Each November comes packed with a few things: Falling leaves, Thanksgiving, Call of Duty. This year’s edition, Modern Warfare 2, brings with it massive maps, a great weapon-progression system, and new modes.
Developed by Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 2 it yet another rock-solid first-person shooter released by the studio. The team combined fantastic gunplay their tried-and-true weapon progression system to keep players coming back every day. The weapons have a new, subtle, weight design. Each one will hold and handle differently in the player’s hands. This makes each weapon unique to play with. The weapon progression system is the same as it’s been for the last few years. It remains very solid, and gives players lots of weapons, skins and attachments to work towards. As usual, each weapon attachment affects its performance differently, and you can customize it to your playstyle. An underbarrel grip may improve recoil, while a laser sight could improve your accuracy while hip-firing.
The first, and really only, issue I can find so far is the vast customizability may be a bit overwhelming for new players. The dozens and dozens of load out and attachment combinations is enough to make even a seasoned veteran’s head spin. The game does includes skill-based multiplayer matchmaking that give players some time to learn and fine-tune their skills and load outs without being thrown to the wolves right away. YouTube Creator Espresso has great video to introduce and explain it all:
Modern Warfare 2 currently features twelve maps at launch. Each one is part of three categories: Al Mazrah, Las Almas, and Rest of the World. Al Mazrah is the new Warzone 2.0 map, Las Almas is a major point of interest in the game’s campaign, and Rest of The World is any map that doesn’t fall into the other two categories. The twelve maps included at launch are: Farm 18, Mercado Las Almas, Breenbergh Hotel, Taraq, Crown Raceway, Embassy, El Asilo, Zarqwa Hydroelectric, Al Bagra Fortress, Santa Sena Border Crossing, Sarrif Bay, and Sa’id. More maps are sure to come as DLC as the year progresses.
The game features classic modes like Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy, and Free-For-All. It also includes new modes like Lockout , where two teams fight over a bag of money that spawns in one of three areas on the map. Another new mode is Prisoner Rescue, where one team fights to free a group of prisoners held hostage by the other team. The second mode look very interesting to me as I’m a big fan of Rainbow Six Siege. It reminds me very much of Hostage, which is always fun to play with a group of friends, but lots of strategy needs to be implemented.
Overall, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 looks be yet another smash hit for the franchise. With Warzone 2.0 about to find its way onto hard drives everywhere, it’s clear Call Of Duty will once again win the holiday season. I highly recommend this game. You can find the Standard Edition for $69.99 on the Xbox and PlayStation stores, as well as Steam.