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His name is Ghost, he wears a wooly hoodie and he is a complete bad ass
Please note the multiplayer portion of Modern Warfare 2 has all ready been reviewed by That Aussie Game Site and can be read here.
No game has been as hyped, or received as much coverage in both the gaming and mainstream press this year as Modern Warfare 2. Accolades and condemnation has fallen on its shoulders in equal measure and sometimes it’s a wonder we’re just talking about a game, Modern Warfare 2 feels like a cultural event. It’s no small surprise it was the single biggest release entertainment in history, eclipsing the likes of Twilight, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or the last mega game release Grand Theft Auto IV.
It’s the type of game that defies the need for a review, Infinity Ward are almost guaranteed to deliver a quality product and several million dollars of preorders strongly hint that consumers don’t need someone else’s opinion to make a decision on this one. But I like a challenge, so I’m going to go ahead and write a review anyway. Plus I need to justify getting my review copy.
The heart monitor is another handy new toy for ambushing terrorists and friends alike
My biggest fear for Modern Warfare 2 was that it wouldn’t, in the words of a wealthier man than I, be bigger, better and more bad ass. I was concerned because it didn’t need to be. With Call of Duty 4: Infinity Ward had crafted a single player experience that was thrilling in the extreme, without a moment to catch you’re breath, and a multiplayer experience that was consistently in the top five most played games on Xbox Live and the PSN from its release right up until the day of the sequels release. They had a solid game and cloning it and sticking a 2 on the cover Ubisoft style (yes I’m still sore over Rainbow Six Vegas 2) would have sold them millions. Not to mention the scrapeing, twisted hand of Activision pulling the strings, a company that openly endorses guaranteed profit over innovation.
Besides, how could they top a mission like Ghillies in the Mist, or the short nuclear fallout mission? After thirty minutes of the single player campaign I was pretty confident that they had definitely bettered themselves with Modern Warfare 2. It is definitely bigger, definitely better and most assuredly more bad ass.
This mission leaves the opening sequence of Charlie Don't Surf in the dust
The graphics haven’t been given a noticeable overhaul but several missions showcase just how good they are, such as watching a squadron of helicopters sweep over the ocean to a cliff mounted castle and picking of enemies with your sniper rifle. It’s still visually a very realistic depiction of war with explosions and the whine of bullets coming from all directions. In some levels you’ll never even know what direction the bullet that killed you came from. Audibly the game seduces your ears with its sweeping orchestral score by Hans Zimmer, providing his first ever video game work. The sound effects are naturally top notch, it’s a thrill when someone fires at you and you know what type of rifle it is from the sound it makes. The great Lance Henriksen gets most of the dialogue as General Shepherd, with Keith David’s familiar baritone as Sergeant Foley and Kevin Mckidd from Trainspotting doing top work as the voice of Soap. I was very surprised to see Will Arnett listed in the credits as well, but for the life of me I can’t remember hearing his voice in the game.
The first person action gameplay remains intact, but ratcheted up several levels in terms of agression and speed. Missions range from the straight shooting, with perhaps a greater focus on fluid door to door action than pitched battles, to sneaking missions and a few adrenaline soaked chase sequences on vehicles. One of the best new elements are breaches; you run up and slap a plate of C4 to a door and when it blows you’ve got a few seconds of slow motion gameplay to pick off those inside. This was particularly well utilised during a mission where you needed to liberate an oil rig and the workers were being held hostage. Other new toys included remote controlled air strikes, bullet proof shields and automatic gun tripods. Plus a whole swag of new weapons to choose from. A few levels feature an armoury with all the games weapons mounted on walls to choose from, it’s like a Call of Duty Christmas for gun porn enthusiasts.
War mums are worse than soccer mums, less prosac, more hollow point rounds
As with previous Call of Duty games you switch between different fronts and play as several characters. The majority of the game is split between a US Ranger fighting an invasion of Washington and a member of the elite anti terrorist unit Task Force 141. It might come down to personal taste but I found the missions played with Task Force 141 to be far more unique and enjoyable than the Rangers missions. Although, by way of compensation, the Rangers did get a number of toys to play with including the Predator missile drone. It feels like there’s greater variety and more happening in the missions than there have been in past Call of Duty games. You’re often given a few options on how you tackle situations, usually with access to one of the aforementioned armoury rooms.
