When you're dealing with the sixth game in one of the industry's best-known franchises, it's an understatement to say that expectations are high. Add to that a million screaming Call of Duty fanboys, a massive marketing campaign and Activision's bold claims that their game is going to be the biggest release in entertainment history and you've got one heck of a tall order to fill. There is both success and failure here, and each came in ways I never expected.
Like the original Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 often blurs the line between video game and testosterone-filled action movie. Escaping a Russian base on a snowmobile while being chased by soldiers or running along rooftops to catch a helicopter evokes thoughts of James Bond or something you might see on an episode of “24.” Overdone military jargon and plenty of wise cracks from your fellow soldiers fill in the spaces between tidbits of the game's twisting and turning storyline, a narrative that left me with plenty of unanswered questions (and no doubt chances for expansion packs) by the end. But the fist pumping, controller-gripping moments come one right after another and leave little time to notice that the story doesn't always quite make sense.
There are some definite low points here, though. It feels like everything was done and solid and ready to ship, and then someone at developer Infinity Ward came along and decided that they needed a little controversy to help market the game or something. The particular scene that I'm referring to involves putting the player in the shoes of an undercover CIA agent who has infiltrated a group of Russian terrorists. During the only level in which this character is featured, you and your machine gun-toting terrorist buddies stalk through a fictional Russian airport to mow down hundreds of screaming, terrified civilians. People beg for mercy as they try to crawl away from you, leaving a bloody trail on the floor. A man tries to help another after he stumbles, only to be cut down by your AI companion. At one point several dozen people trapped in a waiting area are torn to shreds by one of the terrorists on the balcony above. It's a very powerful few minutes. They're minutes that really could have made a statement about video games as a form of art or a method of story telling. Instead, Infinity Ward uses the level as nothing more than shock and awe.
The almost schizophrenic way in which you constantly switch characters in Modern Warfare 2 leaves little time for character development. The morality of what happens is never discussed. There's never a chance for remorse or consequences. Any meaningful reason for including such a horrifying scene is completely stripped away, leaving behind a tasteless and tacky stain that mars the rest of the experience. The fact that you're given an option to skip the level should have raised enough red flags to just cut it from the game in the first place.
Moving on from the airport, the game features a nice mix of environments to deal with. Sneaking through a blizzard plays much differently than shooting your way through suburbia or fighting in the streets and alleys of a cramped South American shantytown. A sizeable arsenal of real world weaponry keeps the gunplay interesting, and there are a ton of nicely done attachments and sights that shake things up even more. Particularly entertaining is the ability to take control of an AC-130 gunship to rain death from above, or steering an incoming missile straight through a window to wipe out holed up bad guys.
As with the first Modern Warfare, I expect the multiplayer community for Modern Warfare 2 to be huge. Just about every aspect of it has seen some type of overhaul, and anyone who's not playing it online is missing out on a lot of content. There are almost too many multiplayer modes to count, and every time I think I've seen them all I seem to stumble onto a new one. The system of gaining experience points and leveling up your multiplayer persona has carried over from the previous game, adding a few role-playing game components that make playing online oddly addicting. New weapons, attachments and abilities are unlocked as you gain rank, along with new emblems and titles that can be used to personalize your in-game tag a bit.
Unfortunately, this experience system leads to many of the same problems that Modern Warfare players experienced the first time around. The best players level up the fastest, meaning that not only are they better than you, but they'll soon have a bigger and better gun than yours, too. More skill and a bigger gun means they only win even more, and it soon becomes a meat grinder for which I don't want to be the gristle. Occasional issues with matchmaking such as random disconnections or pitting you against players of a much higher level are more common than I'd like, sometimes making it incredibly frustrating to get a game going with some friends.
Despite a few glaring flaws, I came away from Modern Warfare 2 feeling as if I had a mostly positive experience with it. Now that I've done it once I'm not sure that I'd go back and redo the single player campaign again, but it accomplished the task of letting me feel like a complete military tough guy for a few hours. And as obnoxious as the multiplayer can be at times, I still find myself getting online every night to play it with friends. There's certainly far more to like than dislike here, but the few rough spots that you'll encounter will demand a high tolerance.
Title: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Score: A-
