TL;DR – Despite my general antipathy for the series owing to it’s largely negative impacts on the AAA gaming space during the 7th console generation, I have to concede that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (CoD:MW2) is an enjoyable game. Not only does it have a decent multiplayer mode with full support for local play and split-screen (at least on consoles) but it also has a memorable and fun campaign alongside a lengthy bonus single-player mode in the form of Spec Ops. While there are definitely some issues with the moment-to-moment gameplay, by and large CoD: Modern Warfare 2 is a bombastic and entertaining experience with plenty of content on offer. Considering the modest price-tag on the 2nd hand market at the time of writing (2023) I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend CoD: Modern Warfare 2 for any bargain bin hunters who let this one slip by. The only caveat I would offer is that it’s the definition of the 7th console gen FPS experience, with it’s regenerating health, strict 2-weapon limit and restrictively linear gameplay.
Quick Note – Activision can FOREVER suck my dick for replaying custom servers with matchmaking in the PC version of this game. Over 10 years later this decision’s impact can still be felt and honestly it’s made PC gaming a worse experience for everyone.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (CoD:MW2) is a game that’s best remembered for it’s No Russian mission, which earned the game it’s fair share of ire and notoriety during it’s launch window. Yet while this controversial mission (which was scrubbed from the Russian release of the game) may be it’s best claim to fame, it’s actually a fairly tame part of the game’s overall campaign which is itself representative of only a minority of the game’s content. To elaborate, this is a game where the MIGHTY RUSSIAN BEAR invades the poor innocent United States with all of the carnage and bloodshed that entails. Perhaps I’m just desensitised to all of this 7th generation HD violence, but considering that you’ll kill thousands of people during the campaign it doesn’t seem particularly extreme in hindsight. This is after all the sequel to CoD:MW1, the game in which you got nuked trying to rescue your wounded comrades. As a sequel the game features some returning characters and nearly identical gameplay, the former being used to tell an entertaining if far-fetched fable. As for the latter, the additions to multiplayer (which is the mode most people bought the game for) are relatively minor and this mode is likewise near-identical to MW1, albeit with some concepts from MW1 being expanded. Additionally there is a new Spec Ops mode, which functions as a quasi-bonus campaign with more individual missions albeit each mission is shorter. This new mode is entirely playable in co-op however, and encourages multiple playthroughs of each mission due to these missions each having multiple difficulty levels that need to be unlocked. With all that boring context out of the way, let’s begin…
Warning: Spoilers below
When you first start the game you’ll be greeted with a slightly twee message asking if you’re stoic enough to handle some graphic content. This pop-up is referring to the No Russian campaign mission mentioned above, in which you’re part of a group conducting a terrorist attack in Russia to earn the trust of a group of ultra-nationalist Russian terrorists. For those who didn’t play the first game, essentially you were part of an international team of cool operators and badass military types who were trying to stop Russian Ultra-Nationalists from triggering WW3. Unfortunately you weren’t entirely successful, and the ruthless Russian terrorist Makarov was able to escape your clutches and has begun trying to unravel world security for his own revisionist purposes. In CoD: Modern Warefare 2, you playthrough the perspectives of multiple characters as they try to take him down and end the threat to global security once and for all. Initially the situation is fairly tame, as you take the role of an American soldier who joins up with the CIA after proving himself in a quick skirmish in Afghanistan. From this simple premise however the game quickly throws you through a ringer, as not only are you asked to take part in a terrorist attack but you end up having your cover “blown” and get shot through the head for your troubles. The world then blames the CIA for orchestrating the attack, which causes Russia to freak out and begin invading the entire United States – Red Dawn style. You then spend the rest of the game being tossed back and forth between US Army Rangers private Ramirez (who has to do EVERYTHING while defending ‘Murika) and “Roach”, an elite operator who does special forces stuff. Both characters play the same, but by splitting your time between the two you’re able to both witness the full impact of the war (Ramirez) while doing black ops shenanigans that advances the plot (Roach). Of the two Roach gets to travel across much more varied locales, from jungles to favelas to gulags, while Ramirez gets to faff around with a bunch of cool high-tech US army gadgets. Neither character gets much in the way of development, as both serve as blank states for the player to project themselves onto, but at the same time both interlocking parts of the campaign are equally enjoyable. Both characters are also receiving orders from General Sheppard, who is understandably butthurt bitter that his men from the first game got nuked. Much to my surprise the game is actually somewhat varied in how missions play, as while Ramirez is always taking part in big engagements, Roach is often involved in stealth-ish sections and both characters get the occasional vehicle section to spice things up. The stealth is admittedly fairly basic, but having to slowly move through an enemy base and choose whether or not to bother engaging targets does make the game feel like more than a selection of shooting galleries. Even if almost every mission ultimately boils down to an over-the-top set piece with myriad explosions and gunning down large numbers of enemy grunts that are lacking in self preservation instincts.
