Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was a mixed bag for me. It was enjoyable enough in terms of story, but lacked any real innovation in my opinion. Like I mentioned before, it was the start of my personal dislike for the rest of the games.

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, you continue the story from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. You take, once again, control of Captain Soap MacTavish on their hunt for Vladimir Makarov, the leader of the Russian Ultranationalist party, 5 years after the events of the previous game. Before this however, you play as Private James Ramirez and Sergeant Gary Sanderson in the earlier missions.

Despite your efforts in Call of Duty, 4 to prevent the rise of the Russian Ultranationalist party, Russia has been seizes by their leader, Vladimir Makarov and nuclear war is posing a real threat to humanity. In multiple campaigns and missions, you, Captain Price and the rest of your squad, try to find and lure out Makarov in a lot of different attempts. These attempts and missions include Infiltrating his terrorist cell, using bait to lure him out, launching assaults in Brazil, Kazakhstan, and defending satellites, and the main shore of the United States, against surprise assaults from Makarov himself.

Even betrayal in the own ranks of your squad is a factor and General Shepherd was secretly working with Makarov to start a war with Russia and become a war hero. He is stopped and killed by Soap and Price (yes, he is still alive) in a dramatic open ending, in which Soap and the surviving members are evacuated and the game ends.

This is the first game in which it becomes “clear”, that it was made for Multiplayer, like the rest of the series nowadays. Although the story was still very enjoyable, the campaign was very short. This marked the beginning of a trend in the rest of the series. There was effort to make the campaign interesting and fun, but the length was just too short for a game with this kind of price tag.

In terms of graphics, there is a slight improvement over the other games, but not all that special. It still runs on the same engine and, unlike the previous game, Call of Duty: World at War, the dismemberment and carnage has been removed again, which is a shame.

In the sound department, not much has changed. It is still alright and the gunfire sounds fine. The rest of the effects, like getting hit by a flash bang or the ring in your ears after a grenade explosion is still identical from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The voice acting remains superb though.

Of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is (in)famous for the mission “No Russian”, in which you shoot hundreds of Russian civilians. I too had mixed feelings about this mission. The inclusion of this mission showed a weird perspective that made me question some moral choices.

In the end, I think that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is still a good game, but just not as great as the previous installments. This is mainly based on my personal experience and nostalgia.

Would still recommend it though, as a classic.

I played this when I was a kid on a friend's recommendation and this game made me love First Person Shooters. I really felt connected to this game and the characters. Playing it's remastered version after all these years was such a delight. Roach, Cpt. Soap MacTavish, Cpt. Price, Ghost, Nikolai.. Ahh those were the days. Makarov was the main villain during whole game until he was not! Shepherd is a Bitch.

STORY = 7/10
GAMEPLAY = 1010
ENJOYMENT = 9/10
RATING = 8.6/10