Don't listen to the haters and overzealous fanboys of other FPS's, this game should not be missed by any type of gamer.
Pros:
+ Realistic combat, environments, and animations
+ Tons of weapons, grenades, and launchers to choose from
+ Tons of online modes to play in
+ Great story and character development
+ Addictive gameplay and experience will keep you engrossed anytime you have the disc in
Cons:
- "Short" story/campaign mode *chuckles*
- Unrealistic story
- Increased perks and weapons give higher levels a noticeable edge in online play
- Lack of level-based game searches in multiplayer
- Environments cannot be destroyed
Strap on your boots and get your candy-@$$ to boot camp… we got a war on our hands, soldier!!!! Arguably the most anticipated game of the past decade, and the fastest selling and highest volume release game to date – Call of Duty (CoD): Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) has been one of the most acclaimed and criticized games of 2009.
After killing the most wanted man in the world in the previous game, a new and more extreme terrorist has taken the driver seat for the Russian splinter-cell terrorist group. The time spent playing the game will switch between two special ops groups – one chasing down this man, and one trying to prevent his offensive attacks from reaching the soils of the United States. While confusing at first, this soon congeals and settles in as one of the most engrossing military stories to date.
The execution of the story and multiplayer can be overwhelming at first, especially since I am not a seasoned FPS gamer. This will turn some gamers off, but it really goes to show that when you are involved in a war things are not always cut and dry. It is a hectic and stressful experience, even for hardened veterans and CoD: MW2 creates this experience like no other game ever has.
The graphics of the game are refined, detailed, and extremely technical for an FPS or any other game of the release timeframe. There are no instances of pop-up, tearing, or collision in the normal game or online. While lag has always proven to be an epidemic in the multiplayer arenas, the graphics are not adversely affected by lag. The animations are genuine and believable, from death sequences to reloading a weapon to the grenade tossing animations.
The environments add to the overall experience and are realistic, both taking and retaining damage from stray bullets and explosions. A vast array of terrain will be traversed while hunting down the key antagonists in the story. Destinations ranging from a South American shanty-town to the mountains of the Asian Continent to Suburbia USA will all be in your globe trot, and MW2 represents each of them in a way that is realistic and detailed enough to make them seem realistic even if the story is not. One complaint about the environments is unlike in other FPS's on the market, the buildings cannot be destroyed by taking out their supports or with large-scale explosions. While this does not represent a huge issue, it just goes to show there is room for improvement in every game.
The voice acting and sound is superb in this installment of the Call of Duty series. Each of the voices match the character's appearance and the overall casting was executed brilliantly. You never get lost as to who is speaking because each of the voices is different enough to delineate who is speaking, unlike in games such as Killzone 2. This is a welcome difference in the genre, and required a bit of progressive thinking to succeed especially given the large number of characters in the Modern Warfare 2 storyline.
In addition to the voice acting, the sound and special effects are as good (or better) than most modern Hollywood war films, and the weapon sounds are said to have been recorded by actual recordings of the weapons being discharged. Another set of details that are not overlooked are the environmental effects of explosions and various grenades going off in close proximity. If this occurs, depending on the grenade or explosion experienced, your vision could become blurred and slow, shake uncontrollably, or just go dark while a high pitched tone is present for a few seconds. Eventually the effect will fade and return to normal, but during the short timeframe many things can happen that you will not be aware of. This could include enemy position, your own location, and even your death. This detail was added with the help of military consultants, and is based on their actual experiences in the various war zones.
The controls mimic the original Modern Warfare's, and have served as the staple for FPS games for the past five or so years. The ability to customize the sensitivity and button layout is a nice touch, and allows you to sync up all of your FPS games so you don't mistakenly throw a grenade instead of discharging the primary weapon after playing a game with a different layout.
All of these details give the game a very realistic feel, without the legitimate concern of bodily harm and death of an actual war zone. However, the story resides at the other end of the reality spectrum. Starting out as your basic terrorist ploy, the twists and turns of the story gives the overall feel similar to a Tom Clancy-esque or Jason Bourne story in terms of realism. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when the developers go through all the trouble of making the game as real as possible, this feels a bit strange (but welcome) in the overall presentation of the game.
The bulk of the game's value lies within the multiplayer mode, which has over 20 modes of online combat to partake in. The level system caps at 70, but a player can "prestige" and start all over as a level 1 prestige (losing all their accumulated guns and perks, but keeping their call-signs and icons). The multiplayer captures all the action of the campaign in the various maps and also includes a few maps from the previous Call of Duty games as an added bonus.
One of the major issues noticed in the multiplayer games is the inability to match players based on level. Without this feature, as a lower level player you will frequently find yourself in lobbies with many high ranking players and ultimately just get killed over and over until your skills catch up or you get better weapons through arbitrary leveling. The higher the level a player is, the more access they have to better perks and weapons as well, making this a tilted fight in favor of high level players. If you are not going to allow for a level based search, all players should have access to the various weapons and perks. This would give everyone a level starting ground and ultimately give low level players a fighting chance to be competitive.
Modern Warfare 2 is a multi-faceted gem that shouldn't be overly criticized for what it doesn't do, but what it does better than most other FPS games on the market. CoD:MW2 provides an entertaining (albeit short) single player campaign, single and co-operative Special (Spec) Operations Mode, and an addictive multi-player universe that will keep most gamers busy for hundreds of hours. Focus and energy should be allotted to appreciating the detailed and intriguing Tom Clancy-esque story and addictive and comprehensive multiplayer.
Once the game is viewed as a total package, the only glaring flaw is the lack of evolution or revolution. Infinity Ward takes one of the best FPS experiences of all time and fine tune it like only Les Paul and Eric Clapton can do with electric guitars, resulting in a better offering than the original for gamers of all platforms. Despite the lack of revolutionary gameplay elements and "short" campaign, this game is a must play for anyone who is a fan of FPS's, war stories, or finely executed games in general.