Modern Warfare 2 Review

We finally feel like we’ve spent enough time with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that we could give an honest assessment of the game. Read on to see what we like, what we don’t like, and our opinion on the infamous “Airport Terminal” level.

Before we get into our review for Modern Warfare 2, we have to admit that we were huge fans of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, even more so than the more recent Call of Duty 5: World at War.



With that preamble out of the way, let’s get into our review. We just recently completed the single-player campaign, and all we can say is “Wow!” If you liked the tension and drama from the original Modern Warfare, or World at War, Infinity Ward takes it up a notch. We don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but it’s safe to say that the war spills over onto American soil, and the game does an amazing job of putting you right into the action. The graphics and sound are amazing! Hunting through suburban neighborhoods and slugging it out from atop a local restaurant brings a whole new level of realism to the game.

Without giving too much away, the campaign is split between two different groups, those in the U.S. and those overseas trying to stop the terrorists. You’ll alternate back and forth between the two groups and see why specific events occur, etc. Annoying at times, because you don’t want to stop and jump to a different mission in another part of the world, it does help mix things up and change the pace.

From racing away on snowmobiles to chasing down a terrorist lead through downtown slums, the single-player campaign has something for everyone. It could be compared to not only enjoying your favorite action flick, but having the ability to participate in it as well. Everything is top-notch including the mission objectives, locations, and most importantly, the plot. There is an actual story here, and it has all the suspense and plot twists you would expect from a Tom Clancy or John Grisham novel.

One can’t bring up “Modern Warfare 2” without the media hype surrounding the infamous “Airport Terminal” level. Yes, there is an “Airport Terminal” level where civilians die, and yes, it can be rather disturbing, but there are a few things to keep in mind when discussing this level: 1) you are given SEVERAL options to skip the level, without affecting the game, your score, etc. 2) your character doesn’t have to actually shoot anyone in the level, the terrorists will do all of it with or without you. 3) NO the level could not be taken out of the game without destroying the game.

The “Airport Terminal” level is CRITICAL to the overall game story. The game couldn’t actually take place without the critical events that transpire during the level. Could they have done it differently, using some type of mission briefing, a cut-scene, etc? Most definitely, but it would lose the impact that playing through the level has.

The level takes a couple of minutes out of an 8+ hour game, but it sets the stage for EVERYTHING. If you’re at all hesitant, skip it. If you’ve started the level and it’s too much for you, pause the game and skip the level. You’ve been warned, so do as you see fit. We WOULDN’T recommend letting your kids play this level… Modern Warfare 2 is rated “M” for a reason and it’s definitely a game that’s meant for adults.

One reviewer said of Modern Warfare 2 “You come for the single-player, but the multiplayer is why you stay.” We would have to agree with that statement 100%. The campaign is great fun, but we absolutely LOVE the multiplayer. We have everything we would expect from Infinity Ward, including TONS of weapons, weapon attachments and kill streaks, but what they had with the original Modern Warfare has been re-tooled slightly, and we love the changes.

Among those changes include “Death Streaks” that can be used when you’ve died a specific number of times without dispatching any enemies. They include such things as stealing the weapons and perks used by the person that killed you, to a “Pain Pill” that increases your health for a brief period of time when spawning. There are even a few that were Perks in previous versions of the game, including the ever popular "Ha ha ha, I just killed you... CRAP you dropped grenades!" “Martyrdom” “Death Streak.”

The “Kill Streaks” have been revamped as well, allowing you to have three kill streak rewards active at any one time, and the ability to unlock more rewards as you level. We have the entire kill streaks listed here. Needless to say, if you’re good enough in multiplayer mode, you have the ability to launch a game-ending tactical nuke, assuming you can wrack up the 25 kills without dying, and you’ve unlocked that particular reward.

You’re also not relegated to using just a pistol as your secondary weapon and don’t have to waste a perk to get something that you can use effectively. In Modern Warfare 2 you can select between several different weapons, including machine pistols (fully automatic), shotguns and more. You even have the ability to unlock attachments for your secondary weapons.

Our two biggest complaints about the previous Call of Duty games were the size of the maps and the pain caused by the host ending the game prior to the time or score limit being reached.

The maps in Modern Warfare 2 are MUCH larger, especially when compared to the original Modern Warfare. The spawn and frag mentality that plagued Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a thing of the past, for which we are VERY grateful. There is also much more variety in the location of the maps, as well as the overall number of maps.

Infinity Ward also added a “Host Migration” feature, which prevents the game from ending because the host ended the game. We have a video of it here, so that you can see it in action. Needless to say, we’ve seen it several times already, and it’s worked like a charm every time, allowing us to continue our fragfest regardless of what the host does.

We were a little spoiled with Call of Duty: World at War, and expected some of the same things that we saw there, but so far, they aren’t to be with Modern Warfare 2. Our two biggest complaints about the game would be the lack of a co-op mode for the campaign, and the inability to drive any of the vehicles in the multiplayer modes… The new “Spec Ops” mode is cool, and we've had a ton of fun running through it with our friends, but it doesn't compare to sharing the complete campaign experience with a buddy.

