Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
With many people, CoD:MW2 doesn't require an introduction. In brief, it's a first person shooter game in the popular and entertaining Call of Duty series. The game is first person with strong emphasis; even all cutscenes are from that perspective, from varying people, many of whom do not survive the cutscene. The setting is 5 years after the first Modern Warfare game, CoD4.
CoD4 put the player in control of SAS operatives, and in urban warfare in the Middle East, with many twists along the plot. CoD:MW2 follows in those footsteps, putting the player in control of SAS operatives, US Army Rangers and various other people along the way, in various locations ranging from snowstorm covered mountains through airports and slums to pictoresque cottages by beautiful lakes. There is seldom much time to enjoy the view, but it is spectacular and there were times when I simply lost my breath from the sheer beauty of the game.
CoD4 was brutal and lethal, but with an annoying amount of what I term "arcade concessions", like constantly respawning troops (friend and foe alike) and rather ditzy AI. One of the best things about CoD:MW2 is that this has been completely changed. The AI is pretty good, and sometimes truly scary in the way it uses the environment, and the challenge doesn't come from constantly respawning enemies. The fact that your friendly troops are limited in number and frequently get mowed down - and don't respawn - add to the tension of the game.
Here also lies the flip side of that. CoD:MW2 makes use of a high tempo and a brutal number of enemies to mow down to maintain pressure. When I ran into a slum in Rio de Janeiro with 800 rounds for my assault rifle I was pretty sure this amount of ammo was ridiculous, but I ran out before I was halfway through the scenario. The game tries for constant maximum intensity, which to me is a bit of a buzzkill. It gets too much with wave after wave of enemies, especially when they are being scarily smart and do things like cover each others advances. The parts of the game I liked the most were the stealth missions, and when the shit hit the fan and "plan B" was initiated, the game just wasn't nearly as interesting. Which was most of the time.
That said, it's still an amazing game. The story has some very interesting twists and turns. There is little pulling of punches, including the much maligned "airport scenario" early on, which sets up things to come. When I was running down a typical American suburban street, taking cover in a Taco Bell from the BMP fire, it was almost eerie - the game aims for the gut, and the sucker punch hits pretty hard. Just like in many modern day stories, there aren't really good guys and bad guys, just varying limits to what people are willing to do - and sometimes those limits are pretty far out there.
It just tended to get a bit much for me, all the piles of enemies around every bend wherever the game took me. One scene on an airplane graveyard, with huge amounts of enemies around, was quite enjoyable despite (or because) of the amount of opposition. But running around in maze like gutter cities and across airfields with so many enemies they blot out the background got old pretty quick. I resorted to some cheat codes in parts where I just lost interest in trying to figure out the pattern of where the enemies would come when. In part that was because the story had gripped me and I wanted to see what would happen next - and even using cheats in some of the more annoying parts, the game was challenging as there were other elements than just sheer force of numbers to contend with.
Many objectives required a bit more than just the ability to point a rifle, and there were many elements of the game which really startled me with how well thought through they were. Now that I have gone through the storyline and seen what happened I will revisit the game and take the time to learn how to go through those hopeless areas. The game is well worth it.
In summary, I'd recommend this game to anyone who enjoys first person shooters. It's got some serious oomph and is well worth the time spent on it.
CoD4 put the player in control of SAS operatives, and in urban warfare in the Middle East, with many twists along the plot. CoD:MW2 follows in those footsteps, putting the player in control of SAS operatives, US Army Rangers and various other people along the way, in various locations ranging from snowstorm covered mountains through airports and slums to pictoresque cottages by beautiful lakes. There is seldom much time to enjoy the view, but it is spectacular and there were times when I simply lost my breath from the sheer beauty of the game.
CoD4 was brutal and lethal, but with an annoying amount of what I term "arcade concessions", like constantly respawning troops (friend and foe alike) and rather ditzy AI. One of the best things about CoD:MW2 is that this has been completely changed. The AI is pretty good, and sometimes truly scary in the way it uses the environment, and the challenge doesn't come from constantly respawning enemies. The fact that your friendly troops are limited in number and frequently get mowed down - and don't respawn - add to the tension of the game.
Here also lies the flip side of that. CoD:MW2 makes use of a high tempo and a brutal number of enemies to mow down to maintain pressure. When I ran into a slum in Rio de Janeiro with 800 rounds for my assault rifle I was pretty sure this amount of ammo was ridiculous, but I ran out before I was halfway through the scenario. The game tries for constant maximum intensity, which to me is a bit of a buzzkill. It gets too much with wave after wave of enemies, especially when they are being scarily smart and do things like cover each others advances. The parts of the game I liked the most were the stealth missions, and when the shit hit the fan and "plan B" was initiated, the game just wasn't nearly as interesting. Which was most of the time.
That said, it's still an amazing game. The story has some very interesting twists and turns. There is little pulling of punches, including the much maligned "airport scenario" early on, which sets up things to come. When I was running down a typical American suburban street, taking cover in a Taco Bell from the BMP fire, it was almost eerie - the game aims for the gut, and the sucker punch hits pretty hard. Just like in many modern day stories, there aren't really good guys and bad guys, just varying limits to what people are willing to do - and sometimes those limits are pretty far out there.
It just tended to get a bit much for me, all the piles of enemies around every bend wherever the game took me. One scene on an airplane graveyard, with huge amounts of enemies around, was quite enjoyable despite (or because) of the amount of opposition. But running around in maze like gutter cities and across airfields with so many enemies they blot out the background got old pretty quick. I resorted to some cheat codes in parts where I just lost interest in trying to figure out the pattern of where the enemies would come when. In part that was because the story had gripped me and I wanted to see what would happen next - and even using cheats in some of the more annoying parts, the game was challenging as there were other elements than just sheer force of numbers to contend with.
Many objectives required a bit more than just the ability to point a rifle, and there were many elements of the game which really startled me with how well thought through they were. Now that I have gone through the storyline and seen what happened I will revisit the game and take the time to learn how to go through those hopeless areas. The game is well worth it.
In summary, I'd recommend this game to anyone who enjoys first person shooters. It's got some serious oomph and is well worth the time spent on it.