A good shooter that easily could have been better.
First and foremost, the lack of dedicated servers hurts the game in several ways. For those who dont know, having dedicated servers in a game means that you can choose what server you want to play on from a list of player-run servers. Most shooters (for the computer) have used dedicated servers to host online matches, but Infinity Ward decided to use the same matchmaking system from the console versions of the game. There is no immediate way to deal with a hacker when (not if) you play against one, and the number of hackers is staggering: I'd say ive seen a hacker in about 1 in every 7 or so games, maybe closer to 6. All you can do is quit the game and hope that the matchmaking system doesn't place you in the same exact game that you just left, which happens far too often.
The killstreak rewards are fun but at times misleading; oftentimes it's unclear if the kills you get from using the reward will count towards earning the next one. For example, using the predator missile killstreak does count, but using a predator missile from a supply drop does not. Using a gunship (Harrier) does, but using an attack helicopter (Pavelow) doesn't.
I like the system in place for leveling up weapons. When you get enough kills with a weapon, you unlock an attachment. Using that attachment to get more kills unlocks a different attachment. Just when you think you've mastered a rifle, you unlock a different scope and a whole new world of possibilities opens up. However, this means that new players are at a further disadvantage, since not only do veterans have more experience, they also have significantly better equipment.
Modern Warfare 2 is a fun game in it's core, with plenty of potential. However, the game has several serious flaws, many of which could have easily been prevented,