Review Score:

Infinity Ward’s bold move to take the Call of Duty franchise into a modern setting with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare proved to be an astounding success. The game sold in record-breaking numbers, received an absurd amount of critical acclaim, and, to this day, is one of the most played titles on Xbox Live. Now, two years later, Modern Warfare 2 has been released. And while some may be skeptical as to whether or not Infinity Ward can deliver a sequel that tops its predecessor, I can assure you, Modern Warfare 2 exceeds expectations is almost every way possible.

The game takes place five years after the events of Call of Duty 4. Zakhaev is dead, and a new foe has risen to power in Russia – Vladmir Makarov. You play primarily as the new recruit to the covert operations squad, Taskforce 141. I won’t go much further than this, because the story is one worth experiencing entirely for yourself, but I can assure you that the action-packed, thrill ride narrative you’ve come to expect is fully intact, and cranked up to max. You’ll find yourself in a vast number of beautiful, varied locales across the globe, with each mission doing a fantastic job of changing up the gameplay just enough to keep things interesting, while moving the narrative along at a breakneck pace. This coupled with the great characters accompanying you during the adventure make for a truly unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, much like Call of Duty 4, the story is short – very short. You won’t have much trouble finishing the entire campaign in one sitting, with it clocking in right around five hours on the Normal difficulty setting.

The campaign is an absolute joy from start to finish.

To make up for this, an entirely new game mode has been thrown into the mix called Special Ops. If you remember the airplane level after the credits in Call of Duty 4, you should have at least a minor understanding of what these standalone missions feel like. They can be played either solo or in two-player co-op. The earlier ones start off pretty simple, making you do things such as taking on five waves of enemies or sneaking past patrolling guards, but they can become pretty sinister on the harder difficulties, asking you to take on huge numbers of enemies on the Veteran difficulty. For each operation, you’ll be rewarded up to three stars for your performance, with 23 operations total. These stars don’t get you anything special for acquiring them (besides achievements/trophies), but they’re extremely exciting – though sometimes extremely frustrating – to attain.

Now, while the campaign is top-notch and the Special Ops mode ads some serious longevity to the non-competitive gameplay, where Modern Warfare 2 really shines is in its online competitive multiplayer. Infinity Ward has gone absolutely wild with the online here, topping its predecessor in nearly every way. Call of Duty 4 brought with it a new way to play online shooters – with persistence. And this is exactly what Infinity Ward has focused on in Modern Warfare 2.

Special Ops mode can prove to be a real challenge.

The only problem with Call of Duty 4’s multiplayer was that while there was a significant amount of content to unlock, the variety in weapon types, attatchments, kill streaks, etc. got a bit stale after dumping some serious time into it. Infinity Ward has realized this, and brought more variety to every aspect of the game than we could have ever asked for.

First and foremost, Modern Warfare 2’s level cap has been bumped up to level 70, instead of 55 from the previous game. And even with this higher level cap, it’s still hard to keep up with the constant amount of new unlocks being thrown at you left and right. There are new guns in every category, with some old favorites showing up once again; there are an absurd amount of weapon attachments to unlock, from your standard red dot sight to a thermal scope; there are new grenade types, tons of new perks (each with their own upgraded version to unlock), and even the new Death Streaks, which are built to help beginners by giving them a bit of a nudge in the right direction if they die too many times in a row.

Taking control of an AC-130 in online multiplayer is immensely satisfying.

While all of these additions are very welcome and a joy to use, the most impactful change to the multiplayer is the emphasis on Kill Streaks. Unlike Call of Duty 4, where there were three pre-determined Kill Streaks for everyone, Modern Warfare 2 introduces customizable kill streak loadouts. As you level up, you’ll unlock more and more Kill Streaks, of which you can choose three to use in each match. There are fifteen total, ranging from an air-dropped care package containing a random kill streak, to a 25 kill streak tactical nuke, which blows up everyone on the map, ending the game. These kill streaks make for some fantastic variety, and always give you a side project to be fighting for, because in all honesty, taking control of an AC-130 gunship and raining down death on my enemies is one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had in gaming.

Lastly, there is a bit more customization thrown into the multiplayer in the form of your Call Sign. This serves as a more personal touch, giving you the ability to change your title and emblem that shows up on screen whenever you get a kill or do something for your team. They’re a nice little addition, with hundreds of unlocks available, and they let you show your personality a bit more than whatever your gamertag happens to be.

All of these gameplay elements come together to form a truly amazing package. The campaign, while rather short, is action packed and a thrillride from start to finish, the Special Ops mode ads some great longevity to the non-competitive portion of the game, and the online features one of the best competitive multiplayer experiences available to date. If you’re even remotely interested in competitive first-person shooters, you owe it to yourself to buy Modern Warfare 2. It’s the immensely addicting game where we’ll all be spending the next months, if not years, of our gaming time.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.