It’s funny how the experience can change year after year with a saga that, in popular terms, always offers the same. It is true that Call of Duty has long ago found a formula for success and knows how to renew itself when things go wrong. In short, the core of the experience for each installment remains the same, but for those of us who go into their installments each year, we always experience different sensations, showing that each fan of the franchise has their own likes and dislikes. doWhat has been my experience with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then?
The summary is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 offers a fairly weak Campaign mode and a very competent and fun multiplayer, but that can be enough for most players by not taking too many risks. It’s clear that Infinity Ward has put their efforts this year in making multiplayer feel good and work correctly from the first moment (something that we shouldn’t celebrate, but we already see what happens with almost any release of an online-focused game ), plus the jewel in the crown with Warzone 2.0, which will arrive in the coming weeks for free for everyone.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues the events of the first Modern Warfare in its Campaign (from the reboot, not from the original), and for this reason we find its greatest strength: well-defined characters, recognized by all and who exude charisma. It is certainly gratifying to be able to enjoy a story with Price, Ghost and company (a separate mention must be given to the excellent dubbing work in Spanish), but, although entertaining, I have found the most topics we can expect from a first person shooter campaign for several generations.
It is a short campaign, enjoyable and that goes as it goes, of the old school, but I prefer the most modern attempts and that try to incorporate some other novelty like those seen in Black Ops Cold War or, a little while ago, Infinite Warfare, for example. Beyond its spectacular technical deployment, I have not found anything that could not be seen in any other shooter campaign from several generations ago. Very corridor advances (with the classic artificial limitations so that you don’t get too far away), typical shootouts and spectacular situations but that we have seen a thousand times. All the tropes of the genre are here: the stealth phase, the phase in a city with civilians, the sniper phase, the helicopter phase, the phase controlling heavy weapons…
It will depend, as I say, on the type of player you are and what you expect from a Call of Duty campaign, but I think that beyond reintroducing the familiar characters, Modern Warfare 2 only wants to comply with what is fair and necessary in its individual mode. For the record, I was quite amused that they incorporated the Campaign as a pre-order incentive, since by doing so you had prior access and completing its phases ensured some rewards in multiplayer mode. A clear attempt by the studio to encourage players to complete it before launch, where it will be forgotten forever among the menus.
And now that I’ve mentioned the menus, it’s a good time to indicate what I think the worst of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, its usability and readability. It’s not that it’s a very efficient saga in this sense (I remember other titles with the same problems), but it’s really difficult to understand the menus, the options, find what you want, navigate through options within superimposed options… a real chaos , and that has been improved compared to what was seen in the beta.
Overall, I think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 exemplifies very well how complicated it must be for a newcomer to understand exactly how it works everything and how you can get the most out of it. There are not many explanations about weapon modifications, class modifications, it is difficult to find the possibility of creating your own teams, there are no warnings when you unlock specific weapons or modifiers… it is a small disaster that is solved if you already have experience, but I don’t want to put myself in the shoes of someone who doesn’t know how anything works at all.
And if the campaign is old school, the same could be said of the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, although fulfills to spare. With maps far superior to those of the previous Modern Warfare, a better layout of respawn points and a fairly good performance from day one, I have enjoyed online battles from the first moment, and that is appreciated. Yes, there are still some unbalanced weapons, fairly weak tools, entire groups using almost the same classes… but it is usually common and surely Infinity Ward works little by little to improve it. The core of the experience is very satisfying and that’s what counts most in the beginning.
I think so too he has played it safe trying to please all kinds of players. There are maps of all kinds, from the smallest and most direct, through the largest and with various ground levels, to the most experimental, although the latter are almost testimonial. To this we must add the incorporation of new modes that work quite well and add variety, along with cooperative special operations with other players that can also be quite enjoyed, although I think they could have gotten a little more out of it in general with the incorporation of novelties, which continue to be relegated to the background compared to the usual protagonists.
Maybe By far the worst addition to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer is the third person, an invention that has not convinced me at all and it shows that it goes against the nature of the game itself. Fortunately, it is an independent mode from the rest and if you don’t like it, it can be left aside for the rest (as has been my case).
All weapons feel great, with some of the best gunplay I’ve experienced with the franchise in a whileand quite fast progress that overlaps with the inclusion of daily missions and challenges to unlock new operators (which only change aesthetically).
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 risks just enough to try to please the majority of players”
Since I have spoken before about personal likes and dislikes, I must say that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 risks the right thing, and tries to be a delivery that pleases the majority of players alike, being difficult to highlight specific elements where it really stands out. It works very well and it’s fun, that’s essential, but I value much more the experimental attempts that studios like Treyarch always incorporate in their releases, such as the inclusion of specialists with their own abilities in multiplayer mode, which give it a plus of variety and from competitive interest to business as usual.
With all that, I think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a delivery that rises to the occasion, which perhaps could have flown higher risking a little more. His Campaign mode is entertaining, very old school, which just delivers, and his multiplayer mode is fun and perhaps one of the most polished seen in recent times. We will have to see how the Battle Pass is incorporated and how well Warzone 2.0 works, but assessing what we have in hand right now, it is a functional Call of Duty that may be able to please everyone, because it assumes almost no risk .
