| Brand: | ACTIVISION | ||
| Average Rating |
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Acclaimed developer Infinity Ward brings you Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to the best-selling shooter of all-time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. more info
| Brand: | ACTIVISION | ||
| Average Rating |
|
Acclaimed developer Infinity Ward brings you Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to the best-selling shooter of all-time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. more info
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Coulda-Shoulda
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Coulda-Shoulda been the game of the year for PC instead a huge disappointment from IW.
I’ve bought and supported Infinity Ward since Call of Duty 1 and can’t believe they did this.
Single player was 5 Star but Multiplayer (the reason you buy the game) is a 1 Star- if that.
It’s like xbox only worse and the host always has the advantage if you can stand to sit through the matchmaking, host quitting and the rest of the P2P problems.
I can’t believe they did this to us.
One word: greed
dissapointing to say the least
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Are you kidding me? This game is a joke. Nothing like cod4. YOU CANT EVEN CHOOSE WHAT MAP TO PLAY! Game is totally locked down on all levels. Multiplayer is a farce. HAckers galore and you cant boot them, theres no vote kick, and YOU CANT CHOOSE A DIFFERENT PLACE TO PLAY it puts you right back in same game!
Horrible. Sorry.
Why all the hate????
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
So many reviews say how awsome the game is, but MP sucks, so they give it a 1 star rating. What???
The SP side has more to offer than said in most reviews. Yea, the story part of the Sp game is short, about 5-6 hours, but this is Call of Duty. Every game since the first one has gotten shorter and shorter, so if you expected it to be longer, then that is your fault, not theirs. I knew coming in it would be short. I also expected it to be very intense, but not this intense. You don’t get a break at all during this game. From riding snowmobiles, to climbing mountains and walking through a blinding snow storm to diferent terrains all over the world, this game will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time. And every mission takes you somewhere completely different and has a completely different feel to it. There are also alot of twists and turns that leads up to the very intense and very cool grand finale that has it’s own twists. Keeps you wondering what is going on the whole time you play and not being able to wait to see what happens next.And graphically, this game is great. Runs great on my 2 year old PC too. Never got choppy once. Very awesome.
But they also have added something called Special Ops. It takes certain missions from the game (and adds alot of knew ones) and has you tackle them based on how many stars you want to earn. There are 5 sections covering 23 missions and they are hard to beat if you want all 3 stars. Some of them require you to play with someone else on-line, which stinks, but hey, still very cool. From sniper maps, to a couple of snowmobile time trials (while shooting othe snowmobilers), to taking out enemies as you make your way across a collapsing bridge, this is also very intense to play as well. And it will take you about another 4-5 hours to beat, unless you fail alot, which you will.
As for the MP side, it is pretty dissappointing. No dedicted servers (I did sign a petition to get this changed with aroound 250,000 other people) stinks. The game selects a lobby for you to play in depending on what you want to play. Trying to play sabotage or Search and Destroy with 12 people does kind of stink. And they have so many achievements to accomplish, it does help, but alot of them are useless and stupid. Also, there are like 7 levels (maybe mmore, don’t know yet) to accomplish some of the weapons goals. And sometimes, in the middle of the game, the hjost will leave and you have to wait for 30 to a minute while a new server is found so you can complete your game.But they do have alot of cool things like you controlling the guns a chopper attack and many more as well. Maybe to much. There 20-25 different things you can call from a sentry gun to a stealth attack and even a nuke attack, though you have to get alot of kills in a row for that. And so few people allowed on at one time and the fact that most people get less than 30 kills, you don’t quite make it to that point. They wanted faster games, that is what you get. They over quickly. But you also have alot more weapons to choose from and alot more gadgets to add to your weapons. As for lag, I have not had many problems with that. every once in while yes, but less than 10% of the time. The maps also leave a little to desire and they were designed for less people. Not many would hold more than about 24 people.
Anyways, I will not give this game 1 star just becsue the MP isn’t as good as should have been, but I will shame on you IW for what you have done to the MP. You should be ahsamed of yourself, but I still like playing it. It is still a blast, though could have been better.
