Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward’s latest opus to bravery and machismo, has already smashed through sales records and is sure to be the runaway hit of the Christmas season; but is this military shooter appropriate for kids? Of course not - but if the legions of thirteen year-olds I’ve battled online is any indication, your boys will be begging to play it.
And I can’t blame them. Modern Warfare 2 is a masterpiece. It’s much more than a worthy successor to one of the most revered video games of all time. Modern Warfare 2 is a finely trained beast of fun, a highly honed blade thrust deep into the heart of interactive entertainment. It’s not just fun – it’s addictive. It’s not just entertaining – it’s enthralling.
The all-too brief single player campaign is simply phenomenal. At first, I must admit, I was a bit disappointed after two long years of anticipation, but after playing through it a second time, I’ve come to appreciate its grim brilliance. The experience is a careful mix of stealth and all-out action, a balancing act of heightened realism and Hollywood action movie antics.
The combat is grounded in real world tactics and the story is rooted in a surreal twin to our current geopolitical landscape. This is a dark game, and many of the missions are shockingly somber and full of an uneasy sort of nightmare dread. Make no mistake – this is war, but it is war as entertainment. For better or for worse, despite its weighty subject matter, Modern Warfare 2 never forgets that its winning formula is fun first, war second.
The developers have wisely left the control scheme and game mechanics unaltered from the previous title. The resolution and textures are much improved, although the game engine and character animation look pretty much as they did two years ago. The sound design is once again superbly realistic. The voice acting is spot-on and the music always finds the proper note (something that has not always been true of the series as a whole).
Of course, the real star of the show is Modern Warfare 2’s stable of multiplayer and cooperative options. In “Spec Ops” Mode you can go it alone or team up with a friend (via the internet or in split screen) to tackle a variety of challenging missions. With 23 missions to unlock and 3 difficulty settings to choose from, this mode adds a lot of replay value to the title. While “Spec Ops” doesn’t inspire the imagination and won’t engender a cult following like World at War’s “Nazi Zombies” maps did, it’s a much deeper and ultimately more worthwhile addition.
Modern Warfare 2 has refined the series’ classic online multiplayer mayhem to an exact science. There are about a dozen game modes to choose from and a bevy of large and well-designed maps on which to do battle with foes worldwide.
While I do find that the screen can get a bit cluttered, and while I fear that the maze of options might be overwhelming to some players, I can’t deny that the developers have taken a simple and extremely workable formula and loaded on a ton of premium amenities. I love being able to choose from an expanded list of killstreak options (including the truly awesome chance to rain death on the noobs from an AC-130 gunship) and the tweaked perks and weapon attachments are well-conceived and expertly executed. This is the gold standard, folks – online multiplayer doesn’t get any better than this.
While there are certainly more graphic games out there, this one is still grisly and violent. Bullet impacts come complete with a bloody mist and enemies now bleed out in a realistic puddle at your feet.
There’s some bad language scattered throughout the campaign, including one prominent F-bomb toward the end. Of course, if you have a headset, prepare to hear much worse from gamers of all ages online. Thankfully, you do have the option to mute other players, although this may prevent you from working strategically with your teammates.
The game as a whole is loud and scary and much of it may be frightening to children. One infamous scene in the campaign has already garnered a good deal of scrutiny and criticism. In it you play a CIA agent deep undercover with a band of Russian terrorists who strike the Moscow Airport and massacre hundreds of civilians with automatic weapons. This scene is definitely disturbing, but it does fit within the narrative and it features the twist upon which the whole story turns. However, the game gives you the option to skip the mission at any time without a penalty toward completion of the game or the acquisition of game trophies.
I love this game and it pains me to have to qualify my glowing remarks, but it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that not every gamer should get their hands on it, despite its monstrous popularity. In the end, my job is easy. I simply report the news – it’s ultimately up to parents to decide what will best fit in their child’s stocking.
Caution Rating: 10
