Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

I recently grabbed a copy of the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. After sitting through 2 install DVDs (seriously?) I settled down for some serious gaming time. The single player campaign clocked in at about 4-5hrs. Short, but they definitely pack in plenty of action. There’s lots of sequences where you have to quietly kill a few guards without alerting everyone. My personal favorite is the breaching event where time slows down and you have to take out several guys without killing any hostages before time speeds back up. There’s also spec ops challenges where you gain stars to unlock even more challenges. Overall a solid single player, but nothing radically different than Modern Warfare 1.

Playing the multiplayer you’ll notice a striking similarity to Modern Warfare 1. It seems Infinity Ward realized they nailed something with MW and kept it going. They added some new perks and game modes, but it’s mostly the same. Honestly I think it’s for the best. There’s far too many sequels that end up trying too hard to please their audience instead of sticking with what made a great game. The one area that has stirred up a lot of anger is the lack of dedicated servers.

I’d like to address that with an analogy. A dedicated server is a lot like a bar. You go to both to have fun. You choose a specific bar because they have good drinks and maybe you got to know a few of the bartenders. You got to your favorite dedicated server because you have great ping and the people there are fun to play with. Now instead your only choice is to go to a place that might not have your favorite beer with people you don’t know at all. Then after a few rounds the bar closes and you’re set up in a new one with all new people. This makes it difficult to find people you enjoy drinking with. I’d much rather hang out at my favorite bar, get to know a few patrons, and have a good time. Of course there’s always the option to invite people to go along with you. But if you don’t have lots of friends that like to go out drinking then you’re out of luck. You won’t even get a chance to know anyone since you’re always bar hopping.

Categories: Gaming

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