Review: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 actually got a nice little gift in terms of my review. I actually rented it again to give it another shot. And I gotta’ say, I’m glad I gave it another shot. What I’ll be doing for this review is do my standard review for the single-player and spec ops. I wanted to touch on multiplayer as well, but it’s not fair to include multiplayer in the review.
- The graphics are nice, crips and pretty realistic. It also runs in 1080p without very much of a hiccup – actually, no hiccup at all.
- I really enjoyed the story of it. It took awhile to take off, but near the end of Act 2 and from that point onward, it’s pretty interesting. It’s definitely nothing I’ve experienced in a game. I also like the ending, very nice touch. Unfortunately, that saga may not continue since Infinity Ward is pretty much gone.
- The game offers a decent amount of content – single player, spec ops and (of course) multiplayer. Definitely can get your money’s worth out of this game if you shelled out $60.
- The weapons, attachments and the parts of the game where you commanded missiles, etc. all felt very believable – nothing felt too advanced. Maybe the heartbeat sensor … but who knows, with technology today – it may exist. They were also fun to use – not just addons, but features that were entertaining.
- The game isn’t difficult on veteran – it’s cheap. Enemies have perfect aim and seem to know you’re turning the corner even if they’ve never seen you before.
- Spec Ops seems a bit too tough. They can last awhile too, and if you die – you have to start from the beginning.
- Checkpoints didn’t always activate. There were many times I would reach a destination, die, reach it again (after five tries on Veteran) and then see that a checkpoint was activated.
Positive Points: 4 | Negative Points: 3 | Overall Score: 1
I wanted to touch on multiplayer as well since it is a big part of the game. To compliment the multiplayer, despite my consistent swearing at my TV, I still play it. That’s gotta’ say something. And the continuous upgrades throughout the game as well as the challenges are probably a big part of the replayability.
That being said, it’s still pretty flawed. I have experienced pumping a clip full of lead in someones guts only to be melee’d by them, yet later on in the same match, I’ll get shot through metal. The biggest “crime” I’ve seen is getting killed by a guy who shot at me and never connected. He shot around me but still killed me. And I’m always amazed at how I can shoot someone in the gut and not kill them, but they can shoot my legs and kill me. It feels very unbalanced and I actually stop watching KillCams because it’d just piss me off seeing someone holding two shotguns aim above me and still kill me in one hit (despite the fact that a downside to holding two weapons is decreased accuracy).
Another issue I’ve discovered is what I will call a loophole with killstreaks. As you are on a killstreak, you are awarded with options to call in a helicoptor to shoot down enemies, drop a missle, etc. The catch is that a few kills in you get a Item Dropoff. What that dropoff can contain are those perks that people technically need to “work for.”
To make matters worse, those bonuses affect your Kill/Death Ratio. So, what can happen is that someone can get two or three kills, get a care package, get an airstrike and bump up their K/D ratio and hurt everyone elses out of luck. So, while the killstreaks can be a showcase of skill, a lot of the killstreaks I experience are probably from care packages, not someone getting 8 or 10 kills in a row. I also think they should make any kills or deaths by killstreaks not count towards your K/D ratio. This way all they contribute to is you winning the match.
In the end though, it’s pretty fun and addicting. You’ll have good and bad matches, which can be expected. Depending on if you can control your temper tells you if it’s worth getting this game. If you’ll get too pissed at “cheap deaths” or consistent kills through killstreaks, then you may just want to rent the game and enjoy what you can.
If you can get past that though, I think Modern Warfare is worth a buy – and with the millions of people playing, it’ll definitely last awhile.
Glad you gave it another shot…I think the presentation of the single player campaign in MW2 isn’t like anything we’ve seen before in shooters and that’s why I said – and still say – MW2 feels like a non-stop action movie. It’s really exhilarating.
Veteran mode is cheap and that’s why I think the most fun will be had on ‘Easy’ or ‘Normal’ modes…enemies has near perfect accuracy and it really bogs down the flow of the game when you have to stop every 10 ft. to make sure you don’t die. One spot in particular on the Oil Rig level was extremely annoying in terms of instant kills — I basically had to spend 10 minutes hiding in a spot and picking off enemies one by one as I inched around corners — otherwise I’d have been killed in 1 or 2 shots.
The way I understand killstreaks is this: If you kill enough people to get an airdrop (whether it’s 1 crate or multiple ones) and say you get a helicopter, missile, etc….if you use that item, you’ll still get credit for the kills…but those kills WON’T be added to your killstreak. This only occurs with airdrop items. If you get 5 kills and unlock a predator missile and kill 3 people with that, your killstreak just went from 5 to 8. If you used an airdrop missile and had 5 kills already when you used it and killed 3 people, your killstreak would be 5.
That sad, it’s very uncommon to have people get 7+ killstreaks and unlock helicopters in any given match. I personally have these 3 unlocks available: 5 – Predator Missile, 7 – Helicopter, 9 – Chopper. That way, if I manage to get 5 kills it’s pretty likely I can get 9+ if I get 1 or 2 people with the missile.
Didn’t care for most Spec Ops missions. I think on many of themyou should have been able to use a checkpoint because you’re right — some of them can take a long time for one attempt.
As for the shooting through walls — not sure if you know this but YES, you can shoot through certain materials. Concrete? No. Metal Siding (like on many building in ‘Rundown’)? YES. Some wood walls? Yes. Is it always 100% accurate? Hell no. Many times I’ve ducked behind a corner where bullets shouldn’t get me and I still die and that pisses me off…but I know it’s probably because of lag and I *technically* died a fraction of a second earlier BEFORE I rounded the corner. Not 100% fair…but understandable from a technical viewpoint. PLUS, I figure that if I died X amount of times due to cheap deaths I’ve probably killed the same amount of people in that way too over all my hours…so in the end, it all balances out. …still pisses me off enough to curse at the TV though!
April 24, 2010 at 9:13 pm