Review: Modern Warfare 2Posted by Eddy on November 16th, 2009
Ok, I won’t write a cheesy intro paragraph about Modern Warfare 2. You know what this game is. I won’t even make a statement about how you have to have been hiding under a rock to not know. I think it’s safe to say that we’re all familiar with this game, its controversies, and some of its more publicized info leading up to the epic launch this week. This is without a doubt the biggest title to drop this year. So, with all of the hype, how did it stack up?
This was maybe the hardest review I’ve had to write for this site, simply because of all the hype, the expectations and strong reactions to this game. I decided to do things a little differently. The game is clearly divided into 3 fairly big components. I have strong feelings about each one, which made giving a final score difficult. So I wrote a review of each one separately. Hope you’re ready for the read.
Single Player Campaign
I won’t beat around the bush about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the predecessor to Modern Warfare 2. I loved the solo campaign to the 2007 game. It was so solid and cohesive that it instantly vaulted that game to my “game of the year” over other notables like Halo 3 and Uncharted.
I came in to Modern Warfare 2 with a lot of expectations about how this game’s story was going to play out. With all of the commercials and the airport scene controversy (where the player is undercover with a group of terrorists as they slaughter innocent civilians in an airport), it was hard not to. One of the things that stuck out to me in the game’s ads was the myriad of locales that it seemed to take you to. So much, in fact, that I started to wonder how much the game was going to jump around, and would it feel discombobulated?
Yes, is the answer. Let’s get this out of the way. After playing a game with storytelling as brilliant as Uncharted 2, MW2′s solo campaign is a huge step down. From a story perspective, the game was just all over the place. By the end of it, I didn’t understand what the main bad guy was even trying to do, and ultimately, the airport scene is a big fail from a storytelling standpoint, for reasons I won’t spoil in this post but might expand on in the comments. Basically, Infinity Ward claimed it was necessary to stew hatred in you for the game’s bad guy. However, it was poorly set up (thus not inspiring hatred or any sort of connection) and in the end there’s no payoff for all of that hatred. But I digress.
Normally, I don’t care about stories in many shooters. But to be honest, I thought the first game’s narrative was to tightly delivered, that I expected just as many great things from this one. In that regard, it was a let down. That doesn’t make it bad, though, from a gameplay standpoint, which I’m sure is what many of you are dying to hear.
The first half of the game is quite honestly a drag in that regard. The opening missions are clearly trying to wow you with a few bit set piece moments, but the whole thing just feels like it’s screaming about how cool and exciting it is. The first 3-4 levels are over too quickly, unless you count the Favela level, which is one of the worst video game levels I’ve played in this generation. I was honestly pretty bummed until about halfway through Act II, when the game slowed down, and delivered IW’s signature huge scripted events. The ones that make your jaw drop and get you pumped about the game.
There are several of those “holy crap” moments and memorable missions throughout the second half of the game, and I loved it. You travel to a Russian gulag, jump rooftops in Rio de Janeiro, fight through a war-torn Washington D.C. (the reveal of the Whiskey Hotel is one of my favorite moments of this generation), and even take a brief detour in space. Don’t worry, you don’t actually fight there. During this portion of the game, I felt a callback to what I loved about Modern Warfare, and wasn’t disappointed in the slightest when I finished it.
Overall, the game is a blast, and while it doesn’t quite live up to the original in terms of its cohesiveness or giving that one “Ghillies in the Mist” type experience, it is still well made and worth every penny. Basically, if you can suffer through the boring and “trying-too-hard” factor of the first half, you get a great pay off.
GamerSushi Score:
Special Ops
The game doesn’t stop at campaign. I’ll admit, when I first heard that Modern Warfare 2 wasn’t going to have co-op multiplayer for the main campaign, I was fairly disappointed. After all, World at War managed to have 5 player co-op and implemented it decently. I’m a big fan of co-op anything, so it was a bit of a blow. However, Infinity Ward did announce that there would be a handful of co-op missions in a new mode called Special Ops.
While this certainly relieved my disappointment, I can’t say I was ever as pumped for Spec Ops the way I was for the main campaign. I mean, a handful of missions is hardly anything to get excited over. However, the other day I was able to spend several hours in Spec Ops with a buddy of mine (some of you will know him as Damn Dangerous), and I had so much fun. What IW didn’t get in to is the fact that each co-op mission has 5-6 sub missions, making for somewhere between 20-30 co-op levels in the game. We played it for 2-3 hours and didn’t even get through all of them on the easiest difficulty. Not because they were hard, but because there are just so many.
