Review: "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"

This review was played on the Xbox 360 with a copy of CoDMW2 provided by Activision.

Take away the controversy about lack of dedicated servers for the PC.

Take away the tasteless “Grenade Spam” PSA.

Take away the leaked Internet footage of disturbing content.

Take away the announcement about limiting multi player to up to nine versus nine.

Take away the early sales of the game in the Northeast.

Take away the $10.00 price increase for the PC version.

Take away all of the pre-release hype.

What do you have?

A game you have to play and experience for yourself.

The latest in the “Call of Duty” series keeps the action in modern day as the storyline of the game picks up five years after the last “Modern Warfare.” In those five years, the foe you vanquished in the last game has been turned into a hero in Federated Russia and one of the characters you played in the last game is now a Captain in the super special soldier club called Task Force 141. These are the people that go after the real bad guys.

The opening credits to the game are very theatrical and that’s what the makers of “CoD:MW2,” Infinity Ward, are going for, a movie-like experience where you get to control the main characters. The scope of the game’s storyline is epic, think “Red Dawn” times 10.

The story revolves around an act of terror at a Russian airport. This is the controversial “leaked” footage that shows terrorists mowing down innocent civilians inside the terminal. You can play through this level as a C.I.A. agent who has infiltrated the terror group. The developers due allow you to skip over this section of the game. This act of terror triggers war between Russia and the U.S.A.

The game is split up into three sections; Campaign, Multiplayer and Special Ops. The average gamer will take about six to eight hours getting through the Campaign mode. The story was rushed and the developers could have tacked on a couple of more levels to flesh out the story. All levels, save one, are the linear “get from point A to point B” missions. But Infinity Ward does a great job by mixing up how you achieve that. The length of the Campaign mode is short. It is longer than a movie but shorter than a season of “24.” The Special Ops mode allows you (either solo or with a buddy) to tackle different missions and scenarios. The part of the game most people will be playing until “Modern Warfare 3” is the Multiplayer mode. Infinity Ward stacks this part of the game with all the ranks, unlocks and achievements that people expected. This is the main reason people were playing “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” up until the release of the latest incarnation.

The game’s graphics are top notch but most of the time you are running for your life and unable to stop and appreciate them. The music is very theatrical with composer Hanz Zimmer lending a hand there. The voice acting by Lance Hendrickson, Keith David, Kevin McKidd, Billy Murray and Glenn Morshower are exactly the voices you want to hear if you were in the military.

Final Words:

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” is at times bombastic, at times satisfying but it is no doubt the best game of the year for the Xbox 360. It will be a big challenge for the developers to top this one.

Pluses:

Compelling story

Great multiplayer

Four out-loud “No way!” moments during the campaign

Minuses:

Story length is short

Not being able to lean around corners

Final Score: 9 out of 10

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB for blood, drug reference, intense violence and language.

Yard Sale Find of the Year

My wife is an avid yard sale shopper. Most times, she comes back with cake pans or other kitchen goodies. This week, she made the find of the year. She found "X-wing Vs. Tie Fighter" on CD-ROM for the PC. Sticker price, $2.00. W00t! This is the follow up to the fabulous Lucas Arts game "Tie Fighter" which followed "X-Wing."

I own the first two games (on floppy disk) but somewhere along our seven moves, this game disappeared. This 12-year-old game installed with just a few tweeks on my Vista machine. Now, my afternoons will be filled with flying missions for both the Alliance and the Empire. Oh wait, I DON'T HAVE A JOYSTICK! Yea, joystick required. It looks like I'm off to WalMart for a new hardware purchase.

Retail Stores are Pushing Me to Digital Downloads

On Thursday, February 19, THQ’s “Dawn of War II” was released to the masses. I was a big fan of the first installment of the game but I was on the fence as to if I would purchase the sequel. After reading a few positive reviews of the game, my mind was set, this was a game I needed to have on my computer.

I noticed that the game was available on Valve’s Steam store, but I have always been a “need to have it in my hands” person. I love having boxes of classic games displayed on my shelves like animal heads mounted on the wall. Those boxes display my past conquests, a history of my gaming life if you will.

It was off to G*m*st*p to pick up a copy of the new “Dawn of War II” game. After going through their PC shelf, I was unable to find a copy of the game. I asked the clerk if they had any copies and was told that unless I had reserved the game, I was out of luck. Now, this was at 1:00 PM on the day of the retail release of the game so it is plausible that they could be out of copies. No bother, it was off to W*l-M*rt, no copies available there. I then drove to Fr*d M*y*r, no luck there. Three national retail chains… no “Dawn of War II.” Had every copy of the game in my town been snatched up?

Driving home empty-handed, I began to think about the whole digital download option. I already get my music through iTunes, can’t even remember the last time I bought a CD. Why is gaming any different. Yes, I would miss amassing those boxes, but my wife would appreciate not having any more bulky boxes taking up space. I wouldn’t have the thrill of taking all that security tape of the box either.

After a few mouse clicks, the game began downloading into my computer. I don’t know if I’ll ever buy a PC game at a retail outlet again.