Score:

With pre-order sales setting records at most major game retailers, Modern Warfare 2 has arrived to a fanfare that most franchises can only dream about. But does it live up to the hype?

Picking up five years after the events of Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2 explodes on the gaming world as one of the most anticipated video games of all time and possibly the most successful tactical FPS franchise of all time. Zakhaev is dead but his dangerous lieutenant, Makarov, is alive and well and definitely in control. Now, more powerful than ever, Makarov is making a play to extend his control past his Russian empire to the international stage. Playing as Sgt. “Roach” Sanderson, you are a part of Task Force 141, a multi-force team comprised of Delta Force, CIA, SAS, and Navy Seals. Task Force 141’s mission is to stop Makarov whenever and wherever he raises his evil head. “Soap” MacTavish, well known for his role in the first Modern Warfare game, has been promoted to Captain and is now your commanding officer.

Obviously, one of the first things you’ll notice about Modern Warfare 2 is that this game is intense. The detail of your surroundings, from bombed out apartment buildings to wintery mountain slopes, is astounding. So realistic are the numerous settings that you feel like you’re actually there. The storyline and cutscenes, having more than lived up to what we are rapidly becoming to expect from Infinity Ward, have to be experienced in order to know just how good this game is. But be forewarned, some scenes, including scenes of electric shock torture and heads exploding on vehicle dashboards could be disturbing for younger players.

Gameplay, in single player mode, takes a bit of a twist, making for a fun way to play. You are joined by an AI team and lead by an NPC character. Most missions must be played through using a team based co-op style, acomplishing certain tasks yourself, while letting your teammates acomplish others. Overall you must use tactical thinking to make your through the missions, always with an eye tuned toward Makarov. While patrolling a city block, if you step out into the open you will start taking enemy fire from everywhere: every corner, rooftop, intersection. This tends to eliminate the tendency to just charge straight ahead like a madman on roids. As in most shooters, as you take fire the screen will change to distract your view until you “heal”. But Modern Warfare 2 takes this step way beyond the typical “red screen”. It looks like actual blood splatters on a lens. It is so authenic and very distracting.

Living up to its name and venturing away from the WWII setting of previous Call of Duty titles, Modern Warfare 2 features a wide variety of weapons and vehicles, includeing a souped up snowmobile, to aid you in your quest to defeat the forces of ultranationalism. One of the biggest complaints gamers had with CoD 5 was the world war 2 era weapons, with a slower fire rates, reload rates, etc. Call of Duty: Moderm Warfare 2 surely addresses those concerns and provides you with some great weapons, from sub-machine pistols to grenade launchers. And adopting a sort of RPG style, MW2 lets you customize your weapons with different augments that you can get along the way. Update your weapon with red dot sites, scopes, or heartbeat sensors. Want a bit more of a challenge? Try Special Ops Mode which is built around a time-based play option and presenting scenarios not included in other modes with lots of enemies to take on. As always, a large portion of this Call of Duty centers around multiplayer online play. And the jury is still out on the online play. Reports of chat features not working properly and match joining problems have been popping up in these first few days. (They should have released a testing demo like they did with World at War.) Still, I have no doubts that these concerns will be corrected shortly and then online play will be nearly a spectacular as it is with the first Modern Warfare.

So does Modern Warfare 2 live up to hype? Most defintitely “YES”. I don’t think there is any doubt that this one will be one of the top games of the year, and is definitely a must have video game.

Available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Modern Warfare 2 Bundle Featuring Xbox 360 console - Click Here

Screenshots