lacking in the area of narrative, I don’t want some guy doing a voice over, but there needs to me a point where the developers stop and think about whether the gamers are going to pick up on the reasons behind what is happening, I understood what happened, I just don’t think there was enough build up to make me appreciate why, not just with the twist, but also certain missions. It’s not the be all and end all of gaming, it is however a great multiplayer title that should maintain a following for a good amount of time. Shop around before committing to the full RRP though, there are often deals to be had.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 7:40 am and is filed under PC, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360, sidefeature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.