Joe Fucking Rules (dot com)

Joe Says: I am famous for my one word reviews.  In this instance, however, since I am sufficiently alone in my feeling on the overall value of Modern Warfare 2; I felt the need to explain myself.  Enjoy.

Introduction/Background

About 7 years ago, Infinity Ward released Call of Duty 1.  This game was based on the Quake III Arena engine, and was a FPS based on World War II.  The game, although compared to Medal of Honor (another WWII shooter), surpassed it in many ways: AI, shellshock (a momentary shaking and sound distortion following an explosion), and AI allies.  Call of Duty also received an average 91% on Metacritic.  Since that time Infinity Ward has shared development of ensuing sequels with Treyarch.  In general the Treyarch games were less well received, but still sold and reviewed well.  For the fourth installment in the series, Call of Duty changed venues and added the “Modern Warfare” moniker.  It brought the series to the current day and added the accompanying weaponry and locales of modern war.  It was a blockbuster success and both single and multiplayer modes were reviewed well by critics and players alike.  This year brought the sequel to Modern Warfare, the aptly named Modern Warfare 2.  This title is the 6th in the Call of Duty series (number 5 being last year’s Call of Duty: World at War developed by Treyarch).  All in all, the Call of Duty series is in my view the Michael Bay of war games.  Whether you like the actual: characters, story, or themes; it cannot be denied that it is: explosive, flashy, and a mighty visual spectacle.

Story

You play multiple characters who ultimately are intertwined in 1 main storyline, but from different angles/perspectives.  In the last installment (COD4), this worked out nicely as the locales and stories were generally well put together.  Here in Modern Warfare 2 (hereafter MW2) however, you don’t get the same cohesive feeling.  Instead, you get the feeling that the developers had a bunch of great ideas and shoe-horned those ideas into a storyline, rather than write a good story and then decide on how the story should play out in the levels.  This manifests itself in many “gee that’s cool and all, but why?” moments throughout the story.  In an effort to maintain a spoiler-free review I can’t divulge the scenes, but if it is requested I can offer up another review in which I can expound on these story points.  It almost seems that rather than write a good story, Infinity Ward copped out and went with the Michael Bay approach - forget the why and just show the how (generally being a heart-stopping CGI action sequence with lots of fire and/or explosions and/or life or death situations).

Since the internet has been ablaze about one particular disjointed level, I will go into the “No Russian” level a bit.  If you have been living under a rock and do not know what I am speaking of, feel free to skip this paragraph as it will contain SPOILERS.  In “No Russian” you take over the point of view of a CIA operative who is working undercover in a terrorist cell.  The level basically puts you in the shoes of a person taking part in a terrorist attack at an airport where civilians are being killed.  You can take part or hold back and not fire a shot, so the choice is in your hands.  Actually, you can choose to skip the level in its entirety, but no explanation is given as to what the level will entail other than massive violence.  This will lead some people to experience the level who otherwise would have skipped it had they known what it really involved.  The real dilemma (in the media) is whether or not the level should have been included.  I myself have seen the drive-by Fox News analysis of “you play as a terrorist”, and the videogame fanboy point of view “I should be able to play what I want”.  What I have not seen is the most important question of “Why?”  Why was this level inserted?  From my perspective it was merely to drum up publicity.  The level could have been handled in any number of ways without letting the player control it.  I am left with a hollow feeling of “I couldn’t control (insert CGI scene here), but I can do that?”  It is as unsatisfying as it is gut wrenching.  As I left the level I didn’t really get anything out of it.  There wasn’t anything “cool” about it, and while it did provoke emotion it could have easily been done with CGI video or something infinitely more clever.

Welcome back Spoiler free readers!  I guess the best thing I could say is that the story is believeable but disjointed.  It takes on the tin-foil-hat perspective of modern warfare and terrorism.  The themes are sound, but execution was poor top to bottom.  I never grew attached to any of my characters, and the story was not one I would call up a friend to discuss.  I know this may not be a popular review of the story, but I feel it is accurate.  Most reviewers will focus on the gee-whiz execution of visuals which feel overbearing at times instead of really looking at the story.   Ultimately I look at the story as more than what I see, and look more at how it makes me feel.  In the case of MW2, I didn’t feel any particular way other than relief that I was done upon completion of the game.

