Call of Duty: MW2 Professional review- Game Directors

We would've loved to have been able to tell you how fantastic Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is before the game was released. But Activision had those embargo shackles tied tightly round our wrists until this morning. Sorry.

But if you're not still cold from queuing outside HMV in the wee hours, you should be planning your trip to the high street this afternoon, because Modern Warfare 2 well and truly meets the incredibly high expectations.

It should be deemed actually illegal to play this phenomenal-looking shooter on a crappy portable TV with mono sound. This is a compulsory widescreen, 5.1 surround sound affair. It's a true videogame action blockbuster - it's the no-expense-spared Michael Bay production of the videogame world.

A relatively cheap-as-chips title screen leads into the most explosive first-person action game we've ever played. From the very moment your military boots hit the battlefield soil your eyes and ears are battered with the most intense shootouts and sometimes overwhelmingly chaotic scenes of war.

In just the first few missions you blast your way through an intense gun fight in a school, before heading over to the ice caps of Kazakhstan to creep through a snowstorm using a heartbeat sensor, picking off enemies without being seen.

And then, rather controversially (as the Daily Mail would've told you) you're off to a Russian airport as an undercover terrorist, shooting innocent people to maintain your cover.

The pacing of the game is immaculate. Infinity Ward switches from quiet stealth missions, to small tactical shootouts in densely detailed houses, to mind-bogglingly epic outdoor battles that will continue to amaze you even six hours in.

What's truly brilliant is how the developer's moulded unique gameplay into these levels without being overly intrusive. In one section you'll climb a snowy mountain with ice hooks controlled by timely presses of the two controller triggers. In another you'll order a heavy-duty tank to kill specific enemies with a laser sight, as you make your way through an American residential street.

Similarly Infinity Ward's delivered a vehicle section that (shock, horror) actually isn't rubbish; you'll take control of a snowmobile and blast down the side of a mountain being chased by dozens of enemies. There are plenty of other brilliant vehicle sections like these, but it'd be simply wrong to spoil them for you.


That said, if you've played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare the immense similarity between the two almost makes you feel like you're playing new levels in the same game. And yet, MW2 does well to pack more variety into every mission.

Master Chief fans might bang on about how very pre-set and linear the action in CoD games is compared to Halo's excellent sandbox AI routines, and MW2 is no different.

In Halo, a drop ship flies in and spits a bunch of enemies into the open environment, the AI takes over and it feels like a battle of wits between you and a formidable computer opponent. No two battles feel the same.

In Modern Warfare 2 - just like its predecessor - soldiers emerge from the same place and often do the same predetermined things.

Once you've died a dozen times you'll start to learn all of the soldier routines, which exposes how scripted everything really is. Fortunately Infinity Ward is brilliant at presenting an incredible, action-packed and polished experience, so while it is scripted, it's no less immersive.

Like many co-op fans we would've loved to have been able to invite a friend in on the single-player action, but unfortunately there's no co-op campaign option. But Spec Ops makes up for that, and is a genuinely brilliant addition to the series.

Spec Ops is a separate game mode that gives you 23 mini-missions snipped from the single-player game, with very straightforward objectives in a similar vain to the Mile High Club hostage mission that was unlockable at the end of CoD4.

The objectives and scenarios vary greatly, from simple 'reach the end without dying' missions, to stealth missions and defensive tasks that have you out to survive increasingly difficult waves of enemies.

An alternate version of the gillie suit sniper mission in Chernobyl from CoD4 is a massive highlight; you're tasked with making it through open fields and past a couple of enemy outposts without being nailed by opposing gillie snipers, or being seen by the patrolling guards. It's brilliant.


Another mission has you racing player-two in a snowmobile, which is sure to be an online hit.

The vanilla single-player missions are brilliant, but bolstering the action with another player adds an incredible amount of co-operation to the game. In a nod to Left 4 Dead players don't die instantly when shot but enter a downed state, giving the other player just over a minute to revive them before they bleed out.

In sniper missions you'll be assigning enemies to each other and synchronising your shots. In more chaotic battles you'll spread out and watch each others' backs. There's even one mission in which one of you takes control of a gunship high in the air, using its night vision to drop giant explosives on incoming waves of enemies (sound familiar, CoD4 fans?).

As you'd expect from Infinity Ward, Spec Ops is a mode that offers insane replay value. As you up the difficulty and try to finish each mission in a target time you'll unlock other new missions to play - and that's before you even delve into the epic multiplayer mode which, for hardcore fans, is what will keep the disc in their console until the next CoD arrives.

Multiplayer is much the same ordeal as before; a perk system that rewards ranked-up players with new gun attachments and skills, a kill-streak mechanic that gives you everything from airstrikes and Sentry Guns to a Tactical Nuke. That should do some damage.

The game modes are the same (bomb-planting objectives, capturing outposts and base raids), but there are 16 completely new maps to learn your way around, plucked from the huge variety of environments in the single-player campaign.

Much like the first Modern Warfare, the sequel's multiplayer mode is likely to have its greatness appreciated more as time goes on. But out of the box it's certainly as engrossing, fluid and all-round bloody brilliant as you've expected.


To say the least, CoD4 is a tough performance to follow. But Modern Warfare 2 does it beautifully.

While on the surface whiffing a little like an extension of the excellent first game, the sequel manages to keep the action genuinely and constantly fresh with incredible set pieces, unique gameplay and many an epic twist in the story.

And after all that, you've got that legendary multiplayer to tuck into and the co-op glory of Spec Ops mode. Infinity Ward has served up its greatest shooter yet. We're just sorry we couldn't tell you that before you queued for it at midnight.

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