Single Player Only Review
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First, I am happy about the 60$ i just paid since I have been waiting for another singleplayer game that could live up to the first COD4 and this one did what it was supposed to by taking it to another level of awesomeness and immersion. I do not care about the multiplayer since I have never felt COD multiplayer was all that good. COD definitely make the best SP games you can find in the genre though.
There is no doubt that if you feel like I do about the SP in the first COD4 (which is that it was one of the best campaigns ever made) that you will be extremely pleased with this game and be cancelling your plans for the weekends after you sit down to play. They make it very easy to jump into the game and its even simpler than the last. Within minutes you will be into it and hooked.
Do not let the people saying it is a short game steer you away – the length is similar to the last one and you will enjoy it for many more hours than advertised if you are like me and don’t bother with the easier levels in games and go straight for hard and upwards. The graphics, gameplay, and weapons are as expected a notch above the last games’. The immersiveness, dialogue, and how the AI responds is also notched up a bit. No bugs yet so far either, so very happy about the product.
Another good thing about this game is that thankfully they moved away from the evil securom and towards Steam. Steam is the best one of the bunch because they don’t just take from you, they ‘give it back’ as well. They always keep your product (and themselves) up to date automatically and they provide a feature that no other does, ‘offline mode’ which lets you never bother with connecting to them online after your first install. However, you may actually want to let steam go online since it does a number of other things for you to enhance your gameplaying experience, such as the ability to make friends online and see what games they are playing and automatically find and join their games. Also, they let you install the game from any computer you are at (no need for cds) as well as storing your control configurations so you can load them at any other peoples’ machines you may be at. The other benefit of it is that they also tend to give you great deals on other game purchases and have a good storefront. But best of all they are just plain ‘green’ and let you not have to waste yet another frivolous package and cd/dvd. The only cons are that you need an internet connection for at least the moment after you install the game (so if you are in BFE with no internet connection, you won’t be playing this game) and they still haven’t created a way for you to trade games with other users. Thankfully the easy way around the last bit is when you install the game you can install it on a seperate user account, then you are free to trade or sell the game onwards afterwards, which is why it is good Steam Practice to always create a seperate user for each game so you are free to sell them onwards – there is no limit to how many times the game can be installed either.
Enjoy,
GG Activision and IW, well played. You’ll never get my money again.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The single player campaign is a loud swirled mass of clown puke. Some of the set pieces were really cool, but IW has jumped the shark on this one…or maybe, giant snow canyon.
Spec ops is the only place where you will get a decent multi (by that, I mean, two player) game in, because…
Multiplayer is riddled with hackers and cheaters using aimbots and other things. I would say in the last week I’ve played 3 hours a day during US primetime, and in about 85% of games there was at least one if not two players using cheats of some sort. Note, I am NOT talking about speed builds, and glitching in the maps. I am talking about straight up cheating with 3rd party utilities. Things that basically lock you on people’s heads with no user input needed. And that’s REALLY easy to see with the nice new killcam feature that is in MW2.
Great, you see a hacker. What can you do? Report him? Tell or email the server admin? Instant message your admin? Votekick?
No, none of those. Nothing. NOTHING. Worse yet, in those Hardcore multiplayer modes, there is NO killcam, and no replays (and this is by design, and GOOD), so you have no idea if that 45 kill-0 death guy really is that awesome, or if you’re getting scammed.
So, the game is fun. But you know what? If you can’t play the game as it was designed to be played, it’s no longer fun. Therefore, 1 star. I’ll move on to PC devs. Even ValvE’s move to release L4D2 so soon after the first game was seen poorly at first, but you know what? They’re actually dedicated and know how treat their playerbase.
Too short
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Most know how multiplayer was handicapped for PC. So I’m going to avoid talking about it. For $60 the game was too short. What little of the the game there was fun. I’d wait until the price drops to $30 or less before buying it. If this is were the game is headed for on PC, I’ll wait for the bargain bin or give up on the series.
