Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Single-Player review
| Game Name: | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |
| Platforms: | PC, xbox 360, Playstation 3 |
| Publisher(s): | Activision |
| Developer(s): | Infinity Ward |
| Release Date: | 10/11/09 |
| ESRB Rating: | 18+ |
So, after weeks, and indeed, months of speculation, rumour, natter and banter Modern Warfare 2 flashbanged its way onto our consoles, whether or not you wanted it to. Today I’m going to bring you my verdict on the single player campaign mode, while my friend, and yours, THWR gives us the low down on multiplayer after a few days of online slaughter. We feel this is the best approach to a game that truly is two whole parts to one sum.
This game is the sixth in the Call of Duty series (ignoring portable offerings and offshoots), the fourth by series creators Infinity Ward. With the next generation consoles brought about a new idea from Activision to milk this cow dry – give Treyarch (a relative unknown before being drafted) the engine IW build and get them to do Activisions bidding, while IW takes two-year development cycles on (so far) typically superior products. This means the consumer gets a new Call of Duty each year, keeping Activision happy, and gives IW a chance to work its magic on their engine and series, keeping them happy.
COD4 was a first for the series, not just because it was IWs first next-gen platform game, but also because it brought the series into the new age. No more World War 2 gaming, instead replaced with a strange hooah commentary on the current global climate. I say commentary, but this is the kind of political drama that would make Michael Bay proud. Explosions, guns and crazy madness all around. COD4s warfare often felt misplaced, particularly when hordes of enemies were rushing towards you screaming expletives in Russian or Iraqi, but without the excuses of being set in the future with an evil nazi-like regime (Halo, Killzone) taking over the universe. No, you and your characters were supposed to be subtle, effective elite soldiers for the British or American armies, despite the fact that anything going on in the game would usually cause global pandemic sort of stuff.
COD4 was a great action movie. It showed that the gaming industry has the clout to dish out dirt where Hollywood couldn’t, especially after the disappointing Die Hard 4. As a game, it was pretty good. On a technical side it was really polished. Graphically it didn’t set the world alight in the same way Crysis did, but it was still a fantastic looking game. The story was shallow enough to make it enjoyable – switch your brain off and just enjoy the action. The gameplay was nothing special. It had very clear lines as to when missions turned using triggers, which meant you could almost run through any level, and unless you died, clear it without killing anyone or doing anything. At one stage I cleared it in an hour, not taking loading times etc. into account.
Last year saw World at War, the Treyarch developed Vietnam story, based on the COD4 engine and essentially the same title with new maps, weapons and story. But the real shift is this year.
In-game violence has sparked concern from parents
Amidst rumours of a “futuristic” shooter, “sci fi” games and a slew of other development rumours coming out of IW, the game launched ended up being just a sequel to COD4. And why wouldn’t they do that? COD4 was a huge shooter, and remains one of the top online FPS titles on both consoles and PC. It would be fair to say that COD4 is to consoles what Counter-Strike is to PCs – a staple in online gaming. With that in mind they set about dropping the Call of Duty name and just calling it “Modern Warfare 2″, which later took back the COD branding, but the “Modern Warfare” bit takes precedence on the box.
Modern Warfare 2 takes place 5 years after the events of COD4. It takes the same queues from COD4, too. You play on two different factions in the same timeline, from the American and British side, meeting old familiar faces along the way.
The plot loosely bases itself around those pesky Russians we met in COD4, only this time they have a better plan for terrorising the world. Whatever about nukes, it’s time to split up the Americans and take ‘em down from inside. The linchpin for this storyline is a much-debated level in which you play a CIA operative working undercover with the Russians who decide to head off to an airport to gun it down. True terrorist style. Unlike a real airport, the response units are not that close and airport security is weak. In the end of the level where you gun down innocent civilians (some crawling in pain on the ground, some helping wounded, some rocking back & forth… you get the point), our evil Russians shoot you, an American. This causes uproar when the media finds out an American was involved – and thus leaving the door open for the Rooskies to use this uncertain time in Washington to go invade it.
This is a ridiculous plot line, but leaves the door open to some of the most fantastic FPS levels you’ll play in a single player campaign, including a firefight inside the White House.
The Fevela level shown is one of the more impressive moments we've seen
This game will take you through a plethora of environment types. Snow and ice open the game, with a fun but pointless ice-climbing mission, followed soon after by downhill snow-mobile jet-ski fun. After this you hit the urban world of Fevala, dusty terrain of Afghanistan and of course, the soil of America itself. Each level is fully realised and the mission design is much better then COD4. No more wondering where you’re supposed to go here, as the levels are straight forward enough to guide you through, but not so linear that it’s boring and unimaginative.
The graphics are a step up from COD4 undoubtedly. There’s a lot more polish here, but make no mistake, this is very clearly the same engine and game as COD4. Which makes it pretty awful in terms of value-for-money. Not just that, but I cleared it first time ’round on “regular” difficulty in about 3 hours. Forget whatever the media are saying about 5, 7 or 10 hour gameplay here. This is a short one, by anyone’s standards.
On top of this, the game is based on an engine that is by no means new, interesting or technologically astounding. There has been a lot of time to polish this engine down. Graphically they’ve achieved this, but even now, after two initial patches, certain parts of the game fail with awful ragdoll effects and a huge amount of clipping (where a character falls “through” the environment). To top it off, there are sections in the game where you place C4 on a wall/door and blast through. When you do this, the game goes into bullet-time mode for a few seconds so you can pick off your enemies, leaving the civilians alive. Shooting people in the face will do nothing in some instances – which raises a larger issue about how accurate hit boxes are in an online game…
To compensate, Infinity Ward have put in a challenge mode called “Spec Ops” which can be played alone, or with a friend. Most levels are taken directly from the single player, but tweaked for the spec ops mode, but there are a few new ones and some specifically designed for co-op. This extends the longevity of the game for sure, but definitely doesn’t make up for the price tag if you don’t plan on going online. Spec Ops, according to IW, will be expanded later with DLC missions. No word on price, or when we’ll get them.
There isn’t much to talk about in terms of new weapons or features. It’s all very familiar. To replace the brilliant AC-130 mission in COD4, Infinity Ward took a new path with introducing a predator drone loaded with missiles that can drop down onto enemies in certain situations. This makes life easier when bogged down in a firefight against a bunch of enemies who are in close proximity. It also helps when a tank is nearby!
All in all this game is great fun. As a single player experience it’s good. Like I said, it’s the best action movie around right now. As a game though, it lacks a lot of features. It’s mindless, dumb, short but cool. It’s saving grace is Spec Ops and online, but if you’re not into challenge modes and don’t have broadband, this game will be lost on you. If it’s just the story mode you’re after, you’ll survive with renting this game for one night.
Look out for our multiplayer rundown soon.
It's very hard to recommend this if you don't have broadband. Good review, fair score!
Infinity Ward are a serious bunch of talented peeps. Most of them worked on my favourite Medal of Honor game. AA. Which is interesting as I heard EA is thinking of making another MOH
Im still gonna get it, even though the chances of me getting Wireless Broadbacnd are slim, guess ill stickk with this Piss-poor O2 Modem
Nice Review btw
I thought you were steering clear of this????? Horrah for integrity there mister man!
Game ROCKS!!
I don't get it, I thought you wanted people to AVOID this title? Yet you crumbled and bought it? good job
GAME ROCKS
You forgot my final point in that piece which said that regardless of what happens, we'll all be buying it anyway.
The other point I would make is that most of that article dealt with the PC version, which I absolutely avoided