There are very few special days in the year that I look forward to. The first day of football season, my birthday, punchki day (although since I have moved from the northern parts of the United States to the lovely land of the longhorn, my punchki intake has taken a big hit due to Texans not acknowledging the calorie filled day), and for a third year in a row… Call of Duty release day. November 10th of 2009 marked the release of Modern Warfare 2, not only the most anticipated game of the year but maybe ever. With the success of the first Modern Warfare released back in 2007 hopes were high and Infinity Ward helped build the hype from the moment MW2 was announced. I’m not going to lie to any of you, I was worried. A game coming with this much build up has all the workings of a Joey Harrington or a Michelle Wie and we all know how that turned out. Good news though, the boys over at Infinity Ward for the most part delivered.
Similar to other Call of Duty campaigns, the player will assume the role of several different soldiers in several different battles throughout MW2. The time period is set 5 years after Modern Warefare left off and Vladimir Makarov, who is a former lieutenant of Imran Zakhaev from MW1, has begun to unleash hell upon Europe with a series of terrorist attacks. This campaign takes you through some locations that will blow your mind. The detail in these levels really make for a great experience, they are beautifully done in almost every area. Snowy forests, oil rigs, and underwater scenes are just a few of the amazing locations you will find yourself fighting for survival in. The great action sequences that have become a staple for this series are back and better than ever. You will climb giant walls of ice, fly through a winter wonderland on a snowmobile, and be pulled from an exploding fortress on a helicopter. Those are just a few of the near death experiences that you will encounter on this action packed journey. There is a healthy selection of guns that include some of your old favorites and some new additions. A drawback to the campaign is its length, around 6 hours. This is a very short campaign, which bummed me out because this might be the best campaign of the Call of Duty series. It is definitely the most jaw dropping campaigns with its extremely mature content. You of course have difficulty settings you can change with veteran being almost impossible but will certainly add lots and lots of hours to your experience (which may not be a good thing, see article on Andy Murray.)
This time around the developers decided to not make the single player campaign the cooperative campaign. While it was nice in previous editions, it always felt a bit awkward and never really flowed well. For this reason IW created a campaign that was built for you and a buddy to run through. While this mode lacks any kind of story it is still a lot of fun. There are around 25 missions scattered within 5 different sections. Each section is unlocked by completing missions and earning stars. In a lot of the missions the difficulty level is directly tied to how many stars you get, easiest being one star and hardest being three stars. With some of them though it is time based such as the snowmobile mission. In these missions you will be completing a series of different tasks. Stealth, racing, breach and clear are some of the different kinds of goals you will find yourself addicted to for hours. This was a great addition to the game in an era now where so many look for a good co-op experience.
Now to what has made the COD title shine so brightly for the past few years, multiplayer! This is where it’s at for most gamers. Call of Duty has become one of the largest multiplayer communities for a FPS. Everything you loved about the first Modern Warfare is back and has been ramped up. The addicting level progression perks, prestige, and kill streaks all make a return with some great additions. This time around the player has the ability to modify what kill streak rewards they want. As you progress through the game a player will unlock several different death dealing kill streaks that include but are not limited to UAVs, helicopter gunners, Harriers, and a special reward of a nuclear bomb for those of you who can complete a 25 kill streak which will end the match. Three of the kill streaks can be utilized at a time. If you feel that you are just that good you can set your streaks very high to get the big dogs while those of you that are still learning the ropes can stay with the simpler rewards such as UAVs and care packages (these could contain any of the kill streak rewards.) Included are some new perks and a new death streak option where a player gets a special present if they die to many times in a row. Yes…I just said that. You get rewarded for sucking! If you are like me, when a host left a game and your 25-3 match goes down the tubes, anger is the emotion that would best describe my feeling. In MW2 if a host leaves then the game pauses while a new host is selected and the match continues…..great move! Free-for-all, Search & Destroy, Demolition, Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Capture the Flag all return for online action.
Everything is here for this year’s entry. Although this game really is one of the best of the year if doesn’t go without its issues. This being the 3rd installment of the series since Call of Duty 4 three years ago, means it could be in danger of wearing a bit thin. Yes, they have added some really neat things this time around which I really do commend them for, but the experience doesn’t seem to hold the water that the past two have. In my opinion next year better introduce something new to this series because even though this has been a great recipe for success, the taste of people change and we expect something fresh. Also the party chat issue has become a bit of an annoyance. Within certain game modes you are forced to stay in game chat and listen to our younger generations use words that they have just discovered (use your imagination.) I don’t really understand this move by the developers besides trying to encourage team work. The ability for your teammates to swipe up the care packages that you worked so hard for can become painful also. Finders keepers, first come first serve, or even early bird gets the worm are the beliefs of some of our fellow gamers and they don’t care who they’re stealing from.
Modern Warfare 2 is a very fun game. Beautiful environments, fun game play, lots of guns and gadgets, and a huge multiplayer community are just some of the features that that will keep gamers coming back for more. DLC is expected at some point so the experience isn’t over just yet. Oh, and one last thing….I MISS ZOMBIES!
FINAL SCORE – 92/100
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Mass Effect 2 is a quality game and I especially like the new Graphical Improvements as well as the improvements to the guns like the shotgun, like the auto pistol. I read that if your character died in the original game then they are dead in this episode? Is this true?Take a look at
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Great site! I’ll definitely be coming back.