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The Call of Duty franchise has always been loved for producing top quality FPS games, and the standards were set even higher with Call of Duty 4. Infinity Ward and Activision are at it again with Modern Warfare 2, and I must say it’s quite possibly the best FPS I have ever played.
I must admit that I expected Modern Warfare 2 to be like World At War—a rehash of everything that made COD4 good, thrown together in the hopes that it would sell. Thankfully, Infinity Ward did the complete opposite of this and made one kick ass game. In the main menu, there are three separate options: the single player campaign, spec ops, and of course the award winning online multiplayer. Each mode seems like it was created by a different studio, as they could all be passed off as full games in their own right—you’re basically getting three different games jam packed into one disc.
I was extremely impressed with what Infinity Ward did with the campaign. The story takes place in the middle of combat, leading up to America being attacked by the Russians. The build up and scripting are both done extremely well. One thing that I absolutely love about Call of Duty is that, unlike in other games, you’re actually playing the story. The developers never rip you out of the game to show you the plot.
The game's writing has been masterfully crafted; some things are bit out there, with super dramatic sequences that push the boundaries of believability, but Infinity Ward ties it together well in the end. One thing I didn’t like is that they tried a little too hard to recreate the dramatic sequences which made COD4 good. As many of you know, the last scene in COD4 goes into slow motion and provides an epic end to the fight—in MW2, Infinity Ward uses this trick in almost every level, and it just gets repetitive.
The storyline itself actually has quite a few surprises in it. Of course, as many may already know, Modern Warfare 2 is the first COD to be a direct sequel and not a whole new story. So with that in mind, fans of COD4 will be really impressed with some of the scripted events in this game. Infinity Ward does a great job of building to a climax and blowing you away at every turn—I just wish every game was this exciting.
Of course, this leads me to the much talked about terrorist level. To say this level is great would be an understatement—it is among the best I have ever played. Your mission, which is to see what the Russians are up to, manages to provoke emotions and put you in the shoes of your character. It's not only an extremely well done story element, but it’s a huge step for the gaming industry to be taken more seriously.
Unfortunately, there are some problems in the game. The civilians are basically the same three or four renders over and over again, performing similar animations and wearing the same basic colors with poor poly counts. Some of the textures throughout the game are quite bland as well. For example, people attacked Resistance for a lack of 3D textures, and the same problem can be found here. However, the developers clearly spent a lot of time modeling the soldiers—each one is detailed in absolutely every aspect, from the animations to the textures. So why couldn't this same effort be given to the environments?
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