‘Modern Warfare 2′ turns out to be a disappointment
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″
Genre: First-person shooter
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Number of players: 1-18
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
ESRB rating: “M” for mature
Price: $59.99
Grade:B-
For weeks, Game Guy was caught up in the same hullabaloo surrounding “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ as everyone else. This was supposed to be the biggest, best title of the year, after all — imbued with stylish intensity and enough knife-in-the-teeth action to cause heart palpitations.
So, Game Guy paid up on his health insurance, buckled himself in to his gaming chair and prepared for a rip-roaring blastfest tantamount to two-stepping through Armageddon. And, boy, was he disappointed.
Sure, MW2 is a fine first-person shooter with art direction that rivals real-life Hollywood blockbusters. Yes, the contemporary settings — a detail-rich Rio slum, Russia’s snow-blanketed steppes and the landmarks of metro Washington among them — edge the game over from entertaining to eerie just as pre-release print and TV ads promised.
And, yes, the ballyhooed scene of innocents at an airport mowed down with automatic weapons fire is appropriately disturbing (and, frankly, necessary to the plot). We’re talking about unprincipled terrorists doing the dirty work, after all. “Nice” terrorism is an oxymoron.
But the hype in advance of MW2 was slathered on so thick, Game Guy expected something like a life-altering experience upon strapping on the identity of Army Ranger Pvt. Joseph Allen to infiltrate and undermine ultra-wicked Russian ultra-nationalists who seem to have more ammo sequestered upon their persons than all the armories in the Western Hemisphere. (Don’t know how the CIA could have overlooked something like that.)
Instead, Game Guy puttered through drama akin to the last “Call of Duty,” just more incomprehensibly orchestrated this time. In the Special Forces’ attempt to corral and subdue super-terrorist Vladimir Makarov, their military intelligence suffers from a catastrophic breakdown and suddenly suburban Washington becomes an improbable battlefield. Helicopters zoom over national landmarks, fast-food eateries become shooting galleries and … well, the story spins out of control like a paratrooper with a tangled chute.
No matter though, the point of MW2 is to kill or be killed, over and over again. A randomness to the missions contributes to this, as does the illogical turns some Special Ops tandem missions take. The blood spatters on a player’s visor to indicate he has been wounded are supposed to be a helpful indicator but struck Game Guy as somewhat comical, as if he just sprinted through a swarm of ladybugs.
Where MW2 should score points among shooter fans is with online play, as there appears no limit in strategic creativity. Even the Ops challenges take on a different feel and afford a greater sense of urgency. Sometimes it’s great fun to blast away at friends but other times the sensible strategy is to run like a scalded chicken (sorry about the imagery there, PETA), which is not typical in war shooters. A raft of unusual weapons is available to steel a player’s spine and make them feel imitations of barnyard fowl are unnecessary; however, it pays sizable dividends with this title for folks to use their minds more than their trigger fingers.
Given all this, Game Guy suggests that gamers who aren’t manic shooter fans use similar introspection before dipping a toe into the excessive “Modern Warfare 2″ hyperbole. Jump in all the way and they’re likely to drown in disappointment.
Personally, I checked up with the “We suggest you play the campaign first” message then discarded it to one side as the multiplayer took over about 7 hours of the first day that I owned the game. Throughtout the Call of Duty games I have never felt so fully pleased with the story lines, usually finding that they involve me in a war which I have no idea of the context or expect me to just hide and lye down on the floor and wait for the game to almost play itself. However in the complete opposite perspective the online play is more than great. With a huge array of weapon unlockables. A very large arsenal of weapons, new perks, the ability to weild more than just a pistol as your secondary gun and titles and badges to customize your online account(even though I have no idea what these are for or prove). All these new additions to the game seem to make it better, it works so more efficiently. Unlike COD4 or WAW you actually have to go around the whole map, there isn’t blank voids where nobody fights. It’s 100% action and 0% wandering around trying to find people on stupidly big maps. The only way to describe the online play is perfect! It’s exactly how you want it! Maybe saying Campaign Vs. Online in my eyes, is like saying Bad Vs. Good.
The petition for dedicated servers reached over 200,000, that’s 11 million dollars talking. Maybe that’s small change compared to what they are expected to rake in, but how much does this compare to what they saved thwarting piracy. See how many are playing in a few months with the same BORING maps and play style. Boycotting the pc version from my mom’s basement.
There’s a campaign mode??
would you say that the plot is the biggest disappointmenT? i don’t get why videogames get so wrapped up in plots. this whole cross-entertainment thing is really messing with my enjoyment of videogames. i don’t want to watch a movie when i play a game, just as i don’t want to pick up a controller and make jack burton run around the screen because he is more awesome than i could ever be (sorry saw BT in LC on cable last night). i would rather they just have some stupid “us vs. them” plot and tell you to go for it, make up your own story. keep cutscenes to a bare minimum, if at all. i don’t want to concern myself with an immersive story, i want to actually be immersed. (what was the plot of Super R-Type? who cares? that game rules)
Gameguy you are such a poser. It took me awhile to figure it out but will all your Xbox bashing and the such I’ve come to figure out that you just post something against the main stream in an attempt to be controversial. What a joke.
I agree with the review, this has got to be the biggest over hyped game of the decade. Yes its good, its production values are good, but in terms of gameplay its short, see it all before and nothing ground breaking at all. In short, its a bit of a dissapointment if im honest, but then ive only got myself to blame for that for believing the hype. It wont happen again.
This sounds like Brian Burwell wrote it. Campaign mode? Let’s not talk about Campaign mode. Campaign mode for me with this series has always been about cinematic moments. Multi-player is the real fun with this series. You didn’t cover much with regard to online play. Go play online enough to rank to PFC and then come back and tell us about your disappointment.
Oh, and yes, those of you that do not love FPS games, maybe you shouldn’t buy an FPS game. Really? Thanks tard.
Well said CPL Punishment. I played through the Campaign mode in about 5 1/2 hrs and wasn’t at all disappointed. There were a couple plot twists and turn that kept me interested but all in all, who cares. The online play is simply amazing. I would almost have to say one of the best FPS ever made.
who is this game guy? he sounds like a complete idiot….. cod is online first person shooter there is no reason at all that any of you have played the campaign, grow some balls get online and murder that is what you are supposed tyo do… jerk
I really like the new COD MW2 game and was really looking forward to it. Yes, I was one of the guys standing at Best Buy at midnight to buy it. I like it, but don’t love it because of one on-line feature (bug). They have disabled party chat from all but a few of the game modes. This means instead of having a private conversation with my friends while we play, we have to be in game chat and listen to all the 11 year old fools out there that cuss non-stop, say they will drive to your house and beat you up, or talk about how one day they hope to actually talk to a girl. This blows. I hate listening to all this losers! I hope they “fix” this bug quickly!