Saying “If you like Call of Duty 4, then you’ll love Modern Warfare 2” is a little redundant. In fact saying anything about Modern Warfare 2 is fairly redundant seeing as it is probably the most talked about game at the moment. Rather than jump on the bandwagon of a straight review, I’ll talk more about the specifics, if you want a more general review then head over to somewhere like Gamespot where people are paid to spend hours glued to the screen.
First up I’d like to talk about Special Ops. Special Ops adds a whole new dimension to the game. If there was anything wrong with Call of Duty 4 then it would have to be the unbelievably short campaign, and Modern Warfare 2 continues this trend. That said, the campaign is anything but bad. I would guess that the reason for the length would be the amount of time they took up paying attention to each detail because just like CoD4, each level is brilliantly crafted and designed to be immersive. The voice acting is great, the dialogue isn’t cheesy, the story is engaging and it retains that filmlike quality. But it eventually ends, which is where Special Ops comes in. Whilst Special Ops was considered more an extra, I see it as where the game really is. Special Ops contains a load of extra missions for you to complete on your own or with a friend and it really adds to the replayability factor of the game, making it less of a game played only for its multiplayer value.
Within Special Ops there are a variety of game modes. One of which stretches the whole FPS genre slightly with a race. Racing snowmobiles to be exact, which is a lot more fun than it sounds. It is by no means a polished competitor to specialised racing games, rather it is a simple matter of accelerate, brake and reverse. It is more akin to go-kart racing that racing racing. Which in my opinion where the fun really is. Other modes involve the simple task of releasing that murderer we all have within us and just killing wave after wave of enemies. Or sneaking past enemy lines without being detected. And of course the dreaded escort missions. Why any developer thinks escort missions are a good idea is completely beyond me, they are freaking irritating.
As for general gameplay, several tweaks have been made to the overall feel of combat. A graphically realistic yet irritating and scientifically unsound watered down blood effect is used when hurt, replacing the old red around the sides look of CoD4 and 5. As Sandmonkey said at the time “Why would you have blood on your eyes?”, a good question, and why does it fade? Personally, I find it very annoying as it distorts your field of view, which makes it very difficult when surrounded on a hard level when your vision is constantly blurred. On a good note, Last Stand has been replaced with Final Stand, which varies from gametype to gametype. In Co-op, you first collapse and you are given a pistol to shoot bad guys whilst crawling around. This lasts until you’re shot again, at which time you lose the pistol and you crawl around very slowly waiting to be revived by your partner. You cannot die in Special Ops unless both participants are in final stand or the one in final stand is left for two minutes to bleed on the ground. In head-to-head game types final stand involves collapsing and crawling as usual, but you can use your primary weapon to fend off attackers, albeit with very slow aiming. If you survive in this state for a certain amount of time, you just get back up and resume fighting rather than dying. I think this is a good upgrade. The addition of crawling and the use of a weapon other than a pistol that you probably didn’t have two seconds ago actually makes the last stand make more sense, at least to me anyway.
If you have a (real) console or a PC then you would be stupid to buy another game over this one. If you are a PC user you should know about the lack of dedicated servers which means you will be the victims of some really really painful connections. Oh and you’re capped at 8 vs 8, which is nice. But still, the rest makes it worth it.
Renegade
I hope you already know what E3 is, if you don’t then: Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is a huge convention that where developers can showcase products and services for the computer and video games industry. And this is a top 12 list (It was going to be a top 10 but then I remembered 2 extra games). But not of what has been at E3, I’ll make another list of my top ten after E3 when I’m sure there will be plenty of unexpected announcements. This list only consists of games because that is generally what E3 is about. The list goes from 10 to 1, with 1 being the game I am most anticipating at E3.
12. Infamous
This is only 12th on my list because I don’t have a PS3, If I did have a PS3 however it would be up at number 3 or 4. Although this does not excuse it for looking like an awesome game where you get to burn babies with lightning. Oh wait, what
11. Dirt 2
The original Dirt was a great racing game was good graphics. I hope the next game can improve all round and perhaps it will reach the place of my all time favourite racing game. The position is currently held by Burnout Paradise
10. BioShock 2
I only played the demo to the original game and it was quite decent. Look forward to the next game which should be pretty good. I look forward to the “atmosphere”. For more information go Here.
9. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Playing through the first game took me only a few hours. It was a great game with humour (that got a bit ‘so-so’ after a while) and was tons of fun being able to blow away buildings, although I was disappointed when I discovered that there were always certain parts of a building that wouldn’t damage, meaning that you could never completely destroy a building. Hopefully Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will fix this.
8. Splinter Cell: Conviction
Another game to the stagnant series, this game looks like it will refresh the deries and bring some change in gameplay and setting. The plot seems twisted and everyone is after you (no clichés there) For more information go Here.
7. Lost Planet 2
Never really liked the original game, although I’m hoping this game will be a bit better and will support cross platform play. This game has all the ingredients for a good game, let’s hope it doesn’t fall through and disappoint
6. No More Heroes 2
A game that looks to be even more quirky than the original. With better graphics, new opponents, better open world play and slightly revamped gameplay, I expect this game to do as well if not better than the last game. Also in a very recent interview with the developers it was said that the game is near completion “It's the very end. If I had to say one word, I'd say it's at the very end of production.”
5. Red Steel 2
Red Steel 2 is an FPS for the Wii which also consist of elements for sword play. It is now rumoured to be cell shaded. The game also only has support for the Wii motion plus, a disappointment for those of us who don’t want to fork out for more accessories. For more information go Here.
4. The Conduit
The Conduit is much like Halo, it's all about alien invasion and you being the only one who can save Earth. But the game is also similar in that it looks like a really polished FPS with great graphics, a great achievement for the Wii. For more information go Here.
3. Prototype
Prototype lets you transform into heaps of different stuff. You can absorb other people and take on their form, you can change your body into crazy shapes that will help with combat, defence and speed. For more information go Here.
2. Diablo 3
A new game to the famous Diablo series. It is an RPG letting you take the role of a character from multiple different races. Only 3 of the 5 races have been announced so far, these consist of Barbarian, Witch Doctor, and the Wizard.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
An addition to the Call of Duty franchise which will make up for the disappointment that was CoD: 5. Of course being in the capable hand of Infinity Ward, I expect no less. Every time I see new footage of this game I feel like ripping out my hair in frustration that I have to wait to play it. For more information go Here.
Sandmonkey
EDIT: Duke Nukem: Forever is a game we are still hoping will be at E3. consider it at #1
Saying “If you like Call of Duty 4, then you’ll love Modern Warfare 2” is a little redundant. In fact saying anything about Modern Warfare 2 is fairly redundant seeing as it is probably the most talked about game at the moment. Rather than jump on the bandwagon of a straight review, I’ll talk more about the specifics, if you want a more general review then head over to somewhere like Gamespot where people are paid to spend hours glued to the screen.