The amount of content here is surprising, in a totally positive way. Spec Ops takes some of the best moments of the campaigns levels and gives you a co-op objective for them. It also includes a handful of levels from Call of Duty 4, as well as some brand new missions that couldn’t quite make the cut for MW2, such as a suspension bridge that is on the verge of collapsing while you fight repelling enemy soldiers. It really is a ton of fun, and something I just wasn’t expecting from the game at all. There seems to be enough content here to keep anyone busy for a long time.
GamerSushi Score:
Multiplayer
This is the crowning joy of the game. I reviewed the XBox 360 version though, so keep that in mind. Won’t be diving into the PC version, but the gameplay here is simply fantastic. I enjoyed the CoD 4 multiplayer mode, but this already has me enthralled in a totally different way. While I dislike the exclusion of the party chat functionality, I still predict that I will be addicted to this game for months to come.
As with CoD 4, awards are dished out a steady and rewarding pace, constantly giving your avatar new abilities, weapon load outs and customizations, all while moving you up in rank as you gain more kills. The gameplay is fast and frenetic, in some ways moving beyond that of the original.
I think one of the most fascinating things about the multiplayer in MW2 is the balance of perks, deathstreaks and killstreaks. No longer do you just gain rewards for killing in 3, 5 and 7 increments. Now, you can adjust your killstreak to all kinds of kill levels, and even get perks that lower the amount of kills needed for victory. You can call in predator bombs, care packages, harrier jets, helicopters, UAV jammers, EMP bombs and even a nuke at 25 kills, if you’re feeling ridiculous.
Gone are the tiresome perks of old such as Martyrdom and Last Stand. However, those are not removed from the game, but rather given to players who have died many times in a row, earning a killstreak bonus. This levels the playing field slightly for struggling competitors, and keeps things mixed up enough so they stay interesting. I think one of the cooler deathstreak awards is copycat, which allows you to steal the class and weapon load out from your most recent killer. This makes for some interesting scenarios, and puts matches in a constant back and forth.
I played about 5-6 hours of multiplayer over the weekend, and I’m hooked. This easily earns a great score from me.
GamerSushi Score:
————
And there you have it. The biggest game of the year, if not one of the biggest releases of all time, reviewed. Like I said before, I have such distinct impressions of each of these portions of the game that it’s really hard for me to identify it as one comprehensive package.
I know some of you don’t care about some of those components, and some of you will care about all 3. If I were to combine those 3 scores, I believe I’d come up with an A, but that feels too low for a game that I’m probably going to be playing for the next six months or longer. So for those of you who have played the game- what do you guys think this game deserves? Go!
How does our grading system work? Check out our grade chart!
November 16th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I liked the split of the review. I’d have to say that that was definitely the best way to do it. Also, I read VERY briefly (1st, 2nd, last paragraph) the single player review for FEAR of spoilers however big or small. I don’t know how I’ll avoid it until christmas! X(
November 16th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Good review, Eddy. Interesting set-up, but I think you did the game justice.
Here’s my short n’ sweet thoughts on MW2:
The campaign was decent, and the second half was the obvious stand out, most notably the airborne assault on the Gulag and roping down the side of a mountain and surprising two soldiers. Like Eddy said, the Favela level is just awful. The level design is so poor, and enemies pop out from everywhere. I just felt assaulted the entire time. The game yells at you to keep moving, but you’re constantly at near death. Very frustrating. Other than that a very good, if Tom Clancy-ish thrill ride.
SpecOps is awesome, and I was able to jam it out over the weekend with a buddy (on PC, unfortunately. No achievements). We ripped through it Veteran, but we’re stuck on the last two missions.
Yeah, multi-player rules. The Chopper Gunner perk feels a little unbalanced, but more people are starting to pack Stingers, so it works out. It’s a shame that Assassin’s Creed 2 comes out so soon, I want to spend more time with it.
November 16th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Great review and great idea. I can’t wait to play this!
November 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I disagree with the Single-Player section but am in agreement for the rest.
