Fast gameplay and tight gun mechanics are the saving grace of this more-of-the-same, predictable shooter.

User Rating: 8.5 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 X360
By maniac-2k7 | Review Date:
Did you play Modern Warfare 1? Yes? Then you know exactly what you're getting in to. The game kicks off with a stylish recap of the previous titles events, then moves on to five years later, in Afghanistan. It's at about this point, roughly two minutes in to the game, when you see how disturbingly similar it is to the original. Running another course as quickly as possible. So the story, as easy as it is to follow, really is just too predictable. If anyone can't see the 'twist' coming, they haven't ever watched a movie more complicated than Die Hard.

Okay, so the story is pretty weak and predictable, but what about the graphics, gameplay and difficulty? I'll start with the later:

I play CoD on Veteran. It's hard, yes, but damn satisfying. Or at least it used to be. Modern Warfare 2 managed to make Veteran disappointingly easy. I had the game beaten, on Veteran, in seven hours straight. It's the first time I've ever beaten a CoD game in under ten hours. If you play it on any other difficulty, well, it'll be a complete breeze.

Gameplay. Ah, the gameplay. Thankfully, it's superb. When bullets are spraying all around you as you sprint through Favellas in Rio, you feel like you're right there, in the thick of it. Pushing forward or flanking, both styles of gameplay are well accommodated for, allowing the player to quickly cut their way through swarms of enemies at any one time. Things do get over-crowded on occasion, but it's nothing a quick flashbang doesn't clear. The locations are, quite simply, amazing. From Rio, to snow covered mountains, to warzone Afghanistan, to an old Soviet castle - every place you visit is as well made as the last, complete with weapons to help fight in whatever conditions you're in.

A quick note about the weapons: the sheer amount of them allow you to choose from going all up close and personal with a big shotgun, to holding one hundred yards away to pick people off as they attempt to get to you with a thermal sniper rifle. There really is a gun for every occasion/situation.

Graphically, the game doesn't feel to be on the bleeding edge of the graphics front, but it does a suitable job of keeping you well immersed until the final, inexcusably pathetic ending. The pure frustration that you feel as the end credits roll is just horrible - it's the single worst ending of a video game in recent years.

All in all, the game is Modern Warfare 1, continued. Don't expect anything new or any kind of challenge and you'll probably enjoy the short campaign, full of big flashes and loud noises. While it doesn't revolutionize action games as it has been hyped to do, it does provide a good, fast shooter for the time it lasts. If
it wasn't for the easiness of the game, the lack of any kind of development over the original and the terribly predicatable story - this game could have become one of the all time greats.

Overall score - 8.5/10.

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