When I write a review for a game, I try to take my time and actually play through the game first, enough so that I can say with some confidence that I’ve experienced what the game offers. This is no exception. Game development studio Infinity Ward and publisher Activision released the next hit in their Call of Duty series this week with Modern Warfare 2.  I got the game the day it came out and after playing through the single player campaign, some multiplayer games and a new game mode, Special Ops, I have mixed feelings about this game.  Infinity Ward, as usual, delivers a superb multiplayer experience, but surprisingly falls short in the single player storytelling part of this game.

Single Player Campaign  (spoilers)
In the previous game you played as new recruit Sgt. John ‘Soap’ MacTavish on an international special forces task force. The storyline of the previous game had you chasing international terrorist and Russian separatist Imran Zahkaev and eventually catching up with him and shooting him in the final battle in which the rest of your team was killed. Modern Warfare 2 picks up where Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare left off, five years later. Soap MacTavish is now Captain MacTavish and you play as Sgt. Gary “Roach” Sanderson. With Zahkaev dead, the Russians have apparently ignored his many terrorist acts, one of which included detonating a nuclear bomb on international military forces in an unnamed Middle East country, and honored him with a statue in a square in Moscow and renaming the international airport in Moscow after Zahkaev. With Zahkaev gone and for no real reason given, there is a new Russian bad guy, Vladimir Makarov, one of Zahkaev’s former lieutenants who is causing all sorts of international problems. The plot of this story is extremely weak compared to it’s predecessor. If Zahkaev is apparently being honored by the entire country and even has an airport named after him, why would his former associates still be committing acts of terrorism? The understanding behind this plot is beyond me, but I kept playing. It can’t get worse, can it?

In the weeks leading up to the release of MW2, leaked video of a controversial level of the game caused an uproar in the media. Infinity Ward and publisher Activision defended it as vital to the plot of the game.  Even I defended the scene, given the reputation of Infinity Ward, I expected it to be a vital part of the game storyline. Wow, was I wrong. Soon after the start of the game, you play as US Army Ranger Pvt Joseph Allen, a hand picked soldier prepped to infiltrate Makarov’s terrorist organization. This level has Makarov’s terrorists, Allen, and Makarov himself (WTF?) going into Zahkaev International Airport and proceeding to mow down innocent civilians with automatic weapons. You fight through the airport and then as everyone loads up to escape past the emergency responders in a conveniently placed ambulance, Makarov turns around, shoots, and kills Allen. Apparently your covert CIA operation to infiltrate his operations wasn’t so covert. Makarov says his plan was to attack the airport and then leave the American body behind for authorities to find. The game then explains that Russia totally buys into it. No one suspects Makarov was behind it and instead believes the Americans massacred the civilians for no apparent reason. Russia then decides to launch their own attack on the United States and because of the airport attack, there’s no international intervention to stop it, with the whole world siding with Russia.

Back as Sgt Sanderson, you and Cpt MacTavish find out there’s only one person Makarov hates more than the Americans and that person is locked up in a Russian Gulag prison in Siberia. You get to go with the task force and infiltrate a Russian prison and free this person, who turns out to be Captain Price, Soap’s commanding officer from CoD4. With Captain Price, having spent 5 years in a Russian Gulag prison and apparently not needing to recover in a hospital at all, you go on to attack a Russian submarine base and Price somehow goes in on his own and takes over a Russian submarine and launches a nuclear missile at the east coast of the United States, where the Russians have invaded all Red Dawn style (the game level for that is literally called ‘Red Dawn’). The nuke detonated in the upper atmosphere, causing a massive electromagnetic pulse wave that causes an electronic blackout of the east coast, allowing US forces to fight back and repulse the Russian attack.

After regrouping, the task force decides to go after Makarov, because ‘history is written by the victor’ (quoted often throughout the game). After recovering information about Makarov’s location, you’re betrayed by General Shepherd, head of the task force, and killed. The game then switches from playing Sgt Sanderson to playing Soap MacTavish. The plot here was worse than any B-movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some bad ones. The reasoning behind Shepherd’s betrayal? He likes how many Americans are signing up for the military and wants more recruits. If you catch the terrorist, people won’t join the military any more and he can’t have that happening (as if a US General would allow a terrorist of that scale to walk free just so recruiting numbers wouldn’t drop). Captain Price and Soap then find a way to get in contact with Makarov and learn the location of Shepherd (yeah, you end up working with the terrorist). After a very familiar high speed chase and hand-to-hand fight with Shepherd, you are able to take him down and make everything right with the world. Now, if only we could fix the plot of this game…

Special Ops

Instead of implementing a full campaign co-op mode for this game, claiming it would hurt the immersion into the storyline (what a load of crap), they instead created a co-op Special Ops mode.  In this mode, you play through different mission types, either alone or with a friend, earning ‘stars’ if certain goals are achieved.  I have to say, this is fairly fun.  The variety of missions you can take on makes this rather enjoyable to play.  There is an elimination gametype where you have to kill a certain number of enemies, a racing gametype where you get to race snowmobiles with enemies shooting at you, and even a Gears of War/Halo ODST style survival mode where you take on wave after wave of enemies.  The game keeps track of your best scores on each mission and ranges from “very easy” to “OMG Make it stop!” difficulty.

Xbox Live Multiplayer

Even with the weak plot and after-thought co-op mode, the Xbox Live multiplayer part of Modern Warfare 2 alone by itself makes this game worth owning.  To play this you don’t have to worry about poor storyline or controversial terrorist scenes.  You simply get to use a rich variety of weapons to fight against other gamers around the world in different gametypes.   The multiplayer mode feels very familiar if you played the predecessor, CoD4.  Infinity Ward struck gold when it comes to online matchmaking.  The leveling system with prestige modes and ability to create your own classes with perks and challenges makes MW2 a very engaging and fun multiplayer experience.  There are a few glaring issues I would have liked to have seen improved upon from the first game that other online FPS games have been getting right for years, but they aren’t big enough issues to not play this game for hours on end.

New additions to this game such as the thermal scope, riot shield and throwing knife add a whole new level of strategy to think about.  No longer is this a game of quick reactions where whoever can spray-and-pray the fastest wins a shootout.  Players can now use such defensive equipment like the riot shield to distract opponents and defend teammates.  Friends of mine were big fans of using their tactical knife to stab opponents in CoD4 and the ability to throw knives now makes them all the more deadly in MW2.

The perk system is improved, along with new, unlockable kill streak rewards.  If you’re good enough to somehow achieve a 25 kill streak, you can then call in a tactical nuke and effectively end the game by killing everyone in the match and instantly giving your team the victory.  Other rewards include care packages which drop other rewards from helicopters as well as remote controlled aerial gunner attacks from helicopters and predator drones, as well as care packages (more rewards) dropped from helicopters.  But watch out, because if a care package lands on you, it will hurt and probably kill you.

Overall this is a great multiplayer game to play.  As for the single player storyline, I really expected better from Infinity Ward.  Maybe Bioware can give them some pointers on writing a good plot.  The controversy behind the terrorist scene was well deserved and Infinity Ward should have known better.  Not only should Activision and Infinity Ward apologize to the nation of Russia, which is currently recalling all copies of the game, but they should apologize to gamers around the world for allowing such a bad single player storyline to make it past the brainstorming session.