Thursday, March 21, 2013

Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2

For one of the more epic games that most of us will have played. If you are reading this, you will most likely have played (or at least heard of) Modern Warfare 2 (MW2), but if not don't worry. I'll explain enough for you to understand. I am aware there are other reviews of other FPS games and although fair keep in mind, games such as Battle Field 3 (BF3) are made for both a different clientel and game time i.e. BF3 is made to be a very realistic representation of war (as far as gaming goes) and one gaming session should be easily over an hour to "get in the grove", whereas games such as MW2 and most Halo games can be played for less than an hour, in an arcade like style, and still be entertaining. And just to clarify Modern Warefare 3 will be discussed at a later date, although I have played it already, and for longer than 20 minutes.

I will proudly, and without regret state that I have played Modern Warfare 2 far longer than many games I have before it. I don't like it either, but for now I am going to call Modern Warfare 2 MW2... it is just far easier to write. I started playing MW2 when I was at a friends place and the game had just been released, I was not impressed by anything. We only had a chance though to play split-screen and the "spec-ops" in the game, where you are sent on special missions with specific campaign like goals, however without a storyline. I soon however changed my mind from this condemning opinion. As my friend was not able to play the online section of the game, he quickly lent us the game.

Although the campaign is traditionally short for a first person shooter (FPS) it is still disapointing. The action may be fun, but it has next to no replay value. The grafics, in my opinion of little importance to the quality of the game, more of an indication of how expensive a game was to produce, are little improved from the previous game in the Call of Duty series: World at War. Although this was not a horrible thing, it did not do anything for the game either.

Luckily I was not disapointed by the online multiplayer. In fact, quite the opposite. I enjoyed the online multiplayer to such a degree that I would not put it past myself to say that at the time it may have been the best online FPS on the market (although I enjoyed Halo Reach to a similar degree and Gears of War in a different manor). I strongly believe that the gameplay is what makes games what they are, shown by the evergrowing minecraft universe and other such games. This was also the case for MW2, the gameplay is of such high quality that even today I play it from time to time. Although the weapons are unbalanced like in most FPS, this was the first game in which one could make ones own classes in an arcade style, fast paced game. The classes are a great way to keep the game alive longer as the major developers have now fully understood.

To keep the game alive, there are other aspects which infinity ward has used to make MW2 one of the most long lasting game that exists. This includes the leveling up system they used, to increase longevity, known as the presige mode, where one can willingly give up the unlocks that one has to gain in fame. Essentially bragging rights amongst your friends. This means that eventhough you aren't playing against them, you sure are competing with them "off the battleground" everytime you play.

In the gaming world, MW2 acts as a great bridge between full arcade games such as Halo Reach (full of colour and fantasy worlds) and the more realistic FPS such as what the Battle Field series is aiming at achieving (realistic weaponry, worlds and physics in the game). What makes MW2 so fun in a short period (ignoring the pride gained by prestigeing amongst your friends) is the ability to climb, which is not an option in the Halo series.

MW2 is a great game that has given me entertainment beyond belief for far more than 20 minutes. That is what makes it such a great game, although it will be outdone eventually, I do not believe that its playability of the game has been outdone yet. If I were to give the game a rating, I would say that it gets a rating of 6/10 overall, but this is mostly due to the lacking campaign capabilities, the online part of the game would have gotten a 8/10 in my mind.

If you do not agree let me know what you think, and we can talk about one of the monsterous games.

No comments:

Post a Comment