Well...this threw me for a loop. I'd been hearing rumors about a remaster of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" for years now, but little did I expect that it would see a surprise release. And little did I expect that the long-awaited remaster would only be roughly half of the game: as the title of the PlayStation 4 version clearly says, this remaster is, quite literally, just the campaign of the original game for eighth-generation platforms. I'll be honest, though, curiosity got to me with this one: I'm not a huge "Call of Duty" fanatic, but I quite loved the remaster of the first "Modern Warfare" game, and I've heard a lot of positive things about "Modern Warfare 2" as well, so I wanted to give the game a shot and see if it was anywhere near the level of the first game. Even if the remaster was just the campaign, that was fine with me, as I'm largely a single-player gamer as it is. After playing it, though, I was left wondering if the hype the game received in 2009 really had anything to do with the campaign.
Don’t get me wrong, in a lot of ways, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" deserves credit: graphically, the game still looks sharp, and the remaster helps give the visuals a strong enough facelift that I feel like the game hasn't aged a day. In terms of the gameplay, it's still so smooth, and much like the visuals, the controls and general gameplay feel as though they haven't been touched by time. It still feels good to play, and many of the game's big moments still do hit hard now. I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the controversial "No Russian" level in the game, and as polarizing as it's sure to remain, playing the mission myself for the first time did leave me legitimately terrified. It's a very troubling moment in the game that, like it or not, will most certainly leave an impact that’s hard to forget. Even after so many years, the game is still capable of leaving you tense and surprised around several corners.
Unfortunately, there's a lot to this game I find myself disconnected from. As I mentioned above, this new release is simply a remaster of the original game's campaign, and thus, the multiplayer and Spec Ops modes are excluded. I'll say that I'm personally not too hurt about that because I don't have a nostalgic attachment to the modes, and because, at least from a business perspective, I understand that Activision doesn't want gamers jumping ship from the newest "Call of Duty" game to this one. That said, I do feel like, while $20 might not seem like too steep of an asking price, to me, when given the quality of this campaign, it's something to think twice about. After all, it is an extremely short game that, to me, is bogged down by several factors. This includes (but is not limited to) some repetitive level design that wears out its welcome too fast, a completely over-the-top story that just feels like the equivalent of a Michael Bay movie (and one that leaves that controversial "No Russian" mission feeling like nothing more than empty edginess and shock value), and gameplay that, while remaining functional so many years later, feels no different than the "Modern Warfare" game that preceded it. And while the experience got a bit more exciting in the second half, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had played this exact game when I played the remaster of the first "Modern Warfare." Thus, with the campaign itself being a bit underwhelming, the exclusion of the multiplayer and Spec Ops modes does devalue the package a bit. I've heard rumors that those are supposedly coming to the game at a later date, and I'm sure it would be a more worthwhile purchase with those features, but right now, it feels empty.
All in all, I must say that "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," to me, is the gaming equivalent of a fireworks show: it's pretty to look at for a few minutes, but it lacks in substance and doesn't leave enough of a lasting impression, and once it's all over with, you're left thinking, "man, that was a lot of noise." It's certainly not a bad game, but I can't help but play this and feel like it was the point in the "Call of Duty" series where Activision knew they could coast, and it was around this point that "Call of Duty" started to feel like a lowest common denominator shooter that stands out thanks to its name brand value, as opposed to it being a truly special shooter. It's the point where "Call of Duty" cared less about its campaigns, and more about appealing to the most people possible. No, that's not a bad thing, but this attitude led to the series feeling more standard, and I think "Modern Warfare 2" was the kickoff to that. As I said, it's decent, but I can't recommend paying for this remaster unless you have that deep of a nostalgic connection for the campaign. Maybe rose-colored lenses will help you enjoy this more than I did.
Final rating: 6 out of 10 "Decent"