Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review page 2

10 Nov 2009 at 17:33:29 by John Wyatt
Systems used to review this title: (360)

If the Campaign has one major downside, it's the fact that like the Campaign in COD4, it feels criminally brief. Most players will clock this mode within six to eight hours, and whether or not they feel compelled to replay it will all depend on their burning need to max out their Xbox 360 achievements. However, as was mentioned earlier, the Multiplayer is, and always was, the main draw when it comes to Modern Warfare 2. Infinity Ward admittedly had excellent foundations to build on, but what it's produced in the final build is nothing short of staggering. The basic arc is dictated by the RPG-leveling system, which makes a welcome return, and players can also give their tag an individual touch by setting a title, emblem and clan tag. There are new KillStreak awards, and these are also customisable (but naturally balanced by the mode's internal workings) and DeathStreak awards for the lousier players in MW2's community. The Multiplayer comes armed with preloaded classes, a couple of unlockable ones and the Create A Class function, which in itself opens up limitless tactile approaches to the mode.

Up to 18 players (that's nine-on-nine to you) can compete in matches and there are numerous match types including Domination, Team Deathmacth, Free-For-All, Search & Destroy, Demolition and Capture The Flag. Infinity Ward has also fixed the pesky problem that reset players to the lobby if the host bows out. This time round, the game simply selects a new host from the remaining players and the action continues. Players are also rewarded for all their accomplishments within the Multiplayer mode, both on the field of battle, and in the load out as victories and kills unlock more perks, weapons and upgrades. As before, Infinity Ward has designed Multiplayer which is likely to keep players glued to their consoles for hours on end.

Special Ops is the third mode, and it's basically a collection of mini-games. Players start with just one category open to them - in this case, Alpha - and they then have to unlock the remaining missions in Bravo, Charlie and Delta categories by earning stars. This is done by successfully completing the Special Ops missions by their 'star' difficulty - players can set the difficulty for each mission from one to three stars. As to the mission content, they take place on maps based on locations dotted throughout the campaign and there's a wide variety of missions from sniping to capturing a beacon on a collapsing bridge to snowmobile races. Most of them are insidiously well-designed and guaranteed to hook players into spending hours and hours trying to improve their scores.

And that's your lot. But that's admittedly a hell of a lot. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 builds on the foundations of its predecessor and provides a slick Multiplayer, an addictive cache of games in Spec Ops and a Campaign that feels epic and believable, even if on reflection, it makes a season of 24 seem restrained. It's not a title that breaks much new ground in its genre, but it certainly establishes Infinity Ward as giants in their field. Simply put, if you're a fan of shooters, you need this game.

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