I think “No Russian” did EXACTLY what it was supposed to. It made me loathe Makarov (SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! Especially since I had just finished playing as Pfc. Allen as a Ranger) The fact that IW has the balls to kill of main characters astounds me, although Sheperd’s motives in the later parts of the campaign had me baffeld and I felt like a pawn.
But this game blew me out of the park w/ single-player alone. I think it makes CoD 4: MW look like crap. I say the singleplayer deserves a A only becuase it’s a bit short.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Hahaha, Eddy Multiplayer is amazing. You grenade launched me in the face last night, no bueno. xxepikmeatwadxx
November 16th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Great great review man. I’m really glad you seperated the parts because this game definitely deserves to be treated this way.
I was disapointed by the campaign for the same reasons you mentioned. And it was fairly short. I even spent time looking for the intel (20 out of 45) and still managed to finish it in just over 5 hours on Hardened.
Spec Ops was a great surprise. I’ve been playing it alone thus far (none of my friends have purchased this yet). I’ve got to say, when you go at it alone, anything after “Bravo” is very difficult. Which is nice, really a great challenge.
Again, great review man. Couldn’t agree more.
November 16th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Yeah, that’s a fair review of MW2. As you probably know, I was jizzing my pants ever since the first rumors of a trailer, and personally MW2 has lived up to the hype and then some.
You have a point with Campaign. It did feel sort of a crazy rush and mix of different locales and made the pace of the story a bit rushed and short, but at the end of day would you rather be trudging through sand-filled shantytowns for 10 missions or having a new experience each mission? Then again, some of the missions were short, but too bad. On Veteran they’re long enough! lol Frankly, I thought the story was cohesive enough. While Makarov sort of felt like a cardboard cutout and the fact that RUSSIA WOULD NEVER FALL FOR MAKAROV’S BULLSHIT AND INVADE THE US!!!, the story was thrilling and action-packed…perhaps too much so, as MW2 broke away from the realistic battlefield feel of prior CoD’s and exchanged it with face-paced awesomesauce, but at least the fast-paced awesomesauce was awesome. As for the Favela mission, QUIT CHYO’ BITCHIN’! Just because it’s a real challenge doesn’t mean it’s bad design. I fought through that shit on Vetty for somewhere between 30mins and an hour, and even though I got shot a lot, how else are you supposed to make a slum mission? Have it one level with nice fallout shelters loaded with weapons and health kits or something? NO! YO GUNNA DIE!! Now Whiskey Hotel, I can totally agree, was fucking epic. Overall, the story was great, the music was BEYOND FANTASTIC, as Hans Zimmer is a genius, with some very moving and epic pieces that I’ll be humming for a long time, and I appreciate IW’s strive to make the campaign varied and epic.
Spec Ops also took me by surprise. On Vetty’s day (the day after my MW2 marathon that started from 4:00pm to 1:30am with no breaks), I noticed that Spec Ops existed, and was like “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” I invited my friend to just try out the missions. Next thing we know, we’re hooked on missions (only trying them on Vetty of course, because we might as well finish a level for good each time) and played till the afternoon at which point we switched gears to MP. Spec Ops was the hidden surprise that adds a lot of awesome times and replayability and challenge to the mix. I love Spec Ops, and I’m prolly gonna go play some more after I’m done here.
And now, Multiplayer. It’s awesome. Done. That’s it. IW improved on everything – EVERYTHING. – from CoD4. The maps are better designed, with less whorish spots and just a nicer flow, the new weapons, attachments, perks, killstreaks, deathstreaks, and callsign stuff awarded throughout 70 levels abd 10 Prestiges that actually have reasons to pursue make MW2′s MP perhaps the greatest online FPS-RPG experience out there. My ONLY grief is with the fact that the FAMAS and M16A4 are still fucking one-burst-kills with Stopping Power, and also that LAST STAND RETURNS. WHAT THE FLYING FUCK. I don’t mind Final Stand – that’s a deathstreak, and DS’s are a great idea to help players down on their luck *ME* – but regular Last Stand is a green perk again. WHY?! WHY?! WHYYYYYY?!!? TAKE THAT SHIT OUTTA MP! At least the people die after you kill ‘em – not like Second Fucking Chance in WaW – but I’m waiting for the day when I LS is out of MP or at least made fair. I killed the bitch, I deserve the kill, dammit! Here’s how LS should work if IW MUST continue to bring that bitch-ass perk back in MW3: The killer gets 100 pts when the bitch is shot down into LS. While the bitch is falling down into LS, the killer gets the little Last Stand symbol to indicate the bitch has entered LS. Also, it should take time for the bitch to get out his secondary weapon and be ready to shoot so that he’s not spamming it as soon as the killer has shot him down. Finally, the bitch cannot move (he can crawl in MW2, wtf, are they TRYING to make it cheap!?) and will bleed out in 10 seconds. Hopefully that will discourage enough bitches to man up and use Commando or something instead of fucking Last Stand. OH MY JEWS WTF!!! Anyway, other than those three bitch-ass things, MW2 mulitplayer is awesome because it’s super varied and rewarding with every battle, which keeps me from rage quitting A LOT.