While I’m not going to pretend that the campaign is particularly mind-blowing from the gameplay perspective, it does manage to contain multiple memorable set pieces and is well-paced to the point that I would consider CoD: Modern Warfare 2 worth playing through for the campaign alone. The game has a nice selection of weapons and locales to fight through, while the difficulty curve is fairly balanced and most deaths are due to the player attempting to live out their Rambo fantasies. Even if there are a few niggles such as the enemy having the same AI regardless of whether they’re Brazilian gangsters or elite Russian spetsnaz, or the fact that your AI companions are slightly dumb and have a nasty habit of letting you get flanked, the game is able to keep the pace up without over-stimulating the player by having constant huge battles. You’ll be sneaking around, getting in gunfights, calling in air-strikes and breaching rooms with just enough variety that the game fails to get old across it’s 18 campaign missions. As for the plot, it’s likewise surprisingly enjoyable and engaging if a little Tom Clancy-esque as the game has a pretty big twist near the end in which it turns out the embittered Sheppard might not be the war hero you thought he was. This leads to a genuinely fun series of missions in which you need to go rogue and deal with him, before he can finish you off. While the supporting cast doesn’t have a huge amount of depth, the various characters are able to be convincing (if one-note) and you’ll most likely enjoy playing through the whole thing from beginning to end. The game even does a decent job of making the Russians not appear to be evil and while the Americans are depicted as the good guys, there’s a sliver of moral murkiness to the plot. Storyline aside, it’s also worth noting that the Modern Warfare 2 campaign features around 3 collectibles (“pieces of intelligence”) per level that are pretty well hidden throughout each level to encourage replayability. Plus there are the obligatory 4 difficulty settings and the associated achievements, for those who are seeking to 100% CoD: Modern Warfare 2.
