Modern Warfare 2 – Review

Forget the Paragon and Renegade Bioware model, throw out Peter Molyneux’s reactionary NPCs in the world of Albion; with one early section in Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward has redefined the issue of morality in videogaming.

The quality of design is without question; it’s a set-piece that culls everything the developer does best – from rollercoaster action beat to lavish environmental presentation. The issue, and it’s a fairly big one; is whether you’ll want to continue afterwards.

Without going into specifics, this particular set-up will ask you to do something fairly common to videogames, but within a context and political setting that provide significant emotional gravitas. On one hand, it could be argued as entirely reprehensible – not to mention controversy-baiting – to include such imagery in interactive form; and on the other, it’s thought-provoking enough to at least open discussion into the merits of depiction.

You don’t have to participate, but you do have to watch – provided you choose not to heed IW’s pre-game warnings and option to skip the level entirely; and it’s perhaps this openness in interpretation and expression that ultimately causes the problem. If the developer was trying to make a political statement by forcing your hand then more power to them, but MW2’s brain-dead 24-inspired action movie plot undercuts any such sentiment – particularly as the narrative gravitates towards a schizophrenic and fantastical ending.

All of which is a shame, because outside of that scene, Modern Warfare 2 is a supremely crafted evolution of a very familiar formula. The checklist of Call of Duty moments is largely adhered to: tank-following, rail shooting, guided sniping, destroying anti-aircraft guns, detached news-footage aerial bombardments; it’s all there and all as you remember – but delivered with a confidence and panache that surpasses even the genre-defining original.

New additions – such as the surprisingly well-handled vehicle sections and scarcely-plausible weaponry upgrades – are integrated into the action with barely a pause to question their authenticity; which is probably for the best. Favourites include a heart-rate monitor that allows you to creep up blind on enemies hidden in snow, sand or smoke; and several climbing sections that’ll leave you gripping the triggers as if you life depended on it.

On a more practical note, respawning enemies have finally been disguised to the point where they no longer matter. They do pop up on occasion, but usually for a short period before a tank or other object of destruction advances the cause in your favour – and about bloody time too.

Rainbow Six-style breach and clear mechanics compliment the few stealth-based operations, and a special mention has to be reserved for the revamped motion capture, which lends a plausibility and physicality to the action that verges on the uncomfortable. Soldiers and bystanders react to incoming rounds with consistency and believability, and the veil of the uncanny valley is rarely lifted by clipping or any other common graphical pitfall.

At least that’s the way my brain has interpreted it, as moments of reflection are tough to find amidst the constant chaos of the campaign mode. More so than any other Call of Duty, MW2 revels in a breakneck pace; entire levels and scenarios zip past without a moment to concentrate on your own muzzle flash, let alone those spectacularly crafted backdrops rendering at a crisp and constant 60fps. It’s a wise design decision, utilised to hide a lack of interactivity and destructibility that comes as the ultimate cost for visual opulence.

Not that blowing apart the scenery under your own guidance matters that much when Infinity Ward is content to do it for you at every turn. Scripted events litter the conservative 6-7 hour running time, most of which eclipse anything the developer has produced previously; which ultimately makes them some of the most memorable scenes in any videogame to date. The previously-mentioned outlandish plot and willingness to get silly lends a sense of endearment to many of these moments, but begs the question as to where they can take the series next. Perhaps that rumoured shift into Sci-Fi territory will happen after all?

Wherever the series ends up, it’d be a stupid man that bets on the even-numbered instalments being anything but a spectacular success. Treyarch may be improving as off-year custodians, but make no mistake, this is Infinity Ward’s baby. And for all the questionable morals of those early sequences, we’re much better off playing games that make you think; rather than scream in frustration. I urge you to do the same and draw your own conclusions.

This review concerns campaign mode only, we’ll have a seperate write-up on multiplayer after launch