(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The long awaited sequel of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare series, widely known as the best First Person Shooter to date is finally upon us and NextGenUpdate’s been lucky enough to get an early copy.

Due to the success of the first Modern Warfare, the hype around Modern Warfare 2 has been nothing less than spectacular, so will the game live up to it’s predecessor?





[coverattach=1]Modern Warfare 2 picks up 5 years after the original Modern Warfare following the death of Russian ultranationalist Zakhaev, the organization has returned under the leadership of Vladimir Makarov a former associate of Zakhaevs. Makarov has publicised Zaekhaevs death as a form of Martydom to garner support for his faces. Fearful of Makarovs growing influence, the global community established Task Force 141 to counter this new threat.



This is where you come in. You play as Gary “Roach” Sanderson of task force 141 under Soap Mactavish who’s returned as a non-playable character, head of the task force and*Roach’s Superior officer. There’s also a new character under the name Ghost who’s*face is hidden by a Skull-Imprinted Balaclava.*



The story takes you to many different locations including Rio De Janeiro “The City of God”, a snow mountain location*'famously known as the first footage ever seen of the Modern Warfare 2', the deserts of Afghanistan and even to the home ground of America.

Unlike many similar games, the story in Modern Warfare 2 really makes you feel like you’re a part of task force 141. The music for the game written by Hans Zimmer just adds to the effect of the story as if you’re not playing a game, you’re playing*in part of a film. The game surprised me with how good the story was and there were plenty of “OMG” moments where I was shocked and excited about what was happening.



The graphics engine has been adapted from the original in the series and although in comparison to the likes of Uncharted 2, it’s not amazing, but it’s certainly still up there with the top. The slight touches such as the effects of a window smashing, grenades rolling and the way objects move in blasts really do keep the eye’s smiling (if that was of course possible)

Although I’m no expert in sound effects, the guns, explosions and characters*voices all sound as good as I can possibly imagine and with the right surround sound setup would really make you feel like you’re in the war zone.

The enemies are also another thing quite different from the original in the way they act. Infinity Ward have named this Dynamic A.I. It is really noticeable such as in the Rio de Janeiro chapter where the enemies were using buildings and windows to shoot from and whenever I died in a section, I couldn’t expect them to be in the same place as before, which added a lot of realism to the game.

All in all the single player story and mission of Call of Duty was really impressive. Anyone who may be nervous if the game can live up to the success of the first will not be disappointed! This is a must have game for any First Person shooter gamer. The one down side is that the game is a little short, but it is certainly good enough to revisit at a harder level and with the Spec Ops section to the game, you can do these favourite pieces from the game over and over again.

Now with that over, the part I think most of you are looking forward to is the online multiplayer! The original Modern Warfare is still one of the most played games on both PSN and Xbox live and the fans have been eagerly awaiting on Infinity Ward to see if the game can live up the players high expectations.



The main screen and the setup of the multiplayer part of the game has stayed quite similar in certain sections, yet much different in other. For example, you still have Perks 1, 2 and 3 to choose from, yet instead of everything being based there, it’s been extended to other areas. There are now Death Streaks that allow you to do things such as “Copycat”: if you keep getting killed by the same guy, it allows you to take his perks and gun setup. Or “Painkiller”: if you die 4 times in a row you’re given extra health for 10 seconds after you respawn. Also new to Modern Warfare 2, you now also have the ability to customize your own kill streaks, which include controlled missiles, stealth bombing, AC-130 gun ships and even as far as a Nuclear Bomb which wipes out both teams and ends the game (although how often you'll see that, I don't know).

There is a large amount of guns and add-ons, some of which are returning appearances and others which are completely new to the series. New perks such as “Bling” give the ability to have multiple add-ons for your gun which was something requested by a lot of fans, so now you can have both red dot and silencer if you want!



