This is a review of a video game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This highly anticipated game is the sequel of the 2007 hit Call of Duty 4, a game which many believe has revolutionized the FPS Shooter subgenre dominated by WW2 and Sci-Fi themed games. What COD4 was able to accomplish was a rewarding multiplayer system and an awe inspiring story. I'm happy to say that Modern Warfare 2 has taken that formula and improved on it. When you reach the main menu you'll find that there are three main sections of the game: Spec Ops, Single Player Campaign, and Multiplayer. Spec Ops is a collection of short missions that take from situations found in the main campaigns of the modern warfare series. These missions are a good mix for practice and earning Xbox achievement points. All the missions in spec ops are also playable in splitscreen and online co op giving them extra replayability.
Next is the main campaign of the game. At the beginning of the game the player is shown a brief summary of what took place in the 2007 game to inform those who haven’t been able to play it. Mostly I must say that the story is one of high quality but in an action movie sense rather than an accurate military rendering. If you’re looking for a simulation like Operation Flashpoint 2 or ArmA 2 released earlier this year you certainly won’t find that here but the gameplay overall is functional and entertaining nonetheless. My only gripe is with how the story seems to take you in one direction and without me giving away any spoilers swings you to another direction later on at the end with the intentions of the antagonist unclear at first glance. You'll be surprised with all the extreme ideas this story will throw at you that seem to have come straight out of an action movie. There’s even a mission included that isn’t for the faint of heart but can be skipped at any time.
The meat and bones of this game as with many others in this genre is its multiplayer modes. You can choose between local, system link, and 4 player online which supports up to 18 players. The custom class system from COD4 has been improved with new weapons and perks and other attributes such as equipment and deathstreaks. Equipment includes grenades and new tools such as throwing knives and semtex sticky explosives while deathstreaks are special abilities you gain after dying a lot to help you get back in the game. The way guns are selected now has been expanded as far as secondaries go. Shotguns are now only secondary weapons and the RPG is no longer a perk and is its own weapon slot under secondaries as well. There are also new killstreak awards that can be chosen in combinations of three to create a custom killstreak order and everything from UAVs to AC-130 gunships to tactical nukes is available here. Another feature that makes a return is the RPG inspired xp system with old and new challenges as well as rewarded xp for getting headshots, defusing bombs, etc. The last new feature worth mentioning is the inclusion of titles and emblems the player can choose in the multiplayer modes to create their image with others, a nice touch to the RPG-like scoring system. Great care seems to have been taken by Infiniti Ward to make sure this game has a balanced and extended multiplayer but I can’t get past the feeling I have to play a lot longer to unlock features that were pretty rudimentary in the first game. In the end this game won’t win the hearts of anyone looking for a hardcore sim experience but if you can look at this as an arcade shooter I'm sure you'll appreciate what this game brings to the table in the face of all other WW2 and SciFi shooters already available.