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Modern Warfare 2: Jedireaper At Arms

Hello gamers, this is your friendly (and absent) gamerhood Jedireaper. I apologise for my long peroid of silence on the gaming front (along with a lack of GamerzReviewz updates from other reviewers). A lot has happened in the last year and it has taken up most of my attention. However I’m back. And with me I am bringing you this review of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Now for those you you who have read my past reviews you’ll remember that about a year and a half ago, back in October (I think) of 2008 (which seems like an age ago to be honest) I reviewed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I do believe I gave the game a favorable review comparing it to games like the late and great GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, stating the game had ultra smooth gameplay, a decent amount of fun, and a vaguely interesting story mode. I will comment that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is still technically Call of Duty 4, not Call of Duty 6 as so many of the fans have been mislead to believe. Although at one point in it’s developement it was referred to simply as Modern Warfare 2 and was stated that it was no longer a Call of Duty sub-series, but a series of it’s own. Alas things have changed, again, and to fan please I guess it is now once again a Call of Duty series.

I really enjoyed the first game, but I always felt that I’d been sold short a little with the story, it being all too short, and I did wish they had not concentrated on the online aspect so feverently. But those are trials and errors of past games, and I hope that their new attempt; Modern Warfare 2 will be much more appeasing to my tastes. So let us dig into the review, and see how CodModWar2 does in my opinion. To start…

..and now, with that out of the way; heh heh… we begin. (Look at that Llama-probe! *sniggers*)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far uh- wah- oops, wrong game. Heh heh, wait- which game am I reviewing again; Jedireaper at- A-r-m-s? Ah I know… So, Modern Warfare 2 continues the story from the previous game, set a year or two on from events that take place in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, picking up the story proper with; John ‘Soap’ MacTavish and new guy; Gary ‘Roach’ Sanderson. Soap, now a Captain and leader of a squad; the multi-national (And British lead, might I add) Task Force 141, headed by the United States Special Forces, General Shepered. On the third level of the game you fall into the snow boots of Roach whilst climbing some snowcapped mountains in Russia, to do a bit of sabotage and retrieval work side of the story, but meanwhile on the United States side of things you pick up as Private First Class Joseph Allen for the first two levels in the game, set in Afghanistan, before he is shipped off for you to play as again later in the story as an undercover CIA agent.

Private James Ramirez is the third of the five playable characters in Modern Warfare 2 and, if I remember corectly; Ramirez is introduced in the mission Wolverines!, under the guiles of Seargent Foley and Corporal Dunn in the 1st Battalion Ranger Regiment. Their squad call sign is; Hunter Two-One. Ramirez is assumingly the replacement for Allen, after he was recruited into Task Force 141 (and, as I believe, was off doing his training for the C.I.A.).

Later on in the story, you will once again play as Soap for the final levels of the game, after rescuing Captain Price from the Gulag which is a prison where he has been detained after the end of the first game. Price first appeared in Modern Warfare along side Soap. James Ramirez and Soap are the only characters you play as that do not die in the Modern Warfare 2 strangely enough. The story in final lengths is quick and sharp, and interesting, and possibly more involving than the first game, but it just seems to be lacking the length it needs. A shame to be honest. Although my favourite level was the one in Washington where you have to retake Whisky Hotel.

The graphics and visuals are a world away from amazing, and with games such as Killzone 2 on the market; Modern Warfare 2 pales in comparison. But lest take a look; firstly the game appeares to be using a more efficient version of the engine they used back in 2007 for the first game, but the textures seem to have taken a step back for some unknown reason. For instance, the water we see in this game looks nothing like the water seen in either the first game or World At War (World at War handling the best with this engine; water reflections, moving water, and physical reaction to explosions) I don’t know how you can take an entire generation leap back with the effect. Anyway, the character models are nicely detailed and bullets still seem to pack a hefty and object piercing punch. And mowing down tonnes of enemies will always be a pleasure of mine (it’s why I still play Nazi Zombies on WAW). Although I find the gaming experiance to be much more enjoyable when you are mowing down hundreds of enemies, and the smooth control system which has been a staplemate of the first Modern Warfare game.

