Feature review: Modern Warfare 2

This action is helped along by the slick and responsive control system, which makes it easy to be a good shot – and you’ll need to be if you fancy getting through the game, even on the easiest difficulty setting. There’s nothing particularly special about it, all the standard shooter actions (sprinting, crouching, aiming, melee attacking) are all assigned to the commonly accepted standards on PC and console, but it just seems so much smoother than other games of this type – it’s like the game almost aims and fires for you, even with the aim assist option turned off.

Once players have had their fill of the short but sweet campaign mode, there are two options at their disposal. The first and most obvious is multiplayer, and it’s probably the sole reason most gamers bought the game in the first place. It’s as good as you might expect. Join a group of other gamers online for some intense multiplayer battles, or get some friends together and LAN it for an entire weekend (yes, even on the console versions). You can also play up to four players in split-screen on the console versions, by the way.

The second option is the Special Ops mode: an extensive list of performance-oriented custom missions that players can tackle cooperatively or solo. The objectives vary from withstanding waves of enemy assaults, to taking down a set number of enemies without raising an alert, to destroying a set of targets. Each mission allows the player to earn a ranking from one to three stars, three being the hardest to obtain. These stars unlock more missions in the Special Ops mode, so the more stars you earn, the more missions you’ll be able to play.

Graphically, MW2 is quite an improvement over the previous game, and it runs so incredibly smoothly, even when there are explosions, bullets flying, and all-round chaos. The physics engine is well-used, and adds a great feeling of immersion to game. It’s easy to become sucked right into the action when bullets are causing sprays of dust from the walls, papers are scattering from desks, coffee mugs are flying everywhere, chairs are falling over, and enemy soldiers are dangling limply over the balconies where they met their doom. The voice acting is superb and feels more tightly tied to the action than some other games. If your team-mates shout a warning to you, it will always be in a timely enough fashion for you to do something about it.

There’s not a lot more to say, really. When it comes to compelling, story-driven first-person shooters, they simply don’t get any better than this. Sure, the campaign might be a little on the short side, but it’s immersive and intense the entire way. I, for one, would rather have a slightly shorter but higher quality experience than one that is drawn out longer than it should be just to add the illusion of value. Then there’s the nearly endless appeal of MW2’s multiplayer modes, which fans will probably continue to play until MW3 comes along.