Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
MSRP $69.99
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II doesn’t quite live up to the heights set by the game it reboots, but it’s still great for those just looking for some fun online shootouts.”
Pros
Gorgeous visuals
Strong multiplayer general
Fun new modes
Neat third-person mode
Cons
Uneven marketing campaign
Poor UI
A number of dud maps
Based on its identify alone, the rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had an exceptionally excessive bar to clear when it launched in 2019. While it could not have had the identical influence on the business as the unique did practically 20 years in the past, it not less than capitalized on a effectively of nostalgia and embraced the franchise’s roots once more in a means that gave me hope for the long run.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, by comparability, is a extra blended bag, with its two main elements very a lot at odds with one another. Its soulless marketing campaign feels acquainted with out ever being half as memorable because the video games it’s making an attempt to copy, however its multiplayer is usually profitable at bringing all the normal thrills alongside a few cool tips up its sleeve. Whether it’s definitely worth the asking worth comes all the way down to what you’re hoping to get out of a Call of Duty recreation.
Tedious marketing campaign
While they hardly ever try to be excessive artwork, I’ve been totally engrossed within the narratives in most of Call of Duty’s latest campaigns. Vanguard from 2020 advised an affecting story of a ragtag group of troopers who mirrored on their particular person pasts as they underwent Nazi interrogations throughout World War II, and 2019’s Modern Warfare did a good job of analyzing morality and the long-term results of warfare. It’s fairly unhappy, then, that Modern Warfare II‘s campaign doesn’t function a lot past a bombardment of army jargon, characters with superficial motives, and a complete lot of nothing to say.
Picking up a number of years after the primary recreation, Modern Warfare II as soon as once more brings again beloved sequence mainstays like Captain Price, Simon “Ghost” Riley, and John “Soap” MacTavish, who discover themselves entangled with a number of teams of mates and foes as they try to trace a terrorist who has stolen American-made missiles. The manufacturing values and performing are exceptional throughout the board, however with so many characters from numerous factions crammed right into a shallow five-hour marketing campaign, we’re by no means supplied with sufficient time with any certainly one of them to care about the place they’ve ended up when the credit roll.
I simply want the marketing campaign had been as a lot enjoyable to play because it was to have a look at.
While I didn’t care a lot concerning the occasions occurring throughout the in any other case uninteresting cutscenes, I used to be immensely impressed by the sheer high quality of the visuals that accompanied them. The previous couple of video games have been graphical showcases themselves, however Modern Warfare II is in a league of its personal, packing among the most sensible environments and character fashions I’ve ever seen in a online game. Even higher, that largely carries over into the missions as effectively. I used to be usually in awe of the sport’s staggering consideration to element — a lot so {that a} brief section tasking me with participating in a little bit of misdirection within the streets of Amsterdam was so visually fascinating that I spent extra time sightseeing than I did really finishing the mission.
I simply want the marketing campaign had been as a lot enjoyable to play because it was to have a look at. There are standout moments, corresponding to a tense part that had me quickly escaping enemy troopers down the facet of a mountain, and compelled me to cease at sure intervals to face my floor and push them again. There’s the acquainted sniping mission right here too, and it encourages extra creativity than normal by giving gamers the choice to maneuver round a big space to reposition for good pictures. But for each certainly one of these thoughtfully designed operations, there are three that merely fail to measure as much as related sequences from earlier video games.
While a lot of the missions are merely forgettable however inoffensive affairs, there are downright dreadful chunks of the sport with underdeveloped concepts that deliver the entire journey down considerably. One asks gamers to leap from car to car throughout a prolonged chase, and as a result of janky means of climbing up and leaping over, solely the luckiest of oldsters are more likely to full it with out not less than a number of pointless deaths. Another needlessly protracted mission compelled me to outlive injured and unarmed by discovering supplies to craft instruments that can be utilized to interrupt via locked doorways or distract and kill troopers. That ought to’ve made for an thrilling slice of stealth-based enjoyable. Instead, the sluggish motion attributable to my character’s damage coupled with the bare-bones crafting mechanics produces little greater than a cumbersome half-hour of wasted potential in a marketing campaign that already feels prefer it, too, is limping towards its finale.
Fun however uneven multiplayer
Many multiplayer followers contemplate the second entry of the unique Modern Warfare trilogy to rank among the many best first-person shooters of all time, because of its stellar maps, easy however efficient loadout system, and the introduction of a number of customization choices which have develop into the norm in each recreation since. This new tackle Modern Warfare II doesn’t reinvigorate the franchise in that very same means, however even with a number of blemishes, it nonetheless makes a strong case for being a part of your multiplayer rotation.