Our absolute biggest complaint about the game is the fact that there aren’t more hours in the day, and that the human body actually requires sleep to maintain itself. Modern Warfare 2 may just be our overall game of the year, and is definitely our shooter of the year. If you love the Call of Duty franchise or shooters in general, you can’t go wrong with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. We give it a 10 out of 10.

Modern Warfare 2 is available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. It is rated Mature by the ESRB.

Buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

* This review is based up on the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Dark Void Movie In The Works

Reliance Big Entertainment and Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment Join Forces with Capcom. Sci Fi Thriller will be based on Capcom's New Video Game Franchise Debuting January 19th.

Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment, under its Creative Partnership with Reliance BIG Entertainment, and Capcom, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, have come to terms on the film rights relating to Dark Void, a new property from Capcom. The theatrical version of the Dark Void game is being developed as a sci-fi action franchise and potential starring vehicle for Pitt.

Capcom will release Dark Void on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and PC in North America on January 19, 2010 and across Europe on January 22, 2010.



Dark Void is an adrenaline-fuelled blend of aerial and ground-pounding combat which centers on Will, a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission. Will wakes up to find himself in “The Void,” an alternate world resembling a primitive earth where aliens with superior technology are planning to take over civilization. Together with a faction of humans who have disappeared into the Void, Will takes on the alien race using their own advanced technology including a high-powered jet pack to defeat them and keep order in the civilized world.

Reliance BIG Entertainment, the flagship media and entertainment arm of Indian conglomerate, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), first introduced its innovative development/production financing deal, termed a Creative Partnership, with Plan B Entertainment at the Cannes Film Festival 2008.

Reliance BIG Entertainment’s Chairman Amit Khanna commented, '”We are delighted that our Creative Partnership with Plan B has led to this agreement to develop the Dark Void motion picture based on Dark Void along with Capcom and we look forward to future projects from them.”

“As a game, Dark Void was developed with a wide-screen mentality - a world full of adventure presented in cinematic scope and scale,” said Germaine Gioia, senior vice president, licensing, Capcom Entertainment. “Plan B recognized the potential of our newest property and are as excited about bringing Dark Void to life in cinemas as Capcom is to bring the interactive experience to home theaters.”

The deal was brokered by CAA on behalf of Reliance BIG Entertainment and Plan B, and by UTA on behalf of Capcom. Plan B was additionally represented in the deal by Jon Liebman and Cynthia Pett-Dante at Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

What We Like About Modern Warfare 2... So Far...

Like many of you out there, we were up late last night to be the first to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and here's what we've come away with so far...

If you haven't heard about Modern Warfare 2, you've been hiding under a rock somewhere for the last two years. Now that you've crawled out from under that little rock, we'd like to share what we got out of the first bit of time that we spent with the game last night... errrr... this morning...

So far everything is bigger, better, and prettier. The original Modern Warfare looked amazing, and they've actually topped that with Modern Warfare 2.

We spent the first few hours with the single-player campaign mode, and the story is every bit as good, or better, than the original Modern Warfare. There are some of the original characters back ("Soap" Mactavish, etc), as well as some new characters.



We don't want to spoil anything, but here's a few tips that we learned the hard way while messing around on the "Cliffhanger" mission:

1. DON'T LET GO! You WILL fall off the mountain and die!
2. DON'T stay in one spot too long... You WILL fall off the mountain and die!

Also, be warned. The "Disturbing Mission" warning is there for good reason. We played through it last night, and it IS disturbing. If you've got younger people playing, or are sensitive to terrorist type attacks, skip it. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

We spent several hours with the online Team Death Match, and it's even funner than the previous Call of Duties. The maps are bigger so we didn't have issues with the "Lob a grenade and pray for a kill" (it actually looks like they reworked the grenade tossing because you can't throw them as far), and there are quite a few maps to play through.



Here's a quick rundown of what we've noticed so far, aside from what we've mentioned already:

TONS of new weapons and items to unlock for them (a silencer for the .50 cal sniper rifle, seriously?!)

Damage screen indicator much more graphic... It's hard to see through all the blood when you've taken a lot of damage.

TONS of new Perks, and the entire perks and killstreak management has been reworked.

Death Streaks are cool, and can help if the person's WAY above you, but so far we like our own custom classes/weapons...

Secondary weapons no longer have to be pistols or watered down primaries.

Snipers blend into the terrain WAY better. We had several people run right over the top of us, just to find our knife in their back!

Inifinity Ward has been MUCH more generous with their experience point awards, including awards for things such as stopping an enemy from getting a kill streak, longest shot, best kill/death ratio, etc. So far it's made it MUCH easier to level.

Level cap set to 70 in Modern Warfare 2.

Aim assist has been added. It's enabled by default and allows you to target an enemy easier when you snap up your sites. Makes it MUCH easier to target in, especially when there are multiple enemies.

The Riot Shield is a nice addition as well. With it you can cover your body, from head to toe (if you crouch). When you've got it on your back (ie. when you want to actually shoot someone) it helps protect your backside from getting shot off.

So far it looks like the hype behind Modern Warfare 2 was well deserved. We'll have a full review up as soon as we spend some more time with the game.