Yet another company abandons loyal PC gamers.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I played the original and ground breaking COD on PC, I am a PC gamer. As PC and console have alike and unalike features you tend to lean towards one or the other. COD started pure PC, was supported and funded by that community of LOYAL gamers. Props to them for getting big and getting in the console action but they left PC behind just as many others have. It is a stripped down port plain and simple. You get the typical game play and feel, but you loose the PC edge that people enjoy. The server capabilities, number of players online, etc…Shame on you infinity ward, it’ll take one BIG patch to get this one dusted off for me.
spend your money on something else.
Fun but, it fails without dedicated servers
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
IW abandoned PC gamers by stripping dedicated and made this game a COMPLETE console port and turned an awesome PC game into a coaster. Please don’t buy this game, we need to show IW that they need to stop treating PC gamers like trash. I mean, PC gamers got the CoD series going, and IW leaves on the side of the road like a piece of trash. The worst part is, people have explored the game files and found out that all of the necessary files to create a dedicated server are there in the game. Thanks alot IW!
Multiplayer is nothing but hackers and lag
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The singleplayer experience and Spec Ops are quite amazing. It’s too bad that the multiplayer is chock full of lag and hackers rendering it unplayable — both issues which are resolved by, you guessed it: dedicated servers.
Even though I miss the features, I can still endure a smaller FOV, capped framerates, and lack of lean because everyone is on an even playing field with the same limitations in that sense. But the lag makes whether you kill someone or die a mere roll of the dice as far as the hit detection goes. And despite Steam’s weekly VAC ban updates, the number of wall hackers and aim botters is actually rising dramatically as time progresses. In the first two weeks or so of playing I only ran into a few hackers in about 30 hours of playing, and it wasn’t that bad to be honest. But in the last week I have encountered at least twice as many hackers in less than half the time frame. They have no reason to fear either — several of them admit openly because they know they won’t get caught. There are more hackers on this game than on the free fps Combat Arms. Suffice it to say, if you have any experience with that title you know what a joke it is. Anyone can hack on that game after a two minute google search, and there are youtube videos made by people showing off using hacks. I haven’t looked yet but I’m sure such videos exist for Modern Warfare 2.
Bottom line is, if you don’t care for a good multiplayer experience, it’s worth the money. Otherwise, don’t even bother wasting your time.
The death of Inifinity Ward
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This game is awful. The multiplayer is laggy, full of hackers which IW does nothing about, limits the # of players per game, and generally makes it impossible to play with friends.
IW went back a decade in time and no one should waste their money on this POS. Download it from pirate bay if you have to play the single player but do not reward IW for incompetence.
Don’t waste your time!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The online multiplayer Is a latency filled joke, do you self a favor
and wait for something better!
They couldn’t have screwed this release up any more than they did
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
- no dedicated servers?
- no mods?
- no mod tools?
- 10 price hike?
- forced to install steam?
- no way to resell your game?
Blaming Infinity Ward and Activision is right, but forgetting that Valve and Steam are part of this Clusterfudge is a travesty.
Valve screwed gamers with this release. They never should have allowed a garbage game like this to be part of steam.
Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Issues
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I have been playing Modern Warfare 2 since a couple of days after the release because I got it from Steam. I have been playing with my buddies from the clan and several other friends since pretty much everybody got the game by now. It is a fun game; however, I am still annoyed with several issues that need to be addressed with the game and IW.net.
First, this matchmaking does not seem to be working for the player to make the experience simpler. The purpose of getting rid of dedicated servers was supposed to make it easier and more approachable to the casual player restricting the interface to a console-like experience. However, it has been completely the opposite effect. Since we are lacking dedicated servers, a player is going to be designated to host. If you are behind a router, as most people are, make sure you forward all the ports that are needed otherwise your NAT is going to be set to “Strict”. If you are a casual gamer, I probably lost you already but you can see my point.
Second, the party system does not seem to work without problems. It is tedious, you have to invite everybody and for some reason some of your friends will not be able to connect to your party. It always takes a couple of tries until somebody can successfully be party leader and invite without issues.
