Modern Warfare 2

While Call of Duty: World at War turned out to be a excellent game in its own right, fans still couldn’t contain their cries for another game set in the CoD4: Modern Warfare world. Why? Well, apart from the fact that it was a nice change from the World War II setting the series had always used, unlike other slow-paced realistic FPS games, CoD:MW was a fast-paced, balls-out, action shooter with great graphics, smooth performance, varied game-play, responsive controls, and excellent multiplayer.

It’s hard to see how Infinity Ward could top what they offered in Modern Warfare. They set a pretty high bar for themselves with that game, and believe it or not, they’ve not only cleared it, but raised it again. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has finally arrived, and it’s everything fans expected and more. Better graphics, better action, better performance, and the next compelling chapter in the story.

The story follows a few years after the end of the first game. But instead of controlling the previous protagonist, Soap, players are put in command of a handful of new characters, each of whom experiences the events of the story in different places at different times. This time round, the mercenary crew from the last game is tricked by a particularly nasty and unscrupulous mercenary named Makarov, whose devious plan unleashes an all-out war between America and Russia. It’s up to you to hunt down and expose Makarov before this conflict gets any more out of hand than it already is. Developer Infinity Ward was obviously aware that the pen is mightier than the sword these days, and that some people might take offense to the fictional events portrayed here. There are some scenes and missions in the game that they thought some people would find so objectionable that they included the option of a warning system, that, if enabled, warns players when the [potentially] offensive content is coming up, outlines what is in it, and gives them the option to skip it. You know, for those people who expected to find bunnies and rainbows in a realistic war game with an 18+ age rating. Let’s hope this helps Infinity Ward to dodge that censorship bullet – and maybe other developers can start using this system too, letting us avoid having things cut out of games in the future.

The action in CoD:MW2 is intense, fast-paced, and varied. Players can be trading bullets with waves of enemy soldiers oen minute, commanding remote missiles from a UAV the next, and strategically placing automated turrets the next. It might be a bit overwhelming at first, but the uncluttered HUD and the simple map and objective markers make keeping track of the mission objectives the least of your worries. It helps to get comfortable with clock directions too, since your in-game allies will often warn you about enemies you aren’t aware of, “Two enemies on your three o’clock!”

This action is helped along by the slick and responsive control system, which makes it easy to be a good shot – and you’ll need to be if you fancy getting through the game, even on the easiest difficulty setting. There’s nothing particularly special about it, all the standard shooter actions (sprinting, crouching, aiming, melee attacking) are all assigned to the commonly accepted standards on PC and console, but it just seems so much smoother than other games of this type – it’s like the game almost aims and fires for you, even with the aim assist option turned off.

Once players have had their fill of the short but sweet campaign mode, there are two options at their disposal. The first and most obvious is multiplayer, and it’s probably the sole reason most gamers bought the game in the first place. It’s as good as you might expect. Join a group of other gamers online for some intense multiplayer battles, or get some friends together and LAN it for an entire weekend (yes, even on the console versions). You can also play up to four players in split-screen on the console versions, by the way.

The second option is the Special Ops mode: an extensive list of performance-oriented custom missions that players can tackle cooperatively or solo. The objectives vary from withstanding waves of enemy assaults, to taking down a set number of enemies without raising an alert, to destroying a set of targets. Each mission allows the player to earn a ranking from one to three stars, three being the hardest to obtain. These stars unlock more missions in the Special Ops mode, so the more stars you earn, the more missions you’ll be able to play.

Graphically, MW2 is quite an improvement over the previous game, and it runs so incredibly smoothly, even when there are explosions, bullets flying, and all-round chaos. The physics engine is well-used, and adds a great feeling of immersion to game. It’s easy to become sucked right into the action when bullets are causing sprays of dust from the walls, papers are scattering from desks, coffee mugs are flying everywhere, chairs are falling over, and enemy soldiers are dangling limply over the balconies where they met their doom. The voice acting is superb and feels more tightly tied to the action than some other games. If your team-mates shout a warning to you, it will always be in a timely enough fashion for you to do something about it.

There’s not a lot more to say, really. When it comes to compelling, story-driven first-person shooters, they simply don’t get any better than this. Sure, the campaign might be a little on the short side, but it’s immersive and intense the entire way. I, for one, would rather have a slightly shorter but higher quality experience than one that is drawn out longer than it should be just to add the illusion of value. Then there’s the nearly endless appeal of MW2’s multiplayer modes, which fans will probably continue to play until MW3 comes along.

Information supplied by NAG Online