Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 2 is a massive game that has built a following as big as even the Halo franchise, and there is a lot of reasons why. First thing to go over is the singleplayer campaign. There is 18 missions in the game which is much more than the first Modern Warfare. Although this leads to some missions being a little short. One mission near the end actually took me like 5 minutes to finish. That in many ways can be ignored due to the great story, and brilliant visuals. There is also a lot of cool new addictions to the campaign also. Now there is times where you will drive a vehicle, and these moments produce some of the most adrenalin rushing moments in the game. The story telling for this game is much larger than the first game. While the first game had a huge HOLY SH*T with the nuke this game has several of these OH MY GOD moments. The plot twists are not seen coming, and they are very effective. Although there is some weak character development at times. In the first game you became attached to the characters, and hoped that they would be alive by the time the credits rolled. Here you don't get attached to characters as much as you did the first game. Then there is the thing we all know about. This game is simply gorgeous in the visual department. There is huge epic moments that will amaze you, and little things like an enemy not dead yet with his blood smearing on the ground he is crawling on that just show the expert crafting of this game. So that's the singleplayer, but we all know what we are here for. We want the multiplayer. To calls movie as addicting as coke and heroine combined is an understatement. There is and endless amount of hours than can be spilled into this game playing just Team Deathmatches alone. There is a great upgrade system. You can unlock different attachments and camouflage to your guns, unlock other guns, upgrade and unlock different perks, unlock different kill streak awards, unlock titles, unlock emblems, there is so much more than just leveling up when it comes to this game. Also I love kill streak awards here. You can get UAVs, care packages, predator missiles, even a nuke. You will spend hours playing this game, and you will only stop when you get the next Call of Duty game.

This morning, my heart stopped. My mum walked in to my room while I was laying in bed, and brought out a game from behind her back. Guess what arrived three days early? Yes, I have already completed the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it is phenomenal. The amount of action, guns and gore will keep you satisfied. Every level is as good as the next, with settings from airports to Afghanistan. OK, there is one controversial level that you have probably already heard of, but you have the opportunity to skip it - I wouldn't, because it plays a vital part in the storyline. Just try and stomach the bloodshed.

Talking of gore, the amount of it has been notched up from its predecessor. Blood splatters over your HUD when shot, and a large puddle of blood spreads under your dead enemies, depending on where you shot/stabbed them. It is extremely realistic - hence the UK's 18 rating.

I won't give away much about the ending - all I will say is there is a huge twist, a boat and a throwing knife.

I am amazed at the quality of this fantastic CoD - it will keep the rest of this year filled. A definite 10 out of 10.

Modern Warfare 2.....Where to begin? If you have played and enjoyed CoD4, then no doubt you have been anticipating this game as much as I have. Having received my copy today, I immediately installed it to my xbox and got stuck in to the campaign.

First things first: This is as well scripted and as wonderfully acted as the first Modern Warfare. The characterisations and the feeling of immersion are at a level far beyond most video games, and you will feel the gut-punching twist's in plot as if it were you in the game.

The adult nature of the story-telling is also amplified in the story, and you are given the choice of experiencing it as IW intended, or if you'd rather not risk offending yourself. Take my advice, and play EVERY level. Yes there are some very disturbing moments, and you may well be profoundly shocked (as I was) by one mission in particular. But IW are masters of plot, character and emotional involvement, and you must ride the highs and lows to fully appreciate the achievement of Modern Warfare 2.

It is a masterpiece of level design, and will frustrate and amaze in equal measure. The sheer spectacle that is delivered by this game is beyond words. More times than I can count, butterflies fluttered in my stomach, and my mouth grew dry in anticipation of what was about to happen....and I was never left wanting. From remote piloting a UAV, jumping chasm's on a snowmobile, using heartbeat detectors in blizzards to find your pursuers, and using amazingly realised military hardware.

Without question, IW are the masters of military FPS's, and this shows how far ahead of the competition they currently are. Adult game-making comes no better, be in no doubt.

We gamers trend to be a conservative bunch. The most popular games tend to be sequels to already established series like Grand Theft Auto, Pro Evolution Soccer, Uncharted 2, the Football Manager series, the Total War series etc... One of the most popular is the Call of Duty series. Call of Duty games were often set in the Second World War, but the series found great critical and commercial success with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare set in the near future. A sequel was inevitable and it has become the fastest selling game in history.