Third, on several occasions, the player that is hosting will disconnect because he either rage quits or his connection is not good enough. At this point, it is possible someone in your party will disconnect while trying to switch to another host. Not to mention the process takes about 20 to 30 seconds in a good scenario which disrupts the flow of the game and annoys all players.
Fourth, this system was supposed to improve the cheating situation, but it has not. The first Modern Warfare had plenty of cheaters but if you usually played in a good server they were banned. As of today, I have not heard of Steam taking any action against cheaters. I have encountered my fair share of people with aim bots and wall hacks. If this situation is to continue people with just go to other games, no matter how good this game is.
In conclusion, Modern Warfare 2 is a fun game, I’ve had great times playing with my buddies. However, it is worth noting that IW.net needs work. It is of the utmost importance to ban and do away with cheaters. Fix all the bugs plaguing the matchmaking system or at least provide proper documentation to deal with networking issues.
Not sure what the fuss is about…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
So far, I feel this is a spectacular game. I have played every COD game for PC and I have yet to be let down by one. I did feel that taking the price up to 60 was odd, but I am not regretting it.
Gameplay: Quite similar to the original Modern Warfare. New weapons, new vehicles to escort through streets, new areal bombardments. You can actually go into a house and wreck it if you want. The campaign still seems a little short, but the action is so intense I can’t quit playing it. The Special Ops part is a nice addition to try to hone some of your skills. No qualms about the gameplay here.
Graphics: Some improvement over the last game. I felt the original was great on its own, and it carried over into this game with improvements.
AI: The AI almost seems to be smarter than the last game. In one of the city levels these guys would pop out, hit me, and the moment I turned around they’d be gone. Not quite sure if that’s smart AI or me just not used to the level.
I’m still playing it, so, when I am done I will update this review some more.
Very over hyped
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Good graphics but its just Call Of Duty 4 with a new coat of paint. The game just seems to lack effort on the creators part, and the story line is lame. The multi player is OK but nothing special. Not worth the $60 I payed.
The fury of the scorned PC user
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It doesn’t take more than a casual glance to see something odd about the reviews for MW:2, console users generally like it, PC users are rating it as low as possible. Are the versions of the same game really that different? Not really, but the marketing emphasis seems to be on the console ports. When I decided to buy the game one vendor only sold the PC version online, the other had a huge rack of Xbox 360 versions and one tiny shelf with maybe five units for the PC.
It’s better to look at the single player and multi-player separately. I’d rate the singe player about a 7; after the huge success of Call of Duty 4 it’d be very hard to top it, and this one really doesn’t. The game is very short, 4-5 hours, and the graphics are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Outdoor environments are larger and more detailed, and atmosphere effects look better. Characters and animation look about the same. The story is another matter, it seemed they were pulling out all the stops to top the original and the result is less plausible to the viewer. The so-disturbing-you-can-skip-it level is unsettling to play, but is both key to the plot and also so extreme you couldn’t see any special ops person participating in it. What the character does is the sort of thing they’re trained to prevent, not to stay deep undercover. The villains aren’t sufficiently developed and there’s a few too many scenes of good guys getting killed by sudden turncoats. The invasion is something that was barely plausible even during the Cold War, and hard to accept now. However, you do get to play with just about any exotic or unusual firearm made in the last twenty years.
The multiplayer is what is drawing all the scorn, and I’d rate it about a 5. The game requires Valve’s (the people who do Half-Life) Steam client to install and play. To be honest neither Steam nor Punkbuster do much to stop cheaters, and now PC users can’t select a dedicated server. So a good portion of what people liked in the game, such as having your own server for clans or custom fighting styles is now gone. I can see why people are mad, but also don’t think I’ll miss some server admin kicking me off because he arbitrarily decides the next match should be a knife fight only. The multiplayer has a more cartoony feel to it, and if anything reminds me of the multiplayer for FarCry2, which isn’t topping anyone’s popularity lists. I played several rounds and experienced lag which I expected considering the game’s popularity, and the usual people who are impossible to kill while I would drop sometimes as quick as I would spawn.
