Modern Warfare 2

[teddymeow]

Played some multiplayer last night with my Bro and a mate. Enjoyed it a great deal. I was flying at one point with an 8 / 9 killstreak; Breyer than anything I had achieved on MW1.

I like the maps in this more than MW1, I think. Probably because there is some colour in them. MW1 seemed to be very grey and dowdy whereas this has maps like Favella which are full of "pop", if that makes sense?!

Single-player is still a bit weird to me. The story still isn't being explained very well (I liken it a bit to Quantum of Solace whereby there just seems to be setpieces in varying global locations with the plot tucked away.

The

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Cliffhanger

level was cool but I'd already seen that played through. I really hope the story does pick up. The first level of Act 2 is pretty dull in it's "run here, defend this, run back over there" especially when it hasn't been explained exactly what the heck is happening.

[Spatial]

It picked up quite a bit for me in Act 3.

As the story, events and shooting seemed to draw more together with a sense of urgency I started to enjoy it a lot more.

[PrayforMojo]

I paid 70 quid for the special edition. You would've thought buyers remorse would have set in about now but it hasn't. Even at that crazy price it still feels like the bargain of the year.

Spent a couple of hours acting out my childhood fantasies last night while playing through Special Ops with a friend. It is insanely good. Like taking part in a series of set-pieces from Hollywood action movies. In one mission I was laughing like a loon

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while blowing up petrol station from behind a mounted gun in a helicopter, when really I should've been acting more professionally and escorting my mate on the ground to safety, then in another mission we found ourselves running for our lives through the streets of a small American town that was under a full scale military invasion.

It was awesome! The odds were not in our favour, yet somehow we emerged victorious.

The multitude of muliplayer modes, the depth and variety of Special Ops and re-plays of the campaign are going to keep me thoroughly entertained for years.

[Spatial]

Admittedly I was playing solo at the time, but I thought Spec-ops was a bit `meh` at first. Well, until I tried what felt like the first proper mission (the bridge) and then I changed my mind. It's like the level had been cut from the single player - excellent fun.

My only remaining disappointment is that it isn't scalable and allow for more than two players. It would have been a riot with something like four.

Put some time into multiplayer yesterday night too - started with the intention of playing a few quick games and two and half hours later was still there. It's great to see that it's still such a major time sync

[Neon Ignition]

Having spent a fair bit of time with this now I feel pretty comfortable placing it as probably the best COD yet. Like COD5 it's nothing more than a refinement but having tried all the maps out properly now I do think they're a very strong line up with maybe just Wasteland standing out as a weaker option.

I'm about halfway through the single player now on Veteran and even if the end of the game goes stupid like COD5 did for respawns and grenade spamming it'll still be the most balanced version of this difficulty option yet. I still don't get people's complaints about the story as no COD game (especially including COD4) has featured a good story so I find this no worse or better from that view. If anything I welcome the set pieces as they break up the more generic corridor/wave shoot outs that make up the rest of the game.

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As for the Airport level. Now I've played it I get why it's in there. The main reason why I think it didn't need to be playable isn't the violence but the way in which its the weakest mission so far with very little to it. On reflection I think controlling the character is fairly brave on IW's part but from an 'artistic' angle it would have been better to have limited control like the intro to COD4. So you're seeing it all but it's out of your control.

[Spatial]

All I'll say (because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone) is that I didn't get the airport level either until I finished the game. Then it makes a little bit more sense in terms of context.

MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED IT:-

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In the context of what happens with Shepherd, my earlier point about the CIA not allowing this sort of thing falls apart. Because Shepherd was clearly such a maniac, and in charge of the undercover operative, he intended for something of this sort to happen, so it makes sense that he wouldn't have allowed anyone to step in and stop Makarov's airport massacre.

I don't think he planned for the operative to get rumbled, nor thought this would extend as far as the US getting invaded, but it did seem to be part of his larger machinations to get his blank cheque to target Makarov in revenge for the loss of his troops in the first game.

Of course you can still argue that level is gratuitous and unnecessary, but in terms of the whys and wherefores, my earlier posts in this thread were kind of premature.

[SUMIRE]

I got this the other day from good ole' Morrisons for ?26..bargain! My bros picked it up from PLAY for ?35.00 for his uber PC and had some problem installing it, something to do with it thinking he bought it off STEAM or something...needless to say, he spent most of the night downloading stuff and became a bit annoyed lol.

