Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review

As recommended by Ice T

Damn, son.

Without sounding like every other fanboy on the net, I’m going to try and give a critical, even-handed (if possible) opinion on this mega-title.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, is a solid game. It continues a long history of excellent first-person-shooters and great multiplayer games, but primarily I have become a huge fan of the single player campaigns.

Traditionally the story missions have been quite short, but after cranking through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single campaign a little while ago, I was eagerly looking forward to this next installment.

And how was I pleased.

The game picks up where the last left off; albeit five years have passed.  You now play a new range of soldiers, but some familiar faces (and voices, which for some odd reason, made me think of a fictitious uncle I have that sounds surprisingly like Bill Nighy) crop up along the way. 

The game opens with your regular “Show us how good you are at the game, so we can ascertain how hard to make it” level, and in true COD fashion, “The Pit” is a fun delivery of a recurring element in all of these games.

And from there begins what I can confidently say has been the most enjoyable FPS single campaign I’ve ever played. Like a great film, there are events happening that make you feel for the characters; some get betrayed, some have great triumphs and (taking a page out of Hamlet) almost everyone else dies.

Carpooling for great justice!

In every other FPS where the developers decide it’s a good idea to drop in a driving scene here and there, they fail to capture a sense of urgency for the most part, and they become more of a diversion from the game as a whole. COD:MW2‘s vehicle sections seem to keep the game flowing as they are (blessedly) short, intense, and thankfully in-context.  In one of the opening missions, you and your partner have been caught red-handed (excuse the pun, but they are working over a Russian base), and have to escape post-haste. This involves mounting some handy ski-mobiles, and from there it’s an overland race culminating in a jump over a thousand foot drop.  It was surprisingly fun.  Really fun.  I hate driving scenes in games (ala Gears of War, which was just painful), but Modern Warfare seemed work at just the right level.  The unfortunate exception to this, however, is the boating at the end.  It blows, as I found it shockingly difficult to see the helicopters you are supposed to avoid.  It ended up more trial and error (focus on the error) to get through that part.

I’m not a huge multiplayer type guy.  I did enjoy split-screen, which I’ll get into in a second, but this calling card of MW2 isn’t going to hold much sway over my score.

Anyhow, split-screen.  It’s a dying art, and it seems fewer and fewer games have it.  Luckily COD:MW2 does support it in the form SpecOps mode. SpecOps consists of short (usually 5-10 minute) rounds with a specific objectives; defend a position against wave of attackers, move through a defended position to reach an objective, steal something, race on snowskis, and so on.  This is where a lot of your replay value is going to come from.  They are rather enjoyable.  Split-screen with Matty was fun, and handy as one player can heal the other if their downed.  The split is horizontal, and for some reason staggered (each player’s viewable area is not exactly half, a small section is left black).  This isn’t great for those of us on plasma TVs; people intending on playing long sessions (and that’s quite a few of you) should be sure to watch out for screen-burn.

This image depicts no graphic violence. The real game certainly does.

And finally Infinity Ward’s shockingly controversial/suspiciously well timed hype generator.  The “No Russian” scene.  Two words: It’s graphic.

The context of the opt-outable scene (you’ll be prompted a few times on your willingness to play it) is that you have to infiltrate a terrorist group, and hence, have to act like one.

It is very graphic. Both watching civilians drag other wounded civilians away from the firefight, and wounded civilians crawling  away smearing blood across the floor. I’ve both seen and about read players who, feeling pangs of guilt, aim high or avoid shooting the civilians.

The majority take it one of two ways.  The first group emote with game’s characters and do not want to kill innocents, simply walking the level through, gun silent or shooting over the heads of civilians.  Others, realising it is a game, shoot with abandon.  In the end, almost every player is going to have their own emotional response.

Although I would certainly not let my (fictional) children play it until I felt they were old enough to know the difference between fact and fiction, the scene is emotionally powerful. Because, though graphic in its nature, it forces the player to have a response to a situation the that no-one wants to face.

This is where films and games can converge (finally). Films have had the ability to convey emotions for the longest time now, whereas games have usually just tried to keep up.

Also, on an interesting note, this scene has generated some mainstream media to cover the lack of R18+ rating system in Australia,  and how it should be brought in, rather than hamstring games that are aimed at adults.  It should be said that MW2, a game rated R18+ or equivalent in every other country, has been placed in the MA15+ classification here, with no alteration to the game’s content.

Soapboxing aside, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a superb game. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it through, and in unexpected form, will probably play it again on a harder difficulty.

The Verdict:

Pros: Excellent gameplay, good replay value.  SpecOps mode will guarantee many nights of split-screen gaming, and of course the game’s online multiplayer is going to become one of the new standards.  Great intense, cinematic storyline.

Cons: An unexpectedly short single player campaign.

Overall: Without submitting to the hype, it’s just a great game. How it will hold up against the Christmas onslaught with Assassin’s Creed 2 and all the other decent titles coming out over the next few months is still to be seen, but a great title all the same. 4.5 out of 5.