Set 5 years after the previous game the Ultra-Nationalists have taken control of Russia and Zakhaev had been made into a national hero. General Shepherd (Lance Henriksen) forms a new counter-terrorism force, including "Soap" MacTavish (Kevin McKidd), the playable character in the previous game. Early on in the game Russian terrorists attack an airport in Russia, and kill a CIA undercover agent to frame America for it. This gives Russia international sympathy and they invade the East Coast of America. Shepherd and his team have to stop the Russian before the war goes nuclear and the action takes the player to Brazil, Russia and Afghanstan. As well you end up fighting on the frontline in the war against Russia as Private Ramirez in the US Rangers.

The plot is entertaining enough. But what makes games great is whether they are playable, and this one is. The controls are simple and the game itself is more playable then it's predecessor. It is highly addictive to and very enjoy. It is sadly a little short but you could always raise the difficulty level. It is simple fun playing soldier.

There was controversy with one of the games missions set in a Russia airport where it you play the CIA operative undercover with a Russian terrorist group. You have to help kill innocent people, which the controversial nature of the mission. I can understand the victim of terrorism concerns, but I don't mind violence in computer games. The same agreements were used against violence films, but I'm of the view that if someone is influence to commit a violence act because of something in the media then they were not right in the head in the first place.

Overall, very enjoyable for die-hard gamers.

So like millions others I have been playing this game over the last few weeks, having played COD4 for many years. I was very excited to get this game and I'll deal with it bit by bit. The solo game came first for me. It looks great, plays great and the only real fault it has is how big the story is. By bringing in an invasion of the US that seems to happen rapidly and in force it does get quite overblown at times and indeed the levels that you play in suburban America, while cool in a novelty way, are probably the ones that work least in a narrative sense – even if it does give you the "wow" moment where you exit a bunker on one level to find you are below Washington and it is burning! Speaking of "wow" moments the game does have plenty of epic battles that feel massive but don't lose your character amongst hundreds others like what happened in COD5. Also the narrative twists and turns are engaging and even once made the hairs on my arms stand up as I got chills! OK it is short if you get good at it and I can understand why those who buy it for this story alone will be annoyed with that, but I was happy with it and loved the majority of the levels.

The co-op missions are a good addition. The ability to play most of them solo helps but the online link-up is very welcome and makes them a lot more fun and manageable. I have not yet done them all yet but I still enjoy going back and doing some that I find easier for the fun of it. Of course the main selling point of the game is the hope that Infinity Ward can repeat their winning formula for the multiplayer. This is where, unfortunately, I have my reservations across several aspects. On the plus side, the perks, weapons and classes are all good – OK some weapons are useless while some are a bit too strong but mostly I like them, while the perks and weapon add-ons allow you to tailor your class to suit your play really well. Sadly this is not the same with the maps, which are mostly weak.

Ignore the fact that some game modes will never give you many maps, the problem I have is the style of play that the maps support. On COD4 the maps mostly allowed for a range of styles, from the still and silent "long-range" player to the runner-gunner. Some maps favoured one over the other a bit but generally the balance was there. On MW2 the balance is overwhelmingly on those who prefer to stay in one or two places, watching and waiting. This is true of almost all the maps and, as a domination player, it is quite frustrating to play against a team happy to let you take the flags (and the win) in exchange for kills. Price said "watch your corners" and in COD4 it was good advice but on MW2 there are simply too many corners on every corner – moving in any given area requires you to check the rock, the three windows, two doorways, the top of the truck and the 3 rooftops; simply put there are too many places to be aware of which is why most players do the waiting game – which I sort of understand when the win is based on kills (death match) but not when it needs you to move (capture the flag, sabotage, HQ, domination etc etc). There are just too many places for people to be in every single corner or area and it means that only once or twice have I enjoyed the frantic, intense battles that used to be commonplace in COD4. Given that on COD4 the majority of people love shipment (small, frantic map) and hate creek (big open map), I'm not sure why MW2 has tended more towards the bigger, more open map.

I support making martyrdom a death perk rather than something to be used on every death, and I know people moan about grenades in COD4, but here they are useless – which makes it even harder to get people out of rooms once they are embedded in there. I guess IW did this to remove the frustration effect associated with explosives but then why did they introduce so many things falling from the sky. I find the AC130 and the many different air strikes and helicopters to be a lot more frustrating and harder to deal with that remembering to stay back from a kill in case he has martyrdom! The Tactical Nuke may be a cool nod to PC modders but to lose domination because of someone staying in a room when you have had all three flags for the majority of the game is cheap and unappreciated – it rewards campers who ignore the flags for kills and punishes those who move around the map taking flags for the win.

It is all still a very good game across the board but I'll be honest and say that, while COD4 ate my free time for years, MW2 is already something I'll do for an hour before easily putting it down and within two weeks I was starting to mix it in with frequent returns to COD4 multiplayer. Love the new game but some of the changes and new things have made it a lot less fun to play than the total COD4 experience.