Cough.
Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, COD6 or MW2, however you put it, most people (nearly 8 million,) will know what the hell you are babbling your little ruddy mouth on about. It's the most anticipated game of 2009, everyone knows about it. So shut up and listen to my opinions.
If you played Call of Duty 4 before, you will know what is going on in this. The Middle East and Russia went all doo-lally and America and the British tried to help but failed/succeeded. Basically, to sum it up, a nuke went off when the British found the wrong terrorist, and then some bloke called Soap decided to make himself useful by saving the world and shooting a one armed Russian. Modern Warfare 2 helps anyone who has trouble remembering the story with a ten minute slideshow of sorts when you boot up the campaign mode. How handy.
This time around though, you'll find yourself in the boots of Gary "Roach" Sanderson, Allen, and Ramierez. But to be honsest, CoD4 and MW2 have done a rubbish job of actually letting me come close to the actual American playable characters and make me prefer the other bland soldiers around them. America- the country- actually plays a bigger role than the actual characters to be honest. Watching the country crumble in it's time of need and then attempt to rise up against the enemy.
On the other side, you have the super adventures of Captain Soap and Roach happening at the same time. It bloody fantastic to see Soap in the proper action he should be in, instead of on the floor, in a black and white screen with a quote that you had seen for the sixth time. From being held up by a whole army to jumping from roof to roof to a helicopter. It might be becuase I am British myself, that I feel much more of an attatchment to Roach and crew.
Roach never speaks, but it is how the group react towards him, and the little scripted scenes where you'll see him leap for a cliff and just miss or run through the streets of a Brazillian town to get to a helicopter that is waiting for him. Everyone cares for Roach, and you and Roach care for them too. Even the minor character "Ghost" is enjoyable to hear on the radio. "Bloody Yanks, thought they were the good guys?!" But what got me thinking when I heard Ghost and see him in action was, "is that Gaz?" Anyone who played Call of Duty 4 will understand what I mean.
The story is solid, and fits in nicely into the 6 hour campaign. Though that may not sound impressive, once you see what they packed into it, you'll sit back and go, "I want to do that again." Missions are the standard you'd find in any Call of Duty. Whether it be escorting a tank, blowing up something with C4 or defending a point. You'll understand from get go. Even shooting is exactly the same. But, that what is so great; it has already been perfected and can no longer be improved. Which is why Infinity Ward have now jammed in so many "Holy Shit on stick" moments into the campaign. It is like CoD4 on steroids.
*SLIGHT SPOILER START*
That Nuke from the previous title? EMP bitches! Washington almost obliterated. Jets are crashing into the White House, planes falling from the sky, and you are centered right into the middle of it.
*SPOILER ENDS HERE*
I still feel the British sides of the missions are far more enjoyable as they tend vary in style. Sneak or go in guns a blazing. The American missions seem to fit their tastes quite well really. Blow stuff up and clear several rooms while dramatic and patriotic music blares on in the background.
Multiplayer is still as deep as a bottomless hole and hasn't changed much really. The only editions I can see are the added killstreaks, kill streak chooser and deathstreaks. Also the rather unexpectedly good Third Person Mode. I can't say much about it other than it is still as brilliant as it was last time. Grenades still have that "Tick Tick" sound- even of they bounce against mud. Everything is in tact and how you expect it to be.
Killstreaks are far more fleshed out now, but you can choose which ones you would like to enjoy. Supply drops or AC- 130s, helicopters or a nuke that will infact end the game. Even if you are 3 minutes in, it will end, because no one survives a nuke. Not even the never ending army in Multiplayer.
Perks are far better too, with them being able to upgrade to a far superior version being an option. And the added deathstreaks let new players have a chance at getting back at their last killer.
Special Ops is probably the worst and best part of the game's package. I say this because it seems tacked on, but is also a hell of a lot of fun to play. People wanted a new Nazi Zombies- espcially the muppets who think that IW and Treyarch are the same thing- so this was possibly created to compensate for the none co-operative campaign or Nazi Zombie clone. I prefer the Zombies, but this is fun in it's own way. But it also seems very lazy. The missions are just in campaign levels, just with the ally NPCs taken away.
In this mode, you complete various situations such as survive several waves of enemies or... now come to think of it, most of the missions are pretty much the same structure. Survive the enemy onslaught, don't die and shoot as many guys you can. Even the sneaky sniper missions -if you screw up- grabbing an AK-47 and slaughtering the lot of them. It's nice to have, but unless the DLC addons for them turn up soon, I doubt I'll go back after I'm done with them.
Overall the game is a solid package with thrills in the single player, excitement in the multiplayer and mixed feelings in the Spec-Ops. I just can't help but feel that the campagin left a huge hole to be filled by the hopefully Modern Warfare 3. I reccomend this game to anyone who is a fan of FPS games and a fan of multiplayer. This game will keep you going for ages.
On a side note, Makarov -the main villian this time around- and his airport mission has caused a lot of controversy. Apart from the civillian massacre, he has brought up a couple arguments on several websites of whether or not he and the mission actually have an importance. In my eyes it does. Makarov is made out to be this major terrorist that will kill you on sight, and what-not. This cannot be protrayed with simple slideshows as it was with CoD4's Zakheav. Infinity Ward presumably wanted to go out a little further than expected. They wanted to show what Makarov is capable of, and indeed he does. You witness him and his cronies slaughter hundreds of people, and you partake in that. How do you feel now? After it was briefly mentioned to you what Zakhaev did in CoD4, you sort of shrugged it off and let it be, now, you partake in the act, and see what actually goes on. How does that feel now?
