Platform: PC
The Steam client tells me that I've spent 10 hours on the single-player campaign, and just shy of 500 hours on multiplayer. I suppose you would not be very likely to guess that I love the single player and I absolutely detest the multiplayer.I just want to fill this space with an expression of my love for the FPS model that did away with life bars. If MW2 had a life bar, I never would have bought it. I don't play shooters because I like hunting for health packs. That's what RPG's are for.
The single player campaign is pretty sweet. The story begins 5 years after the end of Modern Warfare, and several characters make a return. The plot is pretty ridiculous, especially when compared to the masterpiece that was Modern Warfare, but it's involving nonetheless. You get to ride a snowmobile, snipe from a chopper, you even have a short time when you're an astronaut. The cinematic experience was maintained expertly. Never before in a game have I been able to shoot grenades at The White house. The way the game wraps up is arguably with even more intensity than its predecessor. It's difficult to discuss what I love about this game without hemorrhaging spoilers, since all the missions have their own unique feel. The atmospheric effects are mind-blowing, as you can see in the video, what with stuff burning in the rain at night. The attention to detail with destructible objects really adds to the experience of, say, shooting across cubicles (watch the paper go flying when I unload the M4 into a couple of boxes). If you haven't seen the gameplay, watch the clip (preferably fullscreen in 480p, don't know why I lost my HD option). That video says more than I could without getting some "tl;dr" in the comments.
After getting through the campaign (or if you just want a break), you can try out the Special-Ops missions for some interesting gameplay variations. Honestly, I've spent more time playing these with friends on the console, since they actually allow for cooperative play and a couple of them require it. My favorites are those that have one player on the ground, and the other in air support (one involves a Black Hawk helicopter, another is the AC130 gunship).
Then there is the multiplayer.
Now what is wrong with the multiplayer? Rest easy, console gamers, you don't have to worry. The leveling and unlocking system is fantastic, the selection of weapons, perks, and killstreaks makes for pretty diverse games. The hacking is rampant. Oh, what's that? Yes, I said the hacking is rampant. On the PC, Infinity Ward decided to try out some new things with Modern Warfare 2. They stopped using PunkBuster (a pretty well known anti-cheat), and started using Valve Anti-Cheat, or VAC. Now, VAC is awesome, except for those 12,000 MW2 players that were recently banned by a VAC error. Well, VAC is pretty good except that it is delayed, so even if someone gets VAC-banned, they likely spent a week or two wrecking everyones' games. I guess VAC isn't total garbage, though CallofDutyHacks.com advertises on their front page that their VAC-disabler code has kept their cheats undetected for six months. Normally in FPS games, there is an option to kick players from a match, often with a vote. This feature can be abused, but it is most commonly used to kick hackers. This feature was not included in MW2. But can't you report hackers to Steam? No. Steam does not act on player-reported hacking.
In case you are not used to playing First-Person Shooter (or FPS) games with hackers (which essentially means you've never played a PC FPS online) I'll take a moment to familiarise you with some of the more common hacks:
- Aimbot - an app that auto-targets enemies, commonly on the head, with perfect accuracy.
- Wallhack - an app that allows hackers to see through walls, or see player locations. In MW2, the common hack simply identifies other players with a box, blue if ally, red if enemy. Used in conjunction with aimbots, players may be shot from across the map moments after spawning....repeatedly.
- No recoil - generally part of the aimbot, but sometimes used separately, weapon fire does not cause recoil. This allows for much greater accuracy using something like a scoped Light Machine Gun.
- Modding - Game mods are sometimes really fun, when the host alters gravity, forces specific weapons on all players, ect. Game mods tend to provide a level playing field for everyone, and sometimes they can be a lot of fun. The problem that I personally ran into is with a specific mod which unlocks all the titles, emblems, weapons, etc. Basically, it gives you for free what you would normally have to work very hard to obtain. This is a variation of the common Call of Duty Prestige Hack, but leaves players no choice in the matter.