There are a scattering of latest concepts added to the combo this yr, corresponding to the flexibility to hold from ledges — helpful for some sneaky pistol kills — and a reworked perk system. The latter introduces perk packages rather than particular person perk choice, so that you begin with two and unlock two extra at usually timed intervals all through a match or by getting kills and assists. It looks as if a very pointless change, however I’ve been too irritated by the terrible mobile-like UI to essentially even care a lot about making in-depth modifications to my loadouts in any case. Cluttered pages of large, bubbly buttons make all the expertise so user-unfriendly that even inviting mates to a foyer may be an exhausting course of, not to mention making an attempt to determine a lot else.
Modern Warfare II‘s maps are a notable step up in high quality over the previous couple of installments …
Once you handle to get right into a match, although, issues fare a lot better. Freshly added modes Knockout and Prisoner Rescue are nice, although I’ve constantly most well-liked the latter, which pits two groups in opposition to one another to both rescue or defend a prisoner. You can’t respawn when dying in a spherical in both of the 2 new modes, however any dwelling teammate can discover your collapsed physique and resurrect you on the similar place you have been gunned down, which might result in some extraordinary comebacks. Nothing is sort of as thrilling as being the final man standing in opposition to a full crew and sneaking round reviving teammates till you’ve rebuilt a crew to push again and pull off a wonderful victory.
It helps that lots of Modern Warfare II‘s maps are a notable step up in quality over the last few installments, with interesting locations across Mexico and the Middle East that are both visually appealing and satisfying to learn. The best of these seem to understand that Call of Duty has, at its heart, always functioned best as a run-and-gun shooter. Farm 18, Embassy, and Mercado Las Almas are great examples of this design philosophy, providing more traditional layouts that give you plenty of opportunities for close-quarters showdowns. The game’s potent number of assault rifles and SMGs work splendidly right here, and even shotgun fanatics could make fast work of enemy groups by sticking to the tighter corridors and interiors.
It’s unlucky that the maps that miss the mark are inclined to miss it by miles, such because the desert battlefield present in Taraq, which is stuffed with leveled buildings and wide-open areas with no clear circulate in any respect and spawn factors that depart you instantly weak. Elsewhere, Santa Sena Border Crossing could very effectively be the worst map in franchise historical past, putting you in what’s successfully a single lane stuffed with dozens of crashed autos that facilitates the worst type of tenting. Playing on both of those is so aggressively disagreeable that it might probably sap the enjoyment out of a foyer of friends in a heartbeat.
It’s value noting that, whereas it’s not as pervasive as in the previous couple of video games, even among the finest maps nonetheless pack extreme entry factors and litter that lend a sense of blind luck to some deaths. Interior mazes filled with doorways, home windows, and different openings can yield too many sightlines to maintain up with, so with out eyes behind your head, opponents incessantly have a possibility to select you off from an angle you may’t moderately account for at any given second. Of course, how a lot influence this has in your enjoyment relies upon solely on whether or not you’re searching for a laid-back or aggressive expertise. I’m constructive that loads of map learning and spawn information would assist alleviate not less than a few of this frustration for these competing at increased ranges than this getting old informal participant.
Fresh perspective
Perhaps probably the most intriguing addition to Modern Warfare II is the third-person mode. As somebody who has gravitated towards different third-person video games like Fortnite and Rogue Company lately, this new mode has been straightforward to select up, and I dig the totally different sort of technique it brings. Having an expanded view of my environment — significantly the flexibility to see round corners earlier than working into the fray — implies that I die much less from individuals hunkered down peeking over cowl, as an illustration. But on the flip facet, this angle additionally breeds a distinct type of camper who performs passively down corridors as you run of their route after which instantly weapons you down attributable to their capability to see you earlier than you see them.
My good friend group and I began third-person mode with excessive hopes of it changing into our go-to, however inside a few days, we had principally switched to the traditional playlists once more. This is partially as a result of prevalence of the aforementioned nook tenting alongside the truth that the sport doesn’t really feel inherently designed across the mode typically — as a result of it’s not. More importantly, enjoying in third-person is just obtainable through a mosh pit, that means it rotates via three modes at random, any certainly one of which you will or is probably not within the temper to play on the time. I’d want to see future iterations embrace the mode totally and provides gamers the liberty to have interaction with it how we see match. Even so, it’s a very cool diversion and one which I’m more likely to revisit on and off all through the following yr.
Modern Warfare II‘s final offering is the inclusion of three cooperative Spec Ops missions that allow two friends to link up and complete objectives in larger, more open-ended maps in an effort to earn a total of three stars on each. This trio of assignments doesn’t actually add something substantial to the bundle and shouldn’t be seen as a major promoting level for these searching for cooperative choices, however in case you’re simply wanting a easy time taking pictures baddies with a pal, you might do worse.
To be truthful, “you could do worse” appears like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II‘s vibe as a whole. It’s a reasonably pleasant method to spend your time, however nobody’s shopping for a Call of Duty recreation to see one thing they haven’t seen earlier than, in any case.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was reviewed on PlayStation 5.
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