Every year there is one major video game release that nearly every person in the world is waiting for, this year that honor goes to Modern Warfare 2, from publisher Activision and developer Infinity Ward. MW2 is part of the infamous and long-living Call of Duty franchise – which had its beginnings in World War 2 and has since moved onto current day conflict. The first Modern Warfare was one of the best all-around first-person shooters ever created, a game that still sits atop the Xbox LIVE charts each month, and number 2 looks to bring a whole new experience to Xbox 360 gamers. There are a number of different retail packages to choose from when you go to pick-up your copy of Modern Warfare 2 on November 10, 2009; don’t worry too much as they all include the bare-essentials, what I am calling the trifecta of gaming perfection. The first, and most important part of the experience is the single-player campaign; number two goes to a strong multiplayer showing; and last but not least is something completely new to the MW franchise, Spec-Ops mode.
Let’s start our journey through the awesomeness that is Modern Warfare 2 by looking in detail at the single-player campaign mode, what most would consider the meat-and-potatoes of any successful video game. The story revolves around many of the same characters you have come to know and love from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Soap, etc.) – as well as some all-new badass ones (see Ghost for best in-game personality ever). There is a large variety of level-locations in the game, taking players from sunny Brazil to the snow all the way to war-torn Washington D.C. in the United States. I don’t want to give any actual plot-elements away in this review but the one suggestion I will make it to start your first play-through on “Hardened” difficulty as you can always move it down during play if it becomes too difficult. The one and only gripe that you will hear about Modern Warfare 2 is the length of the campaign, clocking in around 7 hours on normal difficulty, however if you bump it up to the most realistic and enjoyable setting of “Veteran” the campaign takes much longer, well over ten hours on average. I believe it was for this reason that the developers decided to include my personal-favorite aspect of MW2: Spec-Ops mode.
There is no form of "story-mode" co-op in Modern Warfare 2, instead Infinity Ward decided to change the formula up a bit and include Spec-Ops (a form of challenge mode that can be played split-screen or via Xbox LIVE with a total of two players). There are five challenges per stage, each with three levels of difficulty and up to three stars to earn per result. The goal is to unlock all challenges and garner perfect three-star ratings in each and every one, the challenge are different from one to the next, even in the same grouping. A couple examples are sniper cover from the top of a building, running the “pit” challenge course, racing snow mobiles down a mountain, and covering your buddy via helicopter turret. Spec-Ops ads a great amount of re-playability to Modern Warfare 2 and helps ease the pain of not having story co-op (per COD: World at War). As we mentioned before players have the option of playing with their buddy locally or with one other player over the internet via Xbox LIVE; split-screen was an excellent addition and we are glad to see it make an appearance in the game.
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