This wouldn’t be a Modern Warfare 2 review without dropping two cents on the infamous No Russian level. Yes there is a confronting scene where four terrorists open fire on civilians in an airport. No you are not rewarded in anyway, or coerced, or encouraged to take part in the carnage other than walking through the level. It is worth noting that Infinity Ward and the Call of Duty series have always salted their games with the unglamorous aspects of war. In previous games we’ve seen violent interrogations carried out be people on your team, executions of civilians, even stray dogs tearing at the bodies of soldiers. Not to mention the horror of a nuclear explosion in a city. In Modern Warfare 2 the brutality isn’t limited to the No Russian level either. Another scene shows Soap and Ghost, two of the ‘good guys’ preparing to torture a captured suspect with a car battery and jump leads. The ominous dropping of the garage door gave me far more chills than watching the slaughter at the airport. The level isn't going to upset or disturb anyone who hasn't seen Die Hard or a dozen movies like it and it shouldn't be written off as attention seeking by Infinity Ward either, the events of No Russian are critical to the plot of Modern Warfare 2 and it's the only time you get to see major antagonist Makarov.
Commuting to work is crap for everyone
Infinity Ward have also accepted that coop is the new pink and included a whole new multiplayer section called Spec Ops that focuses on two player cooperative missions. Infinity Ward were up front that they didn't want to make the graphical sacrifice required to provide coop for the entire single player campaign so most of the Spec Ops missions are based on sections from the single player missions. They’ve almost provided the single player campaign as coop anyway as a result, or at least given us the highlights to play with friends. Coop can be played online or splitscreen and can be extremely challenging to score the full three stars in some of the missions, with the missions split up over several unlockable levels. Some of the most enjoyable of these are the defence style missions where players have to hold of several increasing waves of enemies. The first of these outfits both team mates with sniper rifles, claymores and a Predator Missile drone and is terrific fun with the right friend. Some of the missions, such as the snow mobile mission, I could have lived without. It was fun for the few moments it appeared in the single player campaign, but attempting it over and over again to try and score a time good enough for three stars is not my idea of fun. In case you have some kind of syndrome or social disorder that prevents anyone having any contact with you ever, many of the Spec Ops missions can be played alone but if you're a completionist you're going to need a friend eventually to get all the stars in all the Spec Op missions.
Despite all my glowing praise so far Modern Warfare 2 has carried over some ugly baggage from its predecessor. The Infinity Ward team can sure pull of some amazing gameplay, but telling a story is not a craft they have mastered. There’s a good story in there but it’s hard to see it behind all the explosions and spent shell casings. Lots of things happen, major international incidents, invasions of the US by Russia, double crosses and betrayals, it’s all very exciting, it's just that the particulars of the how and why are difficult to grasp. It’s not helped by the fact some of the important plot points are made during fire fights so it’s very easy to miss essential conversations because you’re fighting for your life.
You might be tempted to laugh at a scotsman with a mohawk, in this case I'd advise against it
The plot exposition outside of missions consist of a briefing during the loading screen and they’re often a bit light on the details. You’re sent to chase someone, or launch something or prevent something and it’s often not completely clear why you need to do it or even why the enemy are doing what they’re doing. Motivation should be at the fore front of any good story but Modern Warfare 2 sometimes keeps the characters plans and goals annoyingly unclear. When a certain surprise twist happens in the final third of the storyline I was left scratching my head, then after reading the plot synopsis on Wikipedia to see if I missed something I’d scratched myself a bald spot. It’s just never explained why it happened; it’s certainly surprising, but I’d like some follow up on the reason. You'll know when it happens, you'll slap your hands to your face and gasp and then wait with baited breath to find out why it happened, but you won't. Then in, and I'm not kidding, the final thirty seconds of the game there's some rambling mutter that's supposed to explain it all but very clearly does not. Trust me, it's very hard to complain about this without spoiling it all, but you will know what I'm talking about when it happens.
This might also be a sticking point for some but the Veteran difficulty has definitely been nerfed for Modern Warfare 2. You can take a few more bullets to the body before dying than you did in Modern Warfare and that makes a world of difference for getting to cover. This is compensated for by the fact that enemies are much more likely to melee you and whenever they get close enough they’ll leap forward and whip you with their gun. But if you are letting your enemies get that close in Veteran mode you’re all ready doing it wrong.
Personally I have a philosophy of always trying to complete a single player campaign before I start into the multiplayer which, judging by my friends list, puts me at odds with most people. By the end of the single campaign I'm usually chomping at the bit to get stuck into the multiplayer, but Modern Warfare 2 was so enjoyable I wanted to go right back to the start as soon as the credits had run and start over. It’s a high stakes game and you don’t always come out on top but the action is such raging fun that it's almost impossible to put the controller down at times. I think I've called out about five games this year as being potential game of the year winners and, to be honest, I didn't think Modern Warfare 2 had the capacity to surprise me. Well it did. I want a Ghost action figure, I want to shave my head into a mohawk, I want to wile away hundreds of hours climbing to level 50 in multiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 has me by the short and curlys and is showing no signs of letting go for some time.
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Comments
Sentence of the year.
Fantastic review