Since Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was released I have played it every year with the exception of last year. I am not the biggest Call of Duty fan as a whole, mostly due to the fact I am not big into multiplayer and also some of the games are just not that good. With a lot of first-person shooters, especially nowadays I feel the studios create a single player campaign as an after thought which really bugs me. To me playing games is about your own singular immersive experience which I simply don't think you can achieve with multiplayer. I think its's good to have the option of multiplayer but I feel along with many others that there should be more focus put back on the single player campaign. First-person shooters often seem to blend into each other, why? Because while there are some variations in the multiplayer experience they all feel too similar. The one way to set them apart from each other and stand out is by having a solid story. It worked in Bio Shock Infinite, Black OPS, Crysis, Far Cry, Half Life and The Darkness to name but a few. I could talk about this stuff for hours but time to refocus, my point is Modern Warfare 2 has a great and engaging story which is why it stands out from the others and why so many people want it remastered.
Pies, pies, wonderful pies, they are a whole meal encased in pastry whats not to like? With so many variations there is something for everyone (note to self buy some pies). When I was growing up there were a few pies I really liked, one of them was steak and kidney. It's not the nicest sounding or the best looking but it was damn tasty. I tried one a few months ago and it was still good but not as tasty as I remember. Playing Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 I found myself asking was this is tasty as it used to be?
Story
The game is set five years after the original Modern Warfare and the world sees a new enemy rise up after the death of Imran Zakhaev, his name Vladimir Makarov. He has no allegiance, no political agenda and isn't afraid to commit murder or even genocide, he is one bad guy. You get to see the story unfold from many characters perspectives including; Private Joseph Allen, Private Ramirez,
Captain McTavish and Sergeant Sanderson. There is nothing more I can tell you as it would spoil the story.
This story has it all, betrayal, revenge, loss, war and lots of guns. It still holds up to the test of time and is a great story with a really good ending. The game had me hooked as soon as I heard the intro, Captain Price saying 'what the hell kind of name is Soap anyway?', which is a call back to the first Modern Warfare.
Graphics
The game is starting to look dated but that isn't saying it looks poor either, it does however show that it does need to be remastered (hopefully in 2018). The cut-scene at the beginning looks great and helps provide a recap from first Modern Warfare. I know it's only a map showing illuminated green lines jumping all over the globe but it does look good. There are some stand out places in the game, my three favorites were; Firebase Phoenix (where you first start out), The Boneyard and Cliffhanger missions. Firebase Phoenix is a living breathing place, there are soldiers carrying out repairs, a few playing basketball, some training and others just hanging out. The Boneyard looks amazing especially all the old planes, half a fuselage here, a wing there, even a few rows of seats out in the open. I also like the contrast between old and new, you have all these forgotten wrecks and then there are a ton of soldiers with up to date equipment fighting around them. The Cliffhanger mission is awesome for many reasons but one of them are the visuals. At the start it has Captain McTavish causally smoking a cigar near the edge of a mountain, you get to look at the ice and snow capped mountains surrounding you and it just looks fantastic and that is just a taste of what the mission has to offer.
Music
The score for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is simply epic, it has the feel of a really good pulse pounding action movie and it really creates an intense atmosphere. The two people responsible for this are:
Hans Zimmer who created the Main Themes in Modern Warfare. The man needs no introduction and has worked on and created musical masterpieces for many films, TV series and games. Some of his works include; Gladiator, Inception, Black Hawk Down, The Rock, Lion King, and The Darknight Returns.
Lorne Balfe is a Scottish born composer and created the main score for Modern Warfare 2. He has varied background, some of his works include: Terminator Genisys, Assassins Creed 3, Crysis 2
and Ghost in The Shell (2017)
The soundtrack runs at just under an hour which I found to be a great length considering how long the campaign is. There were many great pieces, my favorites were; 'Ordinance', 'Extraction Point', 'Guerrilla Tactics', 'Onwards' and 'Safeguard'.
Gameplay
On to the good stuff! Let's talk about shooting mechanics, as a whole they were okay throughout but there were times I thought the aiming was off or the weapons were not as balanced as they should. It wasn't enough to spoil my experience overall but it did throw me off a couple of times. Everyone one has weapons of choice, mine were the UMP45, M14EBR and the combat knife.
My biggest concern when reviewing a game is that I will give away too much and spoil the experience for those reading it so I will try not to give away too much detail about the missions. I will however provide some cliff notes. The cliffhanger mission is great for people who love snow, snowmobiles and mountain climbing. The Gulag missions offer a varied pace which helps keeps you on your toes plus who doesn't like a prison break? The Boneyard is chaotic fun and encourages you to choose flight over fight. Then there is the mission Loose Ends, this is a tough one to talk about as it brings up a lot of emotions for me, so like any regular male I am going to keep quite and say nothing (it still hurts).
The campaign is short and depending on what difficulty you decide to play it on you could have it finished in as little as five or six hours. It might be short but it certainly is sweet and even though some people complained about it I thought it was the perfect length.
Final Thoughts
So after fifty hours or so (well just under six hours this time) how did I feel? Awesome, I really enjoyed playing it again and getting to experience the thrill of it all. I am hoping next time I go to play it that it will be remastered as at this point it is really needed. This one was easy to score and gets a 4 out of 5
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