Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

There was never going to be any doubt as to the overall quality of Modern Warfare 2. Ever since Infinity Ward first introduced the Call Of Duty series on PC, the developer has continually improved the formula of its military shooters – and Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was arguably one of the best examples of the genre. Despite IW’s shift to also developing its games for console, PC gamers were always sure that they would have the best version of any Call Of Duty game from the studio.

With MW2 Infinity Ward has delivered the same high standard of shooter action that it always has, but it isn’t perfect and some radical changes to its multiplayer setup mean that for the first time PC gamers can’t claim to have the ‘best’ version of an IW game. MW2 is a three-part experience consisting of its campaign, co-op mode and multiplayer – and for the first two parts you won’t find much disparity between what PC gamers might have got in the past and what they have here, which is flawed but still excellent.

MW2’s story starts five years after the events in the first game, but your efforts then haven’t led to a safer world. The Ultranationalists you fought in MW have risen to power in Russia, and another Russian terrorist mastermind called Vladamir Makarov is wreaking havoc around the world.

The hunt for Makarov sees you as soldiers in various military forces, like Sgt Gary ‘Roach’ Sanderson, under the command of Captain ‘Soap MacTavish’, in the first games’ elite Task Force 141 unit. As the Allies struggle to contain the Russian terror leader, what starts as a mere counter-terror operation escalates into a war between major powers and an invasion of mainland America. There are returning characters, a well-conceived world and a great sense of familiarity that immediately put us at ease.

It’s a great setup, and should have led on to a fantastic story, but the plot of Modern Warfare 2 is sadly a disjointed affair that doesn’t live up to the excellent standards seen elsewhere in the game – disappointing considering Modern Warfare’s strong narrative.

There’s a certain suspension of disbelief that goes with engaging with any form of fiction – a tacit agreement that allows a creator certain imaginative latitude, but even accepting that doesn’t absolve MW2 of its real narrative failings. What Infinity Ward has ostensibly done is create a Michael Mann/Bruckheimer-style blockbuster which relies heavily on the wow factor and insanely high production values to see them through. We get the sense that IW sat down and came up with all these rather fantastic set pieces and forced a story arc around them.

They’ve papered over the cracks with a dash of blinding pace and vaguely pretentious notions of nationalism driving nations into cycles of revenge, but the cracks still show. It’s a shame too because one of the best things about MW was its mature story. Yes, it had its Hollywood moments, but there was always a core thread of believability. There’s always a niggling feeling that IW is trying to ‘one-up’ itself, especially since MW2 plays out very much like a movie sequel matching beat for beat the feeling of parts of the first game, just writ larger. This is 24, Bourne and several Tom Clancy books bundled together, set on fire and thrown off a mountain.

… continued