<span style=”color: #ffff00; font-size: medium;”><strong><a target=”_blank”><span style=”color: #ffff00;”>all of Duty: Modern Warfare 2</span></a></strong></span>
<span style=”color: #ffff00;”><strong>Platform:</strong></span> Xbox 360 (Reviewed), Playstation 3, Wii, PC
<span style=”color: #ffff00;”><strong>Publisher:</strong></span> Activision
<span style=”color: #ffff00;”><strong>Developer:</strong></span> Infinity Ward
<span style=”color: #ffff00;”><strong>Release Date:</strong></span> November 10, 2009

Hype is a treacherous gamble. On the one hand, it offers unprecedented awareness for a game giving it a good chance of selling millions of copies. On the other, it creates an obscurely perfect mirage in the minds of the fans, who can be nothing but disappointed with the actual release version. But surely the developers of console favourites Call Of Duty 2 and Call Of Duty 4 wouldn’t disappoint. Would they?

With the tussle of development surrounding the Call Of Duty series, it has been Infinity Ward who have been favoured by the community having taken the series out of the saturated WWII market and into the modern day. With their first post-20th century Call Of Duty, Modern Warfare, creating one of the most popular multiplayer experiences of all time and certainly redefining the FPS genre with its use of ‘perks’ in its gameplay, Modern Warfare 2 was going to need something special to even match the success of its predecessor.

The game is broken into three distinct modes; Campaign, Special Ops and Multiplayer. The single player campaign continues the story from CoD4, following the protagonist ‘Soap’ MacTavish through the eyes of new recruit Gary ‘Roach’ Sanderson among other minor characters. With the Ultranationalist threat growing, it’s down to the Task Force 141, an elite band of specialist personnel to eliminiate this threat. But, the cunningness and sly intelligence of the antagonist Vladimir Makarov leads to a threat not even the US can be encumbered with. By now, you will be familiar with the ‘terrible’ inclusion that is the ‘No Russian’ airport scene. After playing, you will realise it is necessary to evoke the harshest of emotions in the player to create the compelling narrative and storytelling prowess that Infinity Ward have mastered. Packing more punch than an Arnie film, more humour than Ben Stiller and more testosterone than if Chuck Norris and Mr T had a baby, this campaign blows all others out of the water.

Mention ‘Mile High Club’ and many gamers will start waffling about their extreme hatred of the infamous level that left many a controller broken and many a gamer weak and frustrated. So, Infinity Ward have taken a co-op approach to 23 mini missions, similar in build to their ‘MHC’ cousin but showcasing a lot more variety and enjoyment. Ranging from wave defense, target elimination, stealth and even snowmobile races, there is no lack of escapism for those bored with multiplayer and finished with solo. With 23 missions all available on regular, hardened and veteran missions, it’s going to take a long time to complete and offering much replayability. Oh, and you’ll soon be saying how the Juggernaut of Call Of Duty 4 wasn’t so bad…

Unless you’ve rented or got cash to burn, Modern Warfare 2 will be your big purchase for now, and you want playability. How about a multiplayer experience that combines the beautifully designed and successful CoD4 multiplayer and the Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 customisability. With literally thousands of combinations with well over40 weapons, over 15 attachments, equipment, perks, deathstreaks, killstreaks, grenades… you get the picture. Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer is bigger, badder and downright FPS brilliance on show. With a bunch of locations on offer including Afghan (surprisingly set in Afghanistan), Favela (a hectic close quarters Brazilian slum) and Wasteland (living in a snipers paradise) there is so many different ways to approach levels, leaving you querying whether to use a thermal scope or acog, silencer or go loud and whether a launcher is needed to protect from air assaults. And, with killstreaks featuring Chopper Gunners, the infamous AC130 and many other types of aircraft, it’s good to see maps featuring a divine combination of buildings, open ground and sly camping spots to satisfy everyones needs.

Whilst the game is near perfect, certain flaws generally related to a lack of public beta are evident. Overpowered weapons and minimal recoil seem to show the target of a mainstream market. But, minor flaws aside, without doubt Modern Warfare 2 is the pinnacle of what console gaming has to offer, beautiful graphics, a Hans Zimmer orchestrated masterpiece and some of the best FPS gameplay seen this generation.