There are plenty of maps in a variety of environments. The maps are a fair bit larger than that of Call of Duty 4 and I’m unsure yet whether or not that’s a good or bad thing. The size of the maps in Treyarch’s World at War was something a lot of players didn’t like. I guess you can’t please everyone though! However the maps do let you access buildings a lot more than before, where only some buildings were accessible.



The new instalment brings back a lot of game types from the original and there are also a couple of new game types including a 3rd person game mode where everyone competes for an objective in the 3rd person view. I had a quick go on multiplayer 3rd person with a friend and both of us struggled to get to grips with it properly. I think that this is going to be a love or hate thing for people, but it’s great to have the ability to do so.

Returning with the famous prestige ranks, Infinity Ward brings back the traditional ten badges but with a twist this time. The fans spoke out and Infinity Ward listened, this time after each successive prestige, you’ll be awarded with ____, well you’ll have to get there to find out. Also different in Modern Warfare 2, you’ll have to progress through 70 ranks instead of the old 55 in Call of Duty 4 and 65 in World at War. This should keep all you hardcore fans busy since there’s now a total of 700 ranks to progress through.



And if you’re tired of both Multiplayer and Single Player, you can always head over to the new Spec-Ops mode which I’m assuming is Infinity Wards answer to co-op and to Treyarchs zombie mode. In terms of co-op you can either play this with a friend or solo by yourself. As well, there are three difficulties; beating it on the lowest difficulty will earn you one star, and beating it on the hardest difficulty will earn you three.



Finally if you’re obsessed with trophies or achievements, this game packs plenty for those willing to go above and beyond. Unfortunately there are no multiplayer trophies or achievements, but nonetheless, the single player and spec-ops trophies/achievements will keep you busy for quite some time.

All in all Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a well packaged game. The single player story, improved graphics, cutting edge audio and brilliant game play will please any hardcore Call of Duty fan and anyone new to the series will get a taste of the un-official King of First Person Shooters. Well done Infinity Ward for not letting the fans down.

The big question is, has infinity ward done enough to seal Game of the Year, or will Uncharted 2 take the victory? NextGenUpdate will of course be on hand to keep you informed along the way.



Written by Gobble & Crick_Head

well done my friend

nice review

great review m8 keep it up

Nice Game, good graphics, --->RESPECT<---

yep really good

Thats awesome!

Graphics wise, sure, they look great.

But these ratings arent considering a lot of things. Formatics, respectively.

The gameplay has tons of flaws that only experienced players from the first mw would notice.

It has a entirely new developed spawning system, always forcing you to spawn in slightly different areas of the same side you started on, making it very easy for the other team, once they win possession of the side, start camping the spawn.

It used to be difficult and skillful to control the spawns in mw1, as the spawns constantly changed correlating to whatever side the enemy team dominantly controls, putting you in the furthest position away from them to allow you to get out of your spawn and have time to set up without getting killed over and over again in the same spot.

Flaw number two: complexity.

In infinitywards effort to make the maps extremely diverse and flourishing with scenery and liveliness, they seem to have forgotten the battlefield-esque maps that mw1 embellished and players enjoyed. All this diverseness and complexity in the maps (tons of dumpsters, trees, barracks, crates, barrels etc) makes it really easy for a not-so-talented person to sit around and do very, very well. Why? Because there is so much stuff that you can hide behind that kids can just sit around and get tons of kills, talent or not.

I played a free-for-all match the other day, and it was horrid. The player that won, as i was watching his kill cams, sat in a dark corner in the tunnel on afghan and sat there the ENTIRE game, and the sick thing was HE WON. He went 25 and 7, and he never even moved. And every time he spawned he would go back to the same spot and do the same thing he did before.

When i played cod4, i would typically go 25-2, 25-3 every free-for-all match on average, and i actually moved around constantly.

Now ill be lucky to go even!! Its sick.

Anyone else notice these flaws?

Great Review , Only one error "... Of al time" Shouldn't that be all? ")