Modern Warfare 21
Written by Eric Tuesday, 12 January 2010 17:49
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare marked the series departure from its World War 2 roots, bringing the battle to present day. Modern Warfare 2 is the true successor to Call of Duty 4, and continues to build upon the story and characters established in the first game. Modern Warfare 2 also builds upon the stellar multiplayer aspects of COD4 and improves upon the formula which made Infinity Ward’s last shooter so popular.
There are three different game modes at the core of Modern Warfare 2, each catering to a different kind of gamer. The game mode “spec ops” makes its debut alongside the staples of the Call of Duty series, single player and multiplayer.
Spec ops borrows several level designs from the campaign and creates new scenarios to play through. There are 23 different levels and three different difficulty levels to choose from. Depending on the difficulty level, players will earn a different amount of stars, with a maximum of three per level. There are several achievements tied to spec ops mode and without a doubt obtaining all 69 stars is the hardest achievement in the game.
Specs ops mode can be played solo or with a co-op partner over live or split screen. Two missions will require the help of a partner but the rest can be done by yourself. While the levels can be done solo it is much more fun, and possibly easier to finish with a partner. The two missions that require a partner involve one member of the team being in a helicopter or AC-130 plane and giving assistance to the partner on the ground. Spec ops is an extremely fun game mode that I hope is included in future releases by Infinity Ward.
The single player campaign has always been a strong point of the Call of Duty series, and Modern Warfare is no exception. The two glaring differences between Modern Warfare 2’s campaign and previous installments is the length of the campaign as well as the difficulty. Modern Warfare 2’s single player clocks in around 5-7 hours and it goes by rather quickly. One of the reasons why the campaign feels so short is the change in difficulty. There still are three levels of difficulty ranging from recruit to veteran but Infinity Ward has done away with infinitely spawning enemies.
In past games, enemies would relentlessly attack your position until you cleared enough of them to advance to a checkpoint mid firefight. In Modern Warfare 2, once you clear a room of baddies, there will not be a continuous stream reentering the room. This single improvement alone made completing Veteran much easier than the punishment I experienced in past COD games.
While the original Modern Warfare was the first in the series to move away from the World War 2 setting, Modern Warfare 2 begins shifting the narrative to a point that resembles World War 3. Without giving away to many spoilers, the game’s story deals with an armed conflict between the United States and Russia, with much of the conflict taking place on U.S soil. I really enjoyed the Russian Invasion storyline even though there were a couple parts that made me question the motivations of the Russians. The campaign is a lot of fun, there are several epic set pieces and the story borrows from several great action flicks like Black Hawk Down, The Rock, and Sum of all Fears. There is even a throwback to the 80’s classic Red Dawn, as evidenced by the” Go Wolverines! “achievement. The story is a fast paced, action filled roller coaster ride with a few plot twists thrown in, 24 style.
The core of what drives and retain players to the COD franchise is the multiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 delivers the best online experience of the entire series and is hands down the best online shooter to be released in 2009. If you want to play a shooter online, either casually or competitively, nothing else holds a candle to the package that Infinity Ward has presented.
The controls feel a lot tighter than both COD 4 & 5 and the game has shipped with a solid amount of maps that will not feel stale for a long while. Several changes have been made in almost every area of the game. There are lots of new kill streaks that can be unlocked, the best of which let you shoot from a chopper or AC-130 plane down onto your foes on the battle field. If you can manage to get 25 kills in a row you may even be able to use a tactical nuke to automatically win the game. The ability to unlock new guns and attachments is back as well as being able to unlock new levels for each perk that you use.
A new feature is death streaks which take pity on you when the game just isn’t going your way and you’ve accumulated several deaths in a row. They work a lot like kill streaks except not as powerful or devastating. You can only have one death streak enabled at a time, unlike kill streaks which offer 3. Death streaks can grant you a health boost for a short period of time when you respawn, copying your killer’s class, dropping a live grenade when you die or going into last stand.
Being able to custom tailor your loadouts and the new kill streaks really make Modern Warfare 2 an intense shooter to player. Every load out strategy and kill streak has its own counters which make each and every game somewhat unpredictable. The prestige and level up/challenge system is back with a slew of new challenges and awards for those dedicated or lucky enough to achieve them. By completing challenges or reaching new levels, players will be rewarded different titles and emblems to create their call signs, adding another level of customizability to the game. Completing a challenge and leveling up is greeted by an on screen graphic and sound that no doubt adds to the addictive nature of Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer.
Overall Modern Warfare 2 is the complete package for any shooter fan. There is an intense but brief single player that will take gamers to locales throughout the world and thrust them into one of the most dangerous conflicts in fictional human history. The new spec ops mode provides a difficult challenge to achievement junkies and those players looking for more missions or a co-op experience. Infinity Ward once again delivered with a stellar online experience that allows for plenty of customization and will decrease productivity around the world.