The new “spec ops” mode lets you play single or with someone else through certain single player maps with challenges like time or number of hits, it’s okay but gets old soon.
So in conclusion the makers misjudged sorely the PC market, and in general made a game that is what most sequels are, a somewhat weaker and more overwrought version of the original. However, I still found it fun to play.
Dissapointment; worse in the series
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Let’s start off with the nice $59.99 price tag. PC games are $49.99 tops. This game is $59.99. They knew it would suck, so they charge the fans of the series more. Hint hint.
As for gameplay, you’d better be off with COD4MW1 or CoD5WaW. Those are much better than this overpriced underpar substandard reiteration of CoD4MW1 they call a standalone game. An utter disgrace to the company. Will never in my life purchase a game in the CoD series, and will carefully scrutinize every single game released by Activision before buying. (Probably never)
And I thought VALVe was being lame with L4D2 a year after L4D1. This game makes L4D2 look like a great buy.
A step down from MW1
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
CoD4 MW1: $49.99
CoD4 MW2: $59.99?!
A $10 increase and less features makes this a bit of a rip off. A shorter, less satisfying campaign and multi-player that is extremely disappointing. It is a shame that this game has been selling so well but Infinity Ward was counting on this. They knew they were making a game with less content and a larger price tag and could get away with it. You have to hand it to them, despite these problems. The game itself is quite addicting and enjoyable but slowly and surely this game is beginning frustrate the PC gaming community as a whole. Poor customer support. Rampant hacking. Rank exploitation. Dedicated server communities have been crippled. Host migration (Lag, Constant migration, poor host decision making, unable to find new hosts despite a plethora of users in the game) Public Relations representatives from IW have been ignoring the PC community and have been all buddy-buddy with the Xbox 360 and PS3 communities and that is the most frustrating part of all. These problems are really beginning to take their toll. So I implore you to hold off on buying this game and at the very least to wait until these problems have been fixed in the PC version.
Fun, despite flaws
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I read quite a few reviews (most of them negative) on the Friday following the release of Modern Warfare 2, and decided to try the game for myself anyway. The game cost me $60, and seeing as it’s a video game (a luxury item) and not a life sustaining resource, there’s no reason to complain about this. If you don’t want to pay $60 for a game, either don’t buy it, or wait for the price to go down.
Single player was fairly short, although there are the standard CoD hidden intelligence items, which took a few replays to find. The enemy AI seems more advanced than in previous CoD games, which makes Veteran difficulty somewhat challenging. That being said, I completed single player within a week of casual playing. The story was deeper than that of previous CoD games, and twice as ridiculous. It’s a video game; unrealistic story = fun.
Multiplayer is give or take. If you can get around limited server size (16 players max), mid-game pauses for hosting reallocation, and noob tubes from space, it’s a fantastic experience. I especially like the riot shield/throwing knife combination.
Missing a few things
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Well this game is by far the most hated pc game by children gamers. Nerds didnt get their dedicated servers so people boycotted a game, that so simply sold more copies in its first week then any other entertainment product, movie,cd,game has ever done.
The gameplay is simple amazing, its alot smoother then CoD4.
The sounds are even 100x better then in CoD4
Smaller maps with more “up room” then around room means more tactical gameplay.
The only downside so far is iwnet’s matchmaking, I feel so bad when i get put in a room full of lower level guys. I have only got connected to maybe 3-4 laggy games in over 450 matches played.
Is this game worth 60$? NO, But it is fun to play and maybe when these kiddies get it for Christmas from their parents, they’ll never show up on amazon posting fake reviews again.
my final verdict on this game is as follows.
PRO: Smaller Teams + Smaller Maps = More Fun
The Title/Emblem System to show off what you’ve done
CON: Poor Anti-Cheat Measures
No chatbox before a match starts
For the most part those are the best 2 pros and cons i could think of :/
What im saying is this, If you LOVED cod4 and cod5, go out and buy mw2.
