Circuit Jerk

There’s going to be a lot of Modern Warfare 2 talk in the next few weeks here at Circuit Jerk. These are just my initial impressions.

Based off other reviews, most complaints are about how over the top the game is. When you have to top Call of Duty 4, what the hell else are you going to do?

There’s been a lot of criticism about whether the airport level needed to happen or not. Was there another way Infinity Ward that the evil terrorist bad guy was as evil as they wanted him to be? Yeah, sure. He could’ve drowned kittens. He could’ve returned some VHS tapes without rewinding them. He could’ve stood someone up on a date.

The thing is though, without crossing the line of something that really happened, Infinity Ward wouldn’t have created a believable world where Russia would invade the United States. You get the option to skip it if you have baby eyes and don’t like to see civilians mowed down. I however, loved the mission.

I felt the gut wrenching uncertainty of how far I’m willing to go for my CIA undercover story. The elevator doors slid open and I was confused. Am I going to pull the trigger? Can I do it? Then the moment came and I found every murder I committed being justified in the name of patriotism. I was going to save the world.

Then shit hit the fan. Russia invades the United States and some old favorites return, kicking more ass than they did before.

Modern Warfare 2 takes the intensity of the first game, adds every other action hero plot and worst nightmare war scenario, and has you screaming for cover the entire week long period the plot takes place during. 

Every map is carefully planned out. The plot treads dangerously close to Metal Gear Solid convalutedness, but never crosses the line. I can see how this would turn some people off and where some of the complaints come from. This is war caused by terrorism. Nothing is supposed to make sense. People will back stab, spy, and kill in the name of glory for whatever cause they deem worthy.

I can’t talk about any of the set pieces or characters without ruining large pieces of why this game is amazing. I want everyone to experience what I did.

You frantically try to find cover from point to point, hoping that your A.I. teammates are as good as the enemy. The blood soaked screen mixes with your sweat and shells, often providing an over stimulating battle. You find yourself not focusing necessarily on one enemy like most FPSs, but an area. You find that that is your area, and the success of your group depends on you being able to take. In return you expect your group to take their area, and for the most part, they do.

The multiplayer is as addictive, if not more, than Modern Warfare 1. You might find that starting is a bit rough. Infinity Ward doesn’t give you a decent guns to start with and most of the match types are locked until higher levels. You find yourself relying on your team’s ability to win and score bonus experience for you, rather than hoping that you actually stand a chance.

The maps are balanced. There aren’t too many places that someone can camp for too long. There also are enough places to take cover where someone can’t walk through the level with a machine gun mowing down everything on the screen. Where the multiplayer fails to balance is when you are facing a cohesive team that knows how to communicate. Often, a good team can take a point and the other team, no matter how great, can’t take it back. I guess you could chalk that up to the other team just being that good, but until you play and find out how much of a dead end it actually is, you’re just going to consider this whining and bitching.

The maps are a bit more bland than the greatest hits of the last Modern Warfare. Maps like “Estate” will cause people to rage. One team camps in the house while the other team unsuccessfully tries to take it back. Then maps like “The Wastelands,” should be a sniper’s heaven. You get massive amounts of space, but everyone inevitably bottlenecks in the bunker. I hope that Infinity Ward releases some more solid maps with the DLC, maybe release a reworked map or two from the first game.

Then there’s the normal lack of party chat. Apparently people were complaining about cheating with the party chat. I don’t know about cheating, but I party chatted in the first game to weed out the 13 year olds slinging racial and homophobic slurs without care and the idiots listening to music so loud that its being picked up on their mics. Essentially, I’m an anti-social, online player. I think many people are, and we would like to see the party chat function come back to the game.

Then there’s Infinity Wards answer to the broken Treyarch Co-op from World at War. I’m glad that I can’t play co-op through the campaign. It would’ve somehow taken away from the epic level the campaign reached at points. Instead, they put you and a friend into impossible situations, forcing you to think on your feet when you have 30 men and a helicopter barreling down on your location.

 Highlights of the spec ops missions include Acceptable Losses and Hidden. Each mission requires you to complete various tasks. Some are takes on “Horde Mode.” So require both players to sneak and kill in unison. Others require a timed bomb defusing. You’re going to have a hell of a time collecting all of the stars in this mode, and I wouldn’t doubt if we saw a few more with DLC.

I dare say that this game will have more longevity than the first Modern Warfare. I can guarantee that Treyarch are seeing a lot less people playing World at War this week. If Infinity Ward delivers on the promised two map packs as well as possible future DLC support, we’ll be playing this game well into next year.