Gameplay

If you played Call of Duty 4 (hereafter abbreviated as COD4), then the control scheme will feel familiar.  There is nothing worse than playing a game that is supposed to be a part of a series and someone tries to reinvent the wheel by throwing a new control scheme at you.  This is not the case here. 
The only thing I will say about the single player gameplay is that it has odd points throughout different “missions” which go off the charts when it comes to difficulty.  I went from enjoying a mission to tossing my controller within moments.  The other thing that is annoying about these sudden spikes in difficulty is that they often come about at the same time as a save point.  This leads to spawning directly in a no-win scenario where you the player are forced to get lucky or become a pro-gamer or a combination of both.  This is not “challenging” gameplay, it is poor design.  Otherwise it is standard FPS follow the objectives while shooting the bad guys.

The multiplayer modes abound, although one particular mode that would have made the review score slightly higher is noticeably absent.  Co-op is not among the multiplayer options.  Infinity Ward has said that it was not possible to integrate co-op into the single player storyline, but in this reviewer’s mind I would have scrapped the story and started over.  I can think of at least one epic way to do co-op and end up with the same result as in the solo campaign.  No co-op in 2009 is nearly unforgivable, regardless of whether or not it interferes with your “art”.

In place of co-op you have a disjointed “Special Ops” mode.  In this mode you have co-op missions, but they are not necessarily part of the storyline.  They feel like training missions and there really isn’t a sense of urgency.  If you fail you get an audio “Lets do it again” and you have the option to start over.  What I will say is that all mission types are represented: AC130 missions, stealth, breech and clear, search and destroy, etc.  There are plenty of things to do, but you never feel like it is part of a bigger picture and the sense of accomplishment is lessened.  In place of advancing a story you are awarded performance ratings (one, two, or three stars).  For the average achievement whoring gamer this may be enough, but in my case I was looking for more.

Multiplayer versus mode.  This is an expansive mode, and arguably the reason behind the millions of copies purchased in the first week.  It really seems as though the devopment funds were largely spent here and everything else took a backseat.  This is ironic because if one takes a step back, the realization will set in that not much has changed.  It feels like the game is somewhat more balanced, but it is largely the same Versus experience found in COD4, only with newer maps and some additional game modes.  For some this “MORE IS BETTER” may make it worth the upgrade, but in actuality I am sincerely questioning the logic.  Sure, now you can have titles and play with slightly different guns on slightly different maps, but is it worth the upgrade?  Only each gamer can answer that question.  I will be putting out a separate more in depth review on this mode within the next week.  The important thing to note is that the gameplay in Versus mode is largely unchanged but adds more perks, weapons, and maps.

Graphics
As stated previously, this is one area that MW2 does not disappoint.  Everything looks smooth (even during high tension spots with multiple tangos) and beautiful.  The details often astound, unfortunately you are moved through levels so quickly you rarely get the opportunity to enjoy your surroundings.  The frame-rates are solid, the color canvas enjoys a refreshing break from the “brown FPS” that we have grown accustomed to lately, and the environments are well put together.

Sound

Like any good war game, the sounds MUST be dead on.  There is nothing more jarring than playing a game where the gunfire or explosions are tinny and inaccurate.  It takes away from the experience and fortunately is well done here.  The score is good, but I’m not so sure it was all that different from the last game.  No matter, the majority of the time you are more focused on the directional gunfire and mortar rounds than listening to the score.

Conclusion
MW2 is a hodgepodge of good and bad, ending up being merely average.

Positives

• Nothing has changed that was good about COD4 (controls, versus modes, etc)
• Graphical delights abound
• Sounds are accurate and nicely executed
• Special Ops Mode delivers a co-op experience that offers great variety in missions

Negatives

• Not enough has changed since COD4
• No co-op storyline
• Solo storyline missions are confusing and not particularly well put together
• AI opponent difficulty spikes lead to massive frustration
• Save points are not well placed leading to spawn-death scenarios

Game Final Score - 7  out of 10

Worth a purchase if you are a fan of the series, but don’t expect an entirely new experience or a great evolution in game-play.  Multi-player is still as it was in COD4, excellent overall if you are a fan of Versus play.  Don’t go into this expecting a great co-op experience as you will only be able to partake in what feels like training missions rather than a full fledged story.

Keep an eye out for my review of the MW2: Prestige Edition Package and Upcoming Review Guide to the MW2 Versus Modes.