Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the only dissenting Review on the internet…

Why am I going there now? Am I capable of that? Is that serious? It is not serious at all. It's simply a fantasy to amuse myself; a plaything! Yes, maybe it is a plaything.

–Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the fourth installment by the developers Infinity Ward, arrived to the biggest videogame release of the year.  There needs no introduction, MW2 is the most hyped, advertised and anticipated title since Grand Theft Auto 4.  A gamers' game.  In retrospect, Modern Warfare was the watershed moment for console first person shooters.  Modern Warfare's story mode was universally praised as a proper fictional story to go with Infinity Ward's style; it would be their first game out of the World War 2 genre.  Instead of sticking to the tried and true formula of mimicking historical battles, Infinity Ward creates a fictionalize war setting with a solid story as its backbone.  Inspired by modern war movies, especially Black Hawk Down, Modern Warfare's single player story is as action packed as any Hollywood war movie.  What made Modern Warfare be the best pound per pound first person shooter, the visuals, settings, scripted battles, and an extensive multiplayer component, that out shined other shooters 2007. One of the outstanding set levels took place in a eagle eye view of a gunner based on a AC-130 gunship.  Another favorable moment took place as the credits began to roll, where the President Yasir Al-Fulani of an un-named Middle Eastern country is executed publicly.  These moments, may be considered to be watershed moments of gaming in 2007, definitely water cooler or locker room talk, and leaving a powerful imagery of how modern warfare or war after World War 2 is conducted.  Modern Warfare 2 has none of these moments.

 

Lackluster beginning

The training level seemed unique, after a few runs I hit the 40 second mark, felt more like Collin Farrel in SWAT than Sgt Brad 'Iceman' Colbert in Generation Kill.  Why have a training level especially when there was no need for one. There was not a change of the user interface, the layout was the same as all previous console Call of Duties. So why bother having one. Before we get to the training session, which I repeated with multiple runs, there was the poor Sam Raimi Spiderman 2 introduction that Infinity Ward needs to be ashamed off. Yes, it was a difficult task to top the introduction or title sequence of Modern Warfare, but the disorganized collage of past events was piss poor. All ending in a lackluster bombshell, of the Green Goblin being the hero, oh wait, it was the Russian villain who you kill at the end of MW being hailed as a hero who died of combat, and is shown by placing a bronze war horse statue in the Red Square.

 

Let not a complicated truth becomes a simple lie.

Back to CoD WAW intro was more intense, using historical footage with real life accounts of the Battle of Iwo Jima or one of the first islands landed by the Marines.  I need to brush up on my American War history.  I played chapters 2 and 3 of MW 2, I am feeling very underwhelmed.  The Ranger mission in Afghanistan was very lackluster; HBO's Generation Kill did a much better job portraying battle sequences in shown in the Danger Close mission.  Heck, the only reason I know the term Danger Close is from Generation Kill, calling a bombing run where friendly troops are nearby.  Maybe I am spoiled by watching Generation Kill, but my overall feeling of the video game is a snore.  

 

War has disgusting faces, we learn from the past, so history does not repeat itself

The infamous, No Russian level did leave an impact on gamers alike.  A reenactment of a very, very cowardly war act was effective.  I did not start to shoot until it was very necessary to move forward.  The twist at the end was not as surprising as the nuclear blast in MW 1, proceeding being blown by a nuclear blast.  It just seems Infinity Ward put its best effort in MW and MW 2 cannot surpass it.  At the moment, I would suggest on playing MW 1 instead of MW 2 if one had to purchase between the two.  

 

Gone are the days of commandeering a tank as in Call of Duty 2.  

Gone is the silence of being a gunner of AC130.  

Gone are the in-game cut-scenes.  

MW2 never visits the usage of chemical warfare in the Middle East against American troops. 

Never is there a moment to recollect one thought between missions.  

Never explained why a Brazilian favela is the new Mogadishu.  

Would of been nice, if I played the role as the torturer instead of a genocidal terrorist.  

Would of been nice, to play the role as a DC Senator running to a bomb shelter when the Russians arrived.  

There is a home front in modern warfare right? 

We do not see any type of home front in the eyes of the civilians, only from the soldiers' view.  We only see the terrorist act in the eyes of the monster, and as effective it may be, there seems to be a gap of story left out.  

There is no big leap between MW 1 and MW 2 as there was between COD 2 and MW 1. 

One of critically received moments in Modern Warfare was how the story unfolded in the course of the game.  Use different techniques of cut-scenes and mission briefings, topped with an awesome slo-mo firefight, Modern Warfare was the it game of 2007.  In 2009, stellar first person and third person titles fill the time between then, 2007 and now.  Killzone 2, Halo 3, Resistance, Call of Duty World at War, Metal Gear Solid 4, Half Life 2: Episode 2, Halo 3: ODST, Gears of War 2, Crysis and Crysis Warhead.  With each title mention, there is a unique experience tagged to the said game.  Half Life 2's story, Crysis' environments, and World at War's varied missions, whereas Call of Duty MW2 may just be remembered for its sheer selling power and its tired gameplay.  

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. 

Vladimir Nabokov