For avid fans of the game to this day, just read the first half. For everyone else, read all of it.


I was one of the people who got this game when it first came out, as a gift, but I still got the experience of a clean slate, unbiased. Single player is fantastic. It’s basically an over-simplified Tom Clancy plot (framing, double-agents, betrayal, etc.) with more action than dialogue. Half of it takes place in the U.S., making the more tense stages, and the other half ranges from Russia to South America, making the fast-paced half. Each level is memorable and the fire-fights are intense, to say the least. If you’re playing for the aforementioned story, you might raise an eyebrow at some of the logic. Gaping plot holes litter the campaign, but only if you pay much attention do you notice them. It’s a dip in quality from the gripping, realistic (for a video game) storyline of the original. But the action’s top-notch, with bigger boomsticks and more visceral gameplay.


The multiplayer, when it first came out, was amazing, an improvement over Call of Duty 4 in pretty much every way. More ranks, more weapons, more attachments, obviously more maps, and an all around crazier attitude. Admittedly, the bullet penetration is ridiculous. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gotten killed by some guy randomly firing through walls with a light machine gun. Some of the weapons were overpowerful, too, like the infamous double shotgun fiasco. But various patches and updates remedied all that. So when the game first came out, it was fantastic. I’d recommend it to pretty much anyone, however flawed it was.


I’d give the original Modern Warfare 2 a 9 out of 10, adjusted for the niggling flaws.


For those avid fans I mentioned, you can stop now.


Fast-forward to a year after its release. Single player is obviously the same. But multiplayer has devolved into the most revolting experience I’ve had with a controller. There’s a new glitch each week, that inevitably gets the punks who abuse it thousands of points, and they’re always over-used. When one glitch is patched, a new one pops up just as fast. And, trust me when I say this, everyone is cheating. It may be exaggeration, but not by much. And don’t assume I’m just bitter about getting wiped across the floor. I used to be a competent player. Not anymore. Ridiculous one-hit kills, firing through walls without any reason to try (read: constant radar), endless care packages, and lag switches galore now riddle the game and turn it into a test of human endurance. For those who don’t know what a lag switch is, it’s basically a piece of hardware that makes your internet connection worse or better at will. So if they turn it on, they’re connection gets worse, making them hop around the level on your screen, but they’re still playing like normal. Underhanded? Yes. Infuriating? Yes. Unavoidable? Alas, yes. Every match has at least one of these guys. And they’re never caught by the developers.


That’s why online has become (to quote Obi Wan Kenobi from Episode Four) a wretched hive of scum and villainy; it was never tested. There wasn’t a proper community beta test (a release of online play to the public to monitor and fix glitches), just an internal testing phase. And it obviously didn’t work. The reason you give it to the public is because they’re actual gamers and will try EVERYTHING that might happen. But alas, it’s just no use anymore. I’ve tried going back to play, but I only turned it off in frustration and regret. I feel genuinely sorry for new players. Especially since there’s talk of an extra fee (in addition to the Xbox Live Gold fee) to play Call of Duty online. We’re already paying for it, and now that it’s broken, you want us to pay more? I don’t think so.


I’d give the “new and destroyed” version of Modern Warfare 2 a 5 out of 10, because half the game just doesn’t work. I’d think long and hard about slapping down fifty dollars for this game.