First of all, if you haven't played MW2 then shame on you. You're missing out on one of the best shooters I've ever played in my life and the reason that I think Activision should only allow Infinity Ward to make Call of Duty titles. I loved World at War, but Treyarch is severely lacking behind their brethren at Infinity Ward.
First off, the graphics are nothing short of stunning. There were quite a few sections where I died several times on the first try because I was doing nothing more than staring at the scenery. The oil rig section is perhaps the most stunning. I think I died twice while just staring at the environments and the character models. I think Infinity Ward has squeezed every last polygon out of both the PS3 and the XBOX360. The character models and environments (especially a burned up @@@@@@@@@@ @@ sorry not spoiling anything for anyone) are nothing short of breathtaking.
The voice acting and sound is spot on as well. The cast is star studded and full of voices you'll recognize. I was shocked to find Glenn Morshower (aka Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce from 24). Also Keith David (not the asshat David Keith from Knoxville), Barry Pepper and Kevin McKidd from Grey's Anatomy as Soap McTavish. When the game is as story driven as MW2 is, you have to have great voice actors and Infinity Ward did the job. I'm not sure what else can be said about the sound in the game. The soundtrack is well done and the background noise does it's job as well.
The Single Player portion of the game clocks in at around 6 hours which is still a bit short for a $60 game in my mind, but every second of those 360 minutes or so is action packed. I played on Hardened and died quite a lot. The key to any Call of Duty game is to find a spot in the environment where you can pick people off and survive. The story is excellent and I'm sure it's no spoiler to anyone that the game ends with a cliffhanger. I've read lots of reviews where people aren't happy with the cliffhanger, but it pleased me. It guarantees we'll see MW3, so that's all good with me. I will say that upon first booting the game I chose to play the most controversial mission in the game and it did disturb me a bit. I won't spoil that for anyone who's not played it, but suffice to say, you've never seen a mission like that in a top flight video game. The team at Infinity Ward pushed the envelope this time by killing characters you care about in game. I applaud them for that. The harsh reality of war is that good people die and by killing characters that you develop an emotional bond with, their deaths resonate with you. In MW2, you'll visit Washington DC and it's suburbs, Russia, South America, and all sorts of other locales. I found myself never bored with story and wishing it would end. This is hands down one of the best single player experiences I've ever had. There's loads of intrigue and lots of double crossing which made the story all the better in my opinion. Plus we get to see a return character that I wasn't sure would make it from the first MW game. I cheered when he appeared on screen.
As for Multiplayer, not sure what else can be said, other than if you enjoyed Modern Warfare's multiplayer then you'll love MW's brand. More options and the MP seems to be much tighter this time around. I've played around 50 rounds or so and had a blast with it. As most of my friends know, I'm not a big online gamer anymore due to time constraints, but I have enjoyed my time with MW2. I need to play some of the Spec Ops stuff with someone online, so if anyone has any interest, it's "itsmedave" on PSN.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is a strong candidate for my game of the year. It's one of the most polished games I've ever played and Infinity Ward should be applauded for such a remarkable follow up to Modern Warfare. The Single Player is well enough to stand on it's own, but with multiplayer added in, it's a must buy.
1 comment:
Spec ops is great, awesome co-op experience. Hopefully you find someone to play with!! :)
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