In my opinion the controls and gameplay rivals GoldenEye, but their use could have been a little more involved. However whilst I think the controls are amazingly balenced, not everyone would agree with me. Now one thing I have to say, World at War has over this game, is the co-op story mode (and not discounting Nazi Zombies). The fact that this game lacks a co-op story mode, after so much effort being put into multiplayer is stupidly unfair. I would love a co-op mode, raise your hands y’all if you agree! However it does have (in a similar vain to Terrorist Hunt from Rainbow Six Vegas 2, or the bonus mission from the first Modern Warfare game) a bunch of mini-missions that you can play out for points on two player co-op. These mini-missions range from protecting a building to getting fom A-to-B and then things like getting through areas undetected, and firing the mouned gun on a chopper. And it is fun!!

The AI has been improved a lot over the first game, but enemies are still the Hollywood-esque cannon fodder they always have been, but don’t slouch your guard when playing through the game as they are lethal and a single bullet can kill on the highest difficulty. The heated firefights are brilliant as always, and some of the action can be very intense. And the online multiplayer is very good to say the least, gunfights are of movie action there. Only thing that really annoys me is the fact that you cannot turn the music down or off. Gah! That is where this game loses some points!

All in all a good game, if short, and great multiplayer action. Does it stand up to GoldenEye…? No. I don’t think any game ever will.. The previous Modern Warfare…? Yes, it is better. Against World at War? Well WAW wins because it has some more replayability.

The Score-

Plot/Story : 7/10
Graphics : 7/10
Gameplay : 9/10
Sound Design : 8/10
Replayability : 6.5/10

Final Score : 7.5/10

Additional Scores;

>Multiplayer Score : 8/10

>>Expanded Score : 7.6/10

Final verdict : Pick it up to continue the story and to have a fun filled online combat game, but in my opinion the single player should have been longer, and it lacks some of the depth of games like Area 51 or Crysis. If you want a good alternative to this game, I’m not really sure, Black is one I’d recommend but other than that I am not sure.

Awards :

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If there was ever such a game as to get your heart pounding through intense shoot-outs and gun play, it’s COD(fish) 4. And apart from GoldenEye on the revered Nintendo 64, you will not find a finer example of the genre. And a fine outlook of things to come. Firstly I’d like to point out a fact that most gamers do not know about the game, Treyarch, the main developer of the previous Call of Duty games is not at the helm of this title, however a company that is at the helm now, Infinity Ward; has done a fine job of bringing both series up to the times and spec of the current generation of home visuals. From the very outset of the game you are presented with some of the most amazing graphics as yet seen on a home console and begs to question the moves of such other games such as Battlefield that lacks that vital sheen of completion that this game so surprisingly offers.

You play from two different perspectives in this, the British SAS who are up near the Northern part of Russia and northern Europe, then there is your U.S.M.C. counterpart, who is charged with a take on the second Gulf War (the Iraq war) to get to the leader of the terrorists armed market down in the deserts of a fictional country in the Gulf. The game eludes most of those casual gamers as something more Hard-Core from an online stand point, as you will find most competition on that part of the game rather unforgiving and sometimes ever ruffianed by the users to ruin your enjoyment of something that is in most cases a joy to play, definitely worth a few hours gaming online. Mean-while the single player is very well done, a compelling plot drives the player through the thick and thin of this fictional conflict through various scenarios and inventive enemy AI (though the odd, “character running into a wall” still exists). Smooth gameplay augments the player’s choices and although you must follow a linear path through the game, you still feel you play a vital role in the story itself.

However the game does let itself down on the replayability side, offering little in the way of unlockables to compel you to play the game over again, though honestly, the story itself should do that. Also the promise of extra missions in an, as yet unconfirmed, download from the PSN (and X-Box Live) will certainly keep this game in your disk drives far longer than even I expected.

A shout out also goes out to the sound effects and general audio quirks, rounding off this review. -The Verdict- A joyous update to a glorious series, with some of the best gameplay (and ‘gunplay’) yet seen in a First Person Shooter. Truly a masterpiece from start to finish both technically and in almost every other way. A brilliant game deserving of its score below.

Before we get down to the numbers, I’ll point out that the game also features a rather good split-screen multiplayer… And on we go… (wheres my calculator?) -

The Score-

Graphics: 9/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Audio/Music: 8/10

Plot/Storyline: 8/10

Replayability: 7.5/10

Final Score: 8.5/10

-Final Words- This game comes highly recommended. Though if your PS3 (or X-Box 360) does not have an internet connection (broadband), the you will only be getting half the package.

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