System: Xbox 360 (Also on: PC, PS3)
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Genre: First Person Shooter

To be honest, I never picked up on the Modern Warfare craze until about a year ago, I played a few system link matches with my younger brothers and some friends and I was hooked. Naturally I opted to get Modern Warfare 2, which dropped last Tuesday (Nov. 10th), and I cleared my schedule for the day to play it.

Seasoned veterans of the original Modern Warfare will rejoice with the newest installation. The same fast paced, globe spanning ops of some of the worlds best special forces units holds up in MW2. You play now as Army Rangers, or Task Force 141, which is a fictional super group of soldiers that stomp the face’s of global terrorists into dirt. Which is awesome.

The game picks up five years after the end of Modern Warfare, and for those of you who haven’t played this sequel, or the original Modern Warfare for that matter, I wont bore you with details. The game has its own take on what would happen if Russia went hostile on America, and plays heavy on that when you are a Ranger. The rest of the game picks up with “Soap” McTavish, the first game’s protagonist, and his new lackey (whom the player controls) and their adventures through northern Russia and Kazakhstan.

As for the multiplayer aspect, the game comes back full speed with new maps and game modes. The weapon variety is also much larger with all sorts of rifles, shotguns, and now even dual weapons and throwing knives. Anyone who enjoyed the first game’s multiplayer will love MW2’s just as much, if not more. Some of the new modes include third person gameplay and a version of Team Death called Team Death Express, which cuts down the time between rounds, giving you a much smoother and faster paced game.

Infinity ward definitely did well by me with the newest Modern Warfare installment. The game has amazing graphics and a remarkable score that adds a lot to the more emotional parts of the game.  The thick story and the crazy what- if scenarios in game set it apart from most other war games.

One major downside to the game is its length. I found myself sort of wondering what happened after finishing the game in just under four hours on hard. I wish that they would have done more with the story as well. It is a good continuation from the first game, but is kind of jumpy at points, and some characters are left with little to no story or explanation as to why they are important. The game also does little with the other members of your team, instead giving them a handful of random code names (Meat, Chemist, Chemo, etc) and tosses in a random assortment of pre-made character models. And by random I mean every time you die, or pick up from a previous save, the teammates you have with you will be totally different.

Final Words:

Aside from these few complaints, overall the game is completely solid. The multiplayer is fast-paced, addictive, and extremely well done. The visuals are stellar and the soundtrack works wonders for adding emotional depth to some parts of the game and pumping your adrenaline for others. The ridiculously short campaign is the game’s biggest drawback, but at least the fantastic multiplayer offers something to fall back on.

Pros

• Wicked action scenes and battles
• Revamped multiplayer
• New weapons, game modes, and all sorts of other things
• Interesting story

Cons

• Short story mode (Sets up for a sequel though)
• Plot holes
• Annoying Dickbags on Xbox Live

Score: 8.75/10 (Great)