I’ve sat with interest watching a lot of hate flow the way of the latest iteration in the Call of Duty franchise – Modern Warfare II seen as unacceptable to some, others talking about uninstalling it, and trashing the maps. But in my Call of Duty MWII review – I reckon it’s one of the best games in a long time.
I’ll get to my views on the game shortly, but to follow up on the point of hatred, it’s really quite funny. I saw one streamer who is apparently a big deal complaining that he was being paired with other players of a similar skill set. Wait, what? That’s a good thing. In fact, I’ve not seen it much myself yet, but I think that’s because as a level 4 player you’re still seen as about the same experience level as level 30 players. When you push much higher than that, you’re not going to see me on your squad.
And if this works out well after everyone is bedded down in the game, it’s going to be amazing. I’d like to think it might shut up some of the microphone warriors that act like this is a real warzone after losing a team deathmatch and seeing I only contributed a few kills. I’m just here to have fun mate, go get a job and see how it is to balance your joy of gaming with a real life.
For those bagging the maps, again, i think they are great. I haven’t even seen them all (because I can’t seem to work out how to filter matches by map – which is a pain), but they really look great, feel real and are a challenging place to battle.
Lots of whinging about the User Interface too – by gosh some people are narks. For my mind, I think its fine. I’m sure this is all about it being different to “usual” but get over yourselves.
And good luck getting publisher Activision or studio Infinity Ward to give to hoots about what you think – they’ve got a blockbuster on their hands.
By Blockbuster I mean, legit – Blockbuster. You think Top Gun Maverick did ok on it’s opening weekend? Oh – Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did well too? Now combine BOTH those opening movie weekends and this Call of Duty MWII opening weekend smashes them. Over 1 Billion dollars (over $800 million USD) in three days.
Wowsers.
So, scroll away haters, this review is for those who’ve love CoD at some stage, and perhaps fell out of love with it. MWII is calling you back.
If you’re like me, you want to play the game through, the campaign that is, before really getting into multiplayer.
Campaign mode is a place to escape your 9-5 and the stresses of life, and play a role in a scripted action movie. In CoD MWII you get to play lots of roles, and they aren’t all “FPS” in the traditional sense.
I particularly loved the surveillance plane I flew in where I directed air strikes and missile attacks while my team held their position on the ground.
Then there was the perhaps somewhat too long driving scene where you have to jump from vehicle to vehicle taking down the enemy including strange bomb drones and more.
And trying to reach the church to meet Ghost was a challenge, lot’s of thinking required there. I left that one for another day a couple of times.
But in the end, while I don’t really know all the characters and the intricacies of the story, what I took from it was deception, a turncoat or two, and a deadly combination of cartel and terrorists which I helped bring down.
That satisfying feeling of completing the campaign was sensational. Yet, it left me wanting for more. An indicator of things to come.
I’ll play a lot more Multiplayer as my time permits, but just as the hard core pros aren’t liking having to battle a bit harder, I still struggle with the fact that it’s an uneven playing field. For those who have the time to play and upgrade their weapons, over those of us with day-jobs and families that mean our game time is limited so we’re hamstrung by almost default weaponry. I wouldn’t mind a like-for-like death match to prove myself.
Who am I kidding, I know I’m rubbish. I need a team who can rely on me as a sniper – it’s what I do best.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II is out now, and works on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and PC.
If you see “TrevorLong” in game, yes, that’s me, and no I don’t care that you shot me:)