No more spoilers from here 🙂
Overall the campaign is an enjoyable if bombastic experience with multiple fake-outs, a decent amount of variety and a relatively simple but captivating narrative. Once you’ve beaten it, CoD: Modern Warfare 2 then pushes you to try out the Spec Ops mode which contains a meaty selection of 23 missions. As noted previously, these missions give you a ranking from one to three stars with quicker performances being required to hit the three star rating. Doing this will take a decent amount of time, certainly more time than the campaign and most of the missions themselves are fun with a nice balance between difficulty and approachable-ness. Essentially almost every mission mission re-uses assets from the campaign and gives you a simple (in theory) objective that needs to be completed within a certain amount of time. While the initial missions aren’t too hard, reaching 3 stars especially on the later missions will definitely provide a challenge even for experienced players. Again as mentioned earlier, (almost) all of these missions can be completed in single player or with a friend (should you have one) which changes how many enemies you’ll have to deal with. Should your buddy go down, you’ll need to revive them or you’ll both fail the mission, which can lead to some… heated discussions on strategy. For those preferring the sanctity of the single player experience (or who don’t have friends), you’ll find that unfortunately two of the missions don’t let you play them without another player present. Gung-ho console players can bypass this by setting up a second controller and leaving it idle, but on PC there’s no such luck. Fortunately this mode provides enough variety that it’s hard to complain, but it’s somewhere to be aware of for the completionist. The missions themselves range from completing the initial firing range from the tutorial in a certain amount of time all the way through to dealing with 15 juggernaut enemies (big, fat bois with heavy armour and machine guns) on an oil rig. Along the way you’ll race to defuse bombs against a strict time limit, hold out against waves of enemies and rush to destroy as many enemy vehicles as possible. Much like the campaign this mode is varied and contains a good mix of gameplay styles.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, CoD:MW2 also contains a multiplayer mode which offers support for local and online play against other players and bots. For better or for worse this mode is exceedingly similar to CoD:MW1, albeit with a few changes that mainly take the form of expanding on ideas from the previous game. It goes without saying that this mode has the same class based system, albeit players now have more control over each class and are able to save up to 5 custom classes that can be used at any time. The main changes are an overhaul of the secondary weapon slot (which now contains shotguns, machine-pistols and launchers alongside handguns) and a tweaked equipment slot which now provides claymores, throwing knives and Semtex alongside the hitherto ubiquitous grenades. The MP mode in MW2 also contains a whole new assortment of maps to play on, with more being available as DLC (ugh) and two revisions to the killstreak system. Firstly killstreaks can now be customised to a greater extent and unlocking higher-tier killstreaks no longer removes previously obtained but unused lower-tier killstreaks. Secondly players can now take advantage of deathstreaks, which are basically the opposite of killstreaks. If you die enough times without getting a kill, these will automatically be activated on your next spawn and provide some modest bonuses – such as the ability to withstand x3 more damage for 10 seconds on respawning or by dropping a grenade from your body when you die. There are also some changes to the way that perks work, as now you can level up these perks multiple times and doing so will ultimately unlock “pro” versions of these perks which give additional benefits. In addition, weapon add-ons have the same system and as a result unlocking everything within the create-a-class system will take a significant amount of matches and time. Aside from these tweaks the MW2 MP mode is largely the same as it was in MW1, albeit with some new team skins that are appropriate for the new maps and of course new emblems to customise your name-tag. This means that there really isn’t much to talk about here, even if this mode is arguably where the real meat of the game lies. All I’ll say from a personal perspective is that while the MP experience never did a huge amount for me, it can be enjoyable and frankly in the grim dystopia of 2023 I’ll take any local MP game I can get for when I want to do some gaming with friends who are in the same building.
In conclusion CoD:MW2 is a game with plenty of content and a lot to offer for players, albeit with the caveat that a lot of this content is only going to be of interest to those who are already enjoying the game. Admittedly that sentence does sound silly, but my point is that the depth of Spec Ops comes from aiming for the 3 star ratings, while the MP experience is repetitive and will unlocking everything while time-consuming will only be of interest for those who are already enthralled by it. For more casual players, a quick run through of the campaign and the Spec Ops missions won’t require a particularly large time investment and should you not care much for the MP, then your time spent on this game will probably be around 15 hours. Players who are willing to keep playing the game to unlock the additional content however can easily spend a vastly greater amount of time playing it while still experiencing additional content. As for me, someone on the more casual side of the equation, I can safely say that both the campaign and spec ops mode offered plenty of enjoyment and as a consequence I would be happy to recommend this game to most people. While the broader industry impact of this game is frankly negative, the campaign itself is thoroughly enjoyable and features plenty of memorable moments, whilst the spec ops mode offers a great co-op experience that can be enjoyed by most people. As for the multiplayer mode, whilst it is very similar to CoD:MW1 I don’t consider that to be a particularly grievous sleight, and the tweaks it made to this mode were largely for the better. Therefore to those of you who see this game sitting cheap somewhere, my suggestion would be to give it a shot.