- Prestige Hack - When you get to level 70 in MW2, you can choose to enter Prestige mode. There are 10 Prestige levels that all have their own icon so other players can see what Prestige level you are. This allows players to advertise their expertise at the game (Prestige 10 takes a VERY long time to get), but some people artificially boost their Prestige to 10. This isn't exactly "cheating" because it doesn't give those players any sort of gameplay advantage, that couldn't be obtained normally, but it still qualifies as a hack.
What it comes down to is that MW2 Multiplayer is fantastic, but IW.Net's online system is terrible, and not just because I really hate playing against hackers. It is really easy to hack in Modern Warfare 2, and it is really hard to get rid of hackers (you usually just have to bite the bullet and leave the game), but things go downhill from there.
I mentioned the lack of dedicated servers, and I'll explain what that means. One of the players in the match is chosen as the host, and whatever system is used for picking the "best" host is thoroughly defunct. I was playing for a time with a wireless connection that provided substantial latency, and every time I was chosen as the host, it was terrible for everyone, including myself. I don't get to opt-out, regardless of my ISP's ToS (most ISP's prohibit using your connection as a server for standard residential service), so I would just have to leave games as a courtesy whenever I realised I was hosting, a courtesy not all terrible hosts will extend. This is also how the hacked games work: whenever someone is hosting, they have the total capability for providing modified content to the other players.
I'm not very fond of the matchmaking, either, which is glitchy at best. Aside from having to periodically restart the game just to join up with friends, you sometimes have to wait an unacceptable length of time to find a lobby. It shouldn't take over a minute to find 7 other people when five thousand players are playing the same game mode. It's also not uncommon to be instantly booted from the lobby with fun errors like, "Could not migrate host," or get booted from games with, "Client Command Overflow".
There were two Downloadable Content (DLC) packs rolled out after MW2's release, providing new maps to enjoy while experiencing frustration with hacking. The names were cool, though: The Stimulus Pack and the Resurgence Pack. I imagine that Microsoft had a heavy hand in their price tag at $15 each.
Treyarch should be releasing Call of Duty: Black Ops in November, and that will be using PunkBuster as well as dedicated servers, so I'm looking forward to that. Who knows if we'll ever see a Modern Warfare 3, or even more DLC's, since Infinity Ward's staff has pretty much died through firings, resignations, and lawsuits. I'm not exactly on the edge of my seat about their new studio, Respawn Entertainment, since they don't even have a website yet, unless you want to email them about a job.
I mentioned the lack of dedicated servers, and I'll explain what that means. One of the players in the match is chosen as the host, and whatever system is used for picking the "best" host is thoroughly defunct. I was playing for a time with a wireless connection that provided substantial latency, and every time I was chosen as the host, it was terrible for everyone, including myself. I don't get to opt-out, regardless of my ISP's ToS (most ISP's prohibit using your connection as a server for standard residential service), so I would just have to leave games as a courtesy whenever I realised I was hosting, a courtesy not all terrible hosts will extend. This is also how the hacked games work: whenever someone is hosting, they have the total capability for providing modified content to the other players.
I'm not very fond of the matchmaking, either, which is glitchy at best. Aside from having to periodically restart the game just to join up with friends, you sometimes have to wait an unacceptable length of time to find a lobby. It shouldn't take over a minute to find 7 other people when five thousand players are playing the same game mode. It's also not uncommon to be instantly booted from the lobby with fun errors like, "Could not migrate host," or get booted from games with, "Client Command Overflow".
There were two Downloadable Content (DLC) packs rolled out after MW2's release, providing new maps to enjoy while experiencing frustration with hacking. The names were cool, though: The Stimulus Pack and the Resurgence Pack. I imagine that Microsoft had a heavy hand in their price tag at $15 each.
Treyarch should be releasing Call of Duty: Black Ops in November, and that will be using PunkBuster as well as dedicated servers, so I'm looking forward to that. Who knows if we'll ever see a Modern Warfare 3, or even more DLC's, since Infinity Ward's staff has pretty much died through firings, resignations, and lawsuits. I'm not exactly on the edge of my seat about their new studio, Respawn Entertainment, since they don't even have a website yet, unless you want to email them about a job.
