By Sam Coles:
The Call of Duty series is something that a lot of people on
the internet like to hate and make fun of and honestly I don’t understand why
as they’re functional games with entertaining campaigns and multiplayer. The
futuristic setting has turned a lot of people off because it involves skill
based movement so you can’t use the standard tactic of sitting in a corner
waiting to pick people off. Modern Warfare 2 was the game that got me into the
series yeah sure I’ve played World at War and COD 4 before it but I wasn’t
really into the series until this game.
The story of Modern Warfare 2 takes place 5 years after the
events of Call of Duty 4 and a new threat has surfaced out of the ranks of Zakhaev’s
ultranationalist party. Vladimir Makarov wants to take revenge on the US and
British for killing him by starting a third world war between Russia and the
rest of the world through a really dark and twisted plan of shooting up an
airport full of civilians in Moscow and putting the blame on an undercover CIA
agent. The plot is really interesting and very dark in places as this was the
first Call of Duty game in the UK to be rated an 18+ due to its violent content
especially with the airport level, characters return such as Captain Price and
Soap and for the first time he has a voice rather than being a mute.
Modern Warfare 2 added in a few new mechanics for better or
worse for starters this was the first game in the series where you could dual
wield weapons something you’ll probably use once and not do it again due to how
ineffective it is. It’s still very much a Call of Duty game where you point at
the bad guys, shoot at them and they tend to die, but most people remember this
game mostly for its multiplayer so let’s get into it.
The multiplayer was a huge step up from the original Modern
Warfare as it added more weapons, game modes, perks and kill streaks. The perks
were given an extra boost as they could be upgraded to pro versions with examples
such as stopping power pro which could deal damage to vehicles or scavenger pro
which lets you start with max ammo. There are a couple of pro perks that break
the game such as commando pro which gives you a ridiculously powerful lunge for
stabbing people. The most problematic perk was one man army where people could
change their class on the fly and this resulted with people with infinite
grenade launchers.
Kill streaks could be customised as you didn’t have to stick
to the 3, 5 and 7 kill streaks from prior games. These can range from an AC-130
gunship to a game ending tactical nuclear strike which was great for the really
skilled players. However my main issue with the kill streaks is that you can
multiple gun ships and harriers on the map at the same time and it becomes this
endless cycle of death as you respawn and die over and over again.
Graphically the game still looks pretty good considering the
game came out nearly 8 years ago in the middle of the life cycle of the 360 and
PS3. The environments look amazing from the slums of Brazil to the frosty
mountains of Russia during the first act. The animations look great as enemies
react appropriately when they get shot and crawl across the ground when they’re
mortally wounded. The guns are modelled with exquisite detail looking like
their real life counter parts.
Modern Warfare 2 is one of my favourite Call of Duty games
and is still a blast to play today it does have balancing issues with the
multiplayer but I remember playing hours and hours of it when I was doing my
A-levels. The game is easy to find and is super cheap on Xbox 360 and PS3 I
think you can find it for £2.50 in your local CEX if you’re from the UK so go
and get it if you haven’t played it.