Great SIngle Player and Spec-Ops, but multiplayer is frustrating and full of glitches and cheaters.
Single Player
In the campaign you play as multiple soldiers, Roach Sanderson, Joseph Allen and Soap McTavish. The story is that a new Evil Power from Russia, Maklerove, has risen to power, and wants to do some bad things to the world. There's one mission in particular that will stir some feelings, which of course, is the airport level.
Gameplay is extremely tight and plays just as good as the other Call of Duty games. Enemies are tough and challenging and gun mechanics are solid. There is a ton of variety and exciting action. Helicopter gunning and snow mobile chases are just the start. The campaign is an absolute blast to play through. Many will complain about the short campaign, but due to the fast paced action and focus on multiplayer, a longer campaign isn't really necessary here.
Spec-Ops
In theory, Spec-Ops is a great idea. Take a bunch of individual missions and make them co-op for two players, both split-screen and online. And in practice, it is great fun when you have someone to play with. But the problem is, it needed matchmaking. Sometimes, your friends just refuse to join you, no matter how much you try. And you're going to need a 2nd player, since these missions are tough.
Multiplayer
What made Call of Duty 4 so great was the multiplayer. It was an addicting, fun experience leveling up and unlocking new weapons. The same idea applies here. Except IW added many more weapons, attachments, perks, challenges to make the game bigger and "better". What could go wrong? It all sounded good on paper, more killstreak rewards, perks and the like. Well, the multiplayer has some serious problems. Now, glitches, bugs, and lag are a massive problem. That's not all though. You have cheaters/hackers ruining games. Let's not forget those stubbon campers now! And akimbo shotguns! And marathon, lightweight, commando perk combo! Oh yes!
Still, the core experience still is awesome. Getting kills is still addicting as hell.
Presentation
On the bright side, this game is absolutely gorgeous, one of the best looking games on 360/PS3. Beautiful lighting and smooth frame rate are the highlights. A few lackluster textures here and there though. Audio is just is great, with fantastic gun sounds and wonderful music.
Overall - Modern Warfare 2 is a mixed bag. Great single player campaign with solid co-op missions are a huge plus, but multiplayer is hugely frustrating. How much you get out of this game depends on how well you can tolerate cheaters and 7 year olds.
Visuals- 9.5
Audio- 10
Controls- 10
Gameplay- 9.0
Replay- 8.0
Multiplayer- 6.5
Downloadable Content- N/A
Overall 8.0
Note: I originally reviewed the game and gave it a 9.5 praising it for awesome multiplayer, amazing visuals, tight controls, great sp and spec-ops. While most of that still holds up, Multiplayer has gotten a lot worse since release and I decided to re-review the game to reflect the games problems.
I have not downloaded any map packs, nor do I plan to. I refuse to pay such a high price for maps for a multiplayer mode that needs patching.