MW2 Stinks, dumping this cow after 3 weeks
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I rarely write reviews, but I hate this game enough to express my opinion so others hopefully avoid purchasing this mangy dog. If anyone at Infiniti Ward monitors these reviews, you owe me $60, I accept paypal or a cashier check. Also, its next to impossible to resell this game because it’s linked to a steam account upon installation/registration.
Here is the rundown, the campaign is really short, approx 5 hours of gameplay. The graphics, guns and campaign are not substantially different from MW, nothing at all to get excited about. MULTIPLAYER STINKS and here is why: Hardcore mode all the time. If you enjoyed running around in MW, then you will get slaughtered in MW2, its a campers paradise. Unless your willing to devote at least 20 hours to getting enough stupid points for a decent gun with attachments, dont bother even signing on. The IW lag, hardcore mode all the time, limited number of people per game and number of points/time in order to get a decent weapon make this a truly unenjoyable game for most recreational players. If you have at least a 7mb connection, enough time to play this 20 hours a week, enjoy camping/sniping then you may enjoy this game. I hate this game.
Buy it if you love giving yourself a MASSIVE HEADACHE!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
What an absolute letdown. This is an exact, duplicate copy of the console version and that’s definitely not a good thing. Inexcusable laziness by Infinity Ward/Activision! Dedicated servers are gone and with them any chance of protecting yourself against cheaters and boy are cheaters rampant online. Aimbotters and wallhackers are having a field day with zero supervision. If you don’t know what “aimbotting” or “wallhacking” are, just google it and read all about it. Legit players have absolutely no ability to kick out obvious cheaters. Voting has been completely eliminated. Infinity Ward claims Steam’s VAC system will catch cheaters. Total rubbish. Just like Punkbuster, VAC doesn’t stand a chance against hacks which are updated on a daily basis. With dedicated servers, a good server operator can keep an eye out for cheating in spectator mode and cast a cheating player out. This ‘dedicated server’ method of protecting players has worked for years with the previous CoD games. These are the online problems you’ll have to deal with IF you can even get the game to run. Most experienced PC players and/or game PC builders are unable to run the game for more than a few minutes without experiencing a “crash-to-desktop” with one of the following errors:
1. “Error Create2DTexture (f15-col,2048,2048,0,827611204)failed:80070000e=Ran out of memory”
2. “iw4mp.exe has stopped working” Error
3. “DirectX has encountered an unrecoverable error”
Google those three errors and you’ll have plently to read. Save yourself a MAJOR HEADACHE, and skip this one entirely. If you want to play MW2, just rent it for your Xbox 360 or PS3. If you don’t have a console, just play it on your friend’s console.
You’ve been warned and informed!
Ridiculous
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The story line in this thing is ridiculous and must have been written by an idiot high on drugs. Wasted money.
Simply AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First, I dont know why so many people say its not worth buying, but this is my first time buying Modern Warfare 2, and I think its “Awesome.” “Gorgeous.” “A Phenomenon.” and “No one is better at delivering jaw-dropping action moments than Infinity Ward, as Gamespot, 1UP.com, Gamepro and Game Informer said to this game.
The Singleplayer:
Maybe its a bit short, but its still fantastic!!!!! I think the story line is great although I didnt watch all the cutscenes. I loved the sniper missions and the last missions (The End Game and Night at the Museum). The fast-paced action missions some are great but I think some are average.
The Spec Ops:
Great, but not awesome. its a bit boring playing the most of the maps that appear in the campaign and Ive totally no idea what the missions are about =-= but itll still bring you a lot of fun playing with your friends
The Multiplayer:
Simply MARVALOUS!!!(althoguh maybe this is the first playing Modern Warfare 2) it has many maps, perks, death streaks, equipments and you can fully customize your own classes, what a great idea! its mostly 80 – 120 ping but I played with it smoothly, and only 1/10 chance it will lag
Some positive and negatives about this game from other reviewers and me:
1. Text chatting! Now you can text chat to your buddies in-game while online, what fantastic innovation! (Yeah!)
2. Adjustable graphics setting — gotta give them points for adding that feature, while console users are stuck with their 720/1080 resolution, you can max it up all the way depending on your hardware! Amazing stuff…although every game has had this feature since the beginning of PC gaming. (Fantastic!)