So, MW2 is incredible. A+ in my book.
November 16th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
*SPOILERS COMING*
I think my main contention with it from a storytelling standpoint is that it doesn’t matter if you hate Mackarov- because he’s ultimately not the main bad guy. And you don’t even end up catching him. In the end, how you feel about him is meaningless simply because he’s a red herring.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Maybe it sets up the plot for…*shudders* Modern Warfare 3? Lol. I never did understand why they focused on Makarov so much in the beginning. Maybe they were trying to make it to were its not predictable? They made it look like Makarov was pretty much Zakhaev #2 in the beginning.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Almost everything I was going to say has been said except the Favela level. The idea of it wasn’t to stand there and shoot, but to run your goddamn ass off to catch the dealer. Everyone popping out at you was supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and scared to get you running. I personally thought that it was a fun level, no matter how frustrating it may have been.
Also, I don’t think that the first half was a waste of time, it sets up several key plot points and its flashy and showy-ness just got me more and more excited to keep playing.
As to level-hopping, I thought it was nice not to have to play on the same level over and over and over again, but the fact that you had to go everywhere was because you were a Spec. Ops unit that went wherever it was needed. That seemed badass.
Gulag FTW and also NVG’s are incredible, I’m sure anyone else with Prestige can vouch for me.
End of line.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I totally agree with the Favela level. I just powered thorugh it as though there was a time limit and beat that bad boy like a mo-fo. It was supposed to put the pressure on and keep you moving.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I loved the single player campaign. And I also hated the favela level.It was too hard and too many people. (The level is hard as fuck on Spec Ops on veteran) The ending was such a cliffhanger for me. I can’t believe they ended it like that.
As for the PC multiplayer, Infinity Ward fucked up. They took out dedicated servers which is one of the worst things they can do. They also took out server browsing, and turned it into lobbys. Lobbys are crap! You dont get to have any filters on what you’re looking for. Only what gamemode. Say if I want to play on highrise, well lets just hope I get lucky. Also, in addition to taking out dedicated servers, it leaves us with only 9v9 MAX players. Thats just bull to me. I loved having it be 16v16 in COD4. Other than those things, multiplayer is awesome
November 17th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I thought the Single Player campaign still had around the same level of epicness that CoD: 4 had,but i agree, favela was bullshit, i mean how am i supposed to run up when theres infinitely respawning enemys everywhere.
As for dedicated servers, They took them out because people used t hem to cheat and get like 1000 XP per kill and reank up super fast, so atleast its balanced, and as for the ones who say they wont buy it because of it, go ahead. But your missing out on a lot of fun.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Dude, it only allows hackers! there is absolutely no vote kick, and there are no admins to kick him. It’s like infinity ward wanted hackers
November 18th, 2009 at 2:34 am
WHAT? It took me a week of casual online play to get MAX rating in CoD4…. Who cares if kids “cheated” to get higher XP and get their rank up to WHERE EVERYONE ELSE IS…. They totally FUCKED UP on the PC not allowing us our usual bragging rights (Dedicated Servers)…
Also… Who the hell takes out Leaning in an FPS that previously did it successfully? The campaign would be a lot better on Veteran if we could lean like CoD4.
Let’s just all agree that they made big mistakes on the PC.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Sorry can’t agree. A week to get max rank? You must have been playing for 4 hours a day at least.
It is still cheating.
The main reason they did what they did was to prevent piracy. They have the right to protect themselves as a company.