Help
General Manager
Quite possibly one of the most eagerly awaited video games to date is finally here, thousands of people queued up to get their hands on a copy around the world and here’s Xboxliveaddicts official review on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Taking place 5 years after COD4, Modern Warfare 2 puts us through a mixture of environments, including Afghanistan, Siberia and later, US home soil. Like most Call of Duty’s we follow the steps of a majority of soldiers taking part in the war. After Makarov, one of Zakhaev former lieutenants, tricked Russia into thinking the U.S. performed a horrific terrorist attack against them, the Russians invade the US, with ruthless force. Through one story, we follow some of the U.S. Military when the war finally hits home. Meanwhile, we also follow our SAS favourite, Soap MacTavish who is now part of ‘Task Force 141’ a select military group made from the best of the best from all sides of the worlds military, we follow Soap’s side of the story trying to ensure the U.S. have a way of stopping the Russians with their brutal attack, friends are lost and new enemies are made in Call Of Duty’s grittiest campaign yet.
A lot of the usual Call of Duty traits are present in MW2, the general game play hasn’t changed, but were still delivered a heart felt campaign seen from multiple angles of the war. This instalment’s bluntness towards some of the more offensive or harder sights of modern combat are portrayed in this title including that all famous ‘Airport level’ everyone’s heard so much about. In this day and age, for some, it’s a little too much. Personally, the level is a keynote for the entire story, which could only be delivered properly by having you at the helm, a cut scene just wouldn’t work.
As mentioned the campaign includes a vast amount of rich and in depth settings to really get you as a player involved with snow storms, woodland areas and even a war torn Washington D.C. suffering from an EMP blast, meaning you’ve really got to get back to old school when it comes to the lack of electronics.
Theres tons of new guns and equipment including riot shield’s and the ability to duel wield small weapons, more grenade types and just a lot more varied weaponry liven up the campaigns levels, the weapons feel a lot more heavy duty to run around with and definitely pack the punch they live up to in the real world. You’ll feel and hear every round. But overall it will give you a good chance to grow towards certain weapons you wouldn’t normally give a chance for both campaign and multiplayer.
Once you’ve nailed the campaign and had a wonder around the ‘museum’ in true COD fashion there’s the traditional love/hate relationship with that which is Veteran difficulty. As always Veteran doesn’t let up on the pressure, however the games A.I. (friendly side) seems to have improved to the point where after a long stint through Vet, there still just as good after a couple of respawns as ever. This may be because your usually in teams rather than fronting an entire platoon like the good ol’ days.
Now, when it comes to multiplayer, could Infinity Ward better themselves with what they had created with COD4? Turns out they did.
The general core which makes the multiplayer the juggernaut of internet play what it is today hasn’t changed. This time round, the emphasis is around customisation of your weapons rather than your perks which will have the deciding factor in who dominates the match. Whilst the perks are still there and there’s plenty of new ones making an appearance you’ll be focusing much more on your hardware before you suit up and take on the world. With more weapons, and more importantly, more attachments, there’s tons of ways to customise your load out. Equip your rifle with a new Holographic site, maybe an under slung shotgun or with a heartbeat sensor amongst plenty of other choices. Grab the ‘Bling’ perk and mix and match 2 of these attachments to create the ultimate weapon.
Along with these new upgrades and weapons, comes a new overall rank. Get ready for a long haul with the max level at 70! Whilst the targets high there’s plenty to aim for, with more challenges for your player, your perks AND each attachment for each and every weapon there’s plenty to keep you going and keeping that EXP flowing.
Once your through with the campaign and can tear yourself away from the multiplayer you can have a crack at the Special Ops, you can bare them alone or stick them out with a friend.
The Ops objectives vary from elimination games to races to intense timed fire fights. Stars will be rewarded for your bravery depending on what difficulty you chose. What’s cool about this Co-op mode is that it uses parts from the campaign AND Call of Duty 4, you’ll see some familiar areas that you’ll have to navigate around including Farmyards and Chernobyl. With 5 sections of Special Ops, it will keep you, and a buddy, occupied for a long time, as some will be easy, and some will be killer hard! In the future, this is a perfect area to supplement with DLC.
With that, the gruelling Veteran campaign and of course, the compelling multiplayer that just hooks
Infinity Ward have definitely succeeded in bringing a brilliant sequel to what they had created back in 2007 which is no easy feat to do. Modern Warfare has stolen our hearts and our disc tray space’s once again. Its going to be hard to top it next year. Here’s to a supportive DLC campaign after launch and much more Modern Warfare fun!
9.8