3. The ability to use your mouse and keyboard! Now you can unplug your xbox controller and use your computer accessories for a more accurate FPS experience! (WOW o.O)
4. You’ll have a fantastic smooth time connecting to IWNet; its so perfect, it’ll even give you XBox Live error messages! (Hoorah!!)
(5. it has amazing campaign, multiplayer and spec ops!!!)
Now, the negatives:
1. You’re paying more for an inferior product. $60 vs $50. The consoles have a valid excuse for charging more — $10.00 goes to the console manufacturer (Sony or Microsoft), Activision is just being greedy here; really quite unacceptable, especially in today’s economy. (Hmm… I bought this game somewhere else and its about $50.)
2. Dedicated servers removed — don’t even get me started; I’m sure you’ve heard of the petition which is nearing 200,000 signatures to re-include dedicated servers. We’re left with a terrible online experience. I played the first Modern Warfare (MW) on the PS3 which had peer to peer online play and it was disastrous. Expect drop outs and poor performance. The host of the game will always have the advantage because they have the better latency. (its really disappointing though)
3. No mods. This is surprising because so many other popular games were developed from mods including — Counterstrike, Team-fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. The only reason I can think of why IW/Activision would want to do such a thing would be to charge for content later on. I remember paying for 3 maps for the first MW — and to tell you the truth, it really wasn’t worth it.
4. Steam required. When you install the game you are required to install the Steam platform and link it to an e-mail address, and your Steam username. This makes reselling the game next to impossible. (first, steam is not something bad, but it really makes reselling impossible)
5. Feels and plays more like a Modern Warfare 1.5 then a Modern Warfare 2.0; the graphics are alright for todays standard, but I was expecting a lot more from IW for a two year development cycle. (Ive no idea what MW 1 is, so no comments)
6. Short single player. Since they’ve gimped the multiplayer aspect, and the single player can roughly be finished in 6-7 hours, I suggest you rent this on the console if you have one. (I think the campaign is fantastic and it worths replaying and collecting those intels)
7. Multiplayer only allows 9 vs 9 (18 player) matches. MW1 allows up to 64 — does more mean more enjoyable? No, not necessarily, but at least there is choice and server admins were able to set it to their liking. (I think MW2 is like a console game as it only allows 18 players and change the formats the pc, its like playing ps3/xbox360 more than a pc)
By B. Lim(Cambridge, MA United States)
OK, at last, I recommend this game to EVERYONE thats the first time playing the MW series BUT not really for hardcore players that is expecting Mods, custom maps, 32 VS 32 in multiplayer and 100 hours of campaign…
Honest Review
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
There is a lot of hype and anti-hype surrounding MW2, so without being too wordy (and hoping you know a thing or two already about the game and its features):
1. The 1-player game is phenomenal albeit very very short.
2. Spec Ops is one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in awhile with a game
3. Multiplayer is indeed a step down from the standard PC experience. That being said, if you don’t mind waiting a couple minutes or more between matches, having no choice over map selection, occasional nights spent backing in and out of games trying to find one with a decent connection, and small team sizes… then it can still be a lot of fun.
4. All the upgrades, achievements, and weapons you can earn by playing multiplayer is really the heart and soul of the experience… and there are A LOT.
5. The only actual gameplay complaint I have about multiplayer is that the killstreak awards are far too powerful and actually rewards players for camping (I think this goes back to IW’s focus on making a game that is simple and easy to use).
In conclusion, this is a great cinematic experience with some very fun elements. If you are a hardcore gamer though, I would recommend waiting for the price to go way down or find some way to play a friend’s copy, figure out what the fuss is about and return it.