I only played the first two acts and thought it was awesome. The only weird problem I had was the sound. I dont know if its set up wrong on my speakers, but when listening to speech in-game it seems to come out the rear speakers when the character who is talking is in front. I am set up with the usual optical out 5.1, and its fine in other games..

[ExtremePabs]

Got this yesterday and played it last night and I have to say its ok nothing groundbreaking or new but ok. I understand that the campaign is relatively short which is a little disappointing as I am not a fan of the MP. I hope the Special Ops stuff has a bit of longevity in it as I did the first four on regular with a mate and this seemed a very interesting addition. A little like Terrorist Hunt on Vegas.

[Skull Commander]

I played the first four levels of single player so far and it's ok, but I feel I've seen it all before. Nothing wrong with it, but it all feels familiar...


The multiplyer on the other hand is fantastic. Still learning the maps, but it's ace fun and the new customisation is superb.

Also does anyone think a lot of the levels (both single and multiplayer) feel like mish mashes of other games? Not in a bad way mind, but I keep getting deja vu, back to Modern Warfare, and (oddly since it was made by a different team) Quantum of Solace. So many multiplyer stages remind me of the latter, especially the airport, slums and mansion.

[Neon Ignition]

It's nice to see the mass map learning again too for as long as it lasts. Estate is a good example as people seemed to be spending a fair bit of time in the house as it's good for easy sniping/camping but after a few hours the attacking teams started to take a seige approach which is now forcing people to use the rest of the map more.

[FelixofMars]

Have to agree, if your a fan then you are probably doing backflips because its just the same as the last one in terms of gameplay. I find the whole thing a war against me and the turret pixel perfect AI.

It's not like in Rainbow Six where you can cover and you get the first shot. They can see you through layers of cover down a tiny alleyway 400 meters from where they are.

They can also chuck bloody grenades that far. The spawning is not infinite but enemies still respawn. Controls are still nice and clunky and I ended up with my hand hurting by the end of the night due to the poor default button config.

The multiplayer does feel a bit more 'friendly' than the last time and I had a good few team games even though we lost.

But the death perks are not really useful I had copy cat I evidently stole a kit to get shot as soon as I spawned so I couldn't actually use it. when someone has racked up a kill streak and is hitting you with the gunship or whatever.

It was pretty annoying actually because I only got killed that many times because of everyone using their specials not actually shooting. As usual these daft perks ruin the game. I would not have minded if I could shoot them back but pretty much they are safe somewhere else in the level while there automated gun clears up. :/

Got this yesterday and played it last night and I have to say its ok nothing groundbreaking or new but ok. I understand that the campaign is relatively short which is a little disappointing as I not a fan of the MP. I hope the Special Ops stuff has a bit of longevity in it as I did the first four on regular with a mate and this seemed a very interesting addition. A little like Terrorist Hunt on Vegas.

Having said that there where a few nice bits and also a few bits that could be interesting at least.

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I did like the sneaky ice/snow level, it felt like it was from Goldeneye or PD or even the last sneak mission in MW because you had to check your heat sensor and pick your time to move and who to pop and who to sneak past. It did feel really awesome and maybe why I didn't quite give up hope.

The airport mission was pretty interesting as you could basically do most of it without firing a shot at any Civvies. I only took out the badly wounded ones. I think that was fair

I have just got to the bit in Washington DC I assume, I cannot really tell I was hoping for more of a shot of something significant but as far as I remember it is all back gardens and a small retail park. To be fair I still have more to do in that mission I think but I am surprised it didn't have more glimpses of the famous landmarks.

I do like that they have put in some more semi futuristic weapons, They are not too outlandish and they are a joy to use. Also moving the little support turret felt like a nice change of pace.

[ItsThere]

Do I have to have played COD4 to enjoy this properly (I have not).

[FelixofMars]

I doubt it, I don't think it continues much of the story and the last game is wrapped up in the intro.

[Del Boy]

Are trophies not working on PS3? I downloaded the patch this morning after opening the game and am at Burger Town and not had any trophies, not even showing anything in my trophies list, very odd.

[PrayforMojo]

Minor complaint: one thing I don't like is the blood splatter on the screen when you get hit, which makes visibility really poor. It's an issue I've never been too fond of in previous CoD games, but in this it's even worse, because now you're also hindered by a message saying "YOU ARE HURT. GET TO COVER!111" slap bang in the middle of the screen. Gee, thanks for that Infinity Ward. I never would've thought of doing that. Really poor design choice.

All minor complains are instantly made moot, though, because there is a level in the campaign called

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WOLVERINES!