Modern Warfare 2

I entirely missed the first installment of this series. I have never been a great fan of the “Call of Duty” games, I always preferred the “Battlefield” series. I have always preferred the more open aspect of that series over the tightly scripted world of COD. I have also never been a huge fan of WWII games, they are interesting but I get the feeling they are unnecessarily limited (hence my enjoyment of jumping into a tank in Battlefield).

But I was in a supermarket, there was the last copy of the game in the shop and it was cheap, so I picked it up. Nikobe is always telling me what a great game it is. I liked the idea of the various perks in the game, not only the ones like the gunship but the ones that beef-up the useless players in the game seeing as that is the area I live in.

I know this is not going to win me any friends (and maybe the ire of the fan boys) but I can’t say I am impressed.

Feeling disappointed

The real draw for this game is the on-line games, I will come to that in a moment. Before I jumped on-line I wanted to play through the campaign, get a feel for the system before being destroyed by all the 12 year olds playing this 18 game (got to love that).

Started playing and I was very surprised. Why? because I can’t use cover in any way. “Gears of War” and “Rainbow Six” have excellent cover systems and I have come to expect this from my games. People just running down corridors and popping out in full view is just not realistic. I want to use the blocks and walls in the game, rather than them just being a method to have me killed. I know everyone is in the same boat, but not having a cover system is inexcusable. Just to take the micky though the computer can use cover (What?) yes it can hide around corners and behind doors. They can also blind fire at you, and all you can do is duck down or lay prone (just like in real life). If there is one saving grace its the face that the bad guys in the game are worse shots than Storm Troopers.

I was also a little disappointed in the quality of the graphics. The standards are high as far as graphics go and I don’t think MW2 lives up to the requirement. Its only a minor thing, on the whole it is excellent, but in places (like the first snow level) you see some strange artifacts.

Things to like

The way the sights lock onto the closest enemy when you switch to the gun sight is a great idea. Saves a lot of time and makes the game a little more fun. This is especially true when you can barely see the enemies running at you.

Although the game is very scripted, and the path you can take thought the game is limited to a very narrow path it is interesting to see the story unfold. The set pieces in the game are beautifully designed and the action sequences are a lot of fun.

Take it out for a spin, and get destroyed

As I was expecting going on-line to play is normally a disaster. I am killed constantly normally without even seeing my assailant. But the kill cam that shows you your killers point of view just before they took you out is excellent to see. The way the game makes you tougher the more you are killed is also a welcome feature.

Conclusion

I can’t say I am enamored with this game. It is well done, but I personally think there are other games out there that do it a lot better. The XBox live release of Battlefield show what can be done with tanks and mobile combat. “Gears of War” while it is OK, it has a better combat system.

All in all I think this is just not my game. It has not grabbed me like it has with other people. I know there are people who love it and I can see why they might. But it just did not do it for me. I think I will trade it in while the prices are good and get myself something else.