Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Grade: A—
Given that “Modern Warfare 2” is the sixth game in the “Call of Duty” series (ignoring the many spin-offs), anyone already familiar with the series probably won’t find too much different. While the series hasn’t yet had any radical changes since moving from World War II to the modern era, a few new features and a fresh coat of paint have kept the series as up-to-date as ever.
One of the game’s biggest draws and yet biggest flaws is the breakneck pace of its story. The player starts out the game as a Marine in Afghanistan, then becomes an SAS commando in Russia, then someone whose description would spoil the plot, despite appearing on the third level. The game starts five years after the events of the first “Modern Warfare,” when the supposedly evil ultranationalists have taken over Russia and the Middle East in its usual destabilized state.
Without spoiling too much, the game soon takes the fight to American soil, and anyone who lives or works in Washington, D.C., will surely appreciate the highly detailed rendering of the city and surrounding suburbs. Nevertheless, the story’s not always clear and has a few too many holes and impossibilities, moving away from plausibility in favor of increasingly ridiculous “oh no” plot twists.
Like the story, the gameplay never lets up on the action. The familiar massive battles punctuated by tactical corridor crawls are still in place, and the audiovisual presentation that stops just short of becoming overwhelming is as sharp as ever. The game still requires precise aim and quick reflexes, but cuts down on the endlessly re-spawning enemies of the first to make missions feel less like chores.
The original “Modern Warfare” had remarkable variety on top of the core gameplay, including stealthy sniper missions, firefights in night vision and an aerial support mission. The sequel keeps the same philosophy, putting the player in varied and unique situations between the battles, which are tighter than ever and just as intense as always. Sneaking through a blizzard, spotting for armored vehicles and firing missiles from aerial drones keep the game fresh and exciting through the six- to eight-hour campaign.
The game certainly takes the “Modern Warfare” concept even farther, including urban levels populated with civilians, one of which is so stunning and uncompromising that the game gives you the option at the beginning to skip past it (but please don’t).
Anyone familiar with the first “Modern Warfare” knows that the game’s real value lies with the superb online multiplayer, which hasn’t changed too much from the first game. The action is still fast-paced and visceral, favoring quick reflexes over intensive tactics. The standard modes are still present and unchanged, but the perk system, which allows players to add different abilities and unlock new weapons and upgrades, has been greatly restructured. New perks have been added for killing sprees and can now be customized, as can perks for when the player happens to die a few too many times without a kill. And the maps are mostly solid, making “Modern Warfare 2” an excellent addition to the series despite keeping the same core formula.
The best new feature is the challenge mode, which contains special missions specialized for co-op play. Many of the missions are straight-up assaults or holding-off waves of enemies, but there are also missions like stealthy sniper ops and missions that make one player fight on the ground while another covers them from an airborne gunship (by far the most fun).
Not only have the graphics improved technically from the last game, but the level of detail in every environment is simply stunning and, as usual, it all runs at a smooth 60 frames per second. The soundtrack is solid though unremarkable, but the voice acting, particularly the main villain Makarov, is universally superb.
“Modern Warfare 2” hasn’t changed too much from the original, but the core formula with a few new features still make for a solid game, especially with the new co-op challenges.
You can reach this staff writer at mconte@theeagleonline.com.
