Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | First Impressions

Shawn Lebert Says The behemoth has landed. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is ground-zero. The masses are finally able to withdraw the greens and cling to Infinity Ward's latest title on the market. A direct sequel to the original Modern Warfare, which takes place five years after the first conclusion, comes the brave and bold extra step for a worthy sequel. So far, Infinity Ward has not let down, preserving the golden features of the original Modern Warfare, but ramped up the action to the 110th percent.

Hands down, two years ago, when I completed the original, I was convinced that the campaign was my favorite first person shooter. It had everything. Action, story line, drama, suspense, I could go on. The value for the game was extraordinary and the substance actually had weight, it had actual depth. There are a lot of shooters out there that seem to fail beyond these proportions. There are many that do not capture the emotional intent that Infinity Ward seems to impress. For the time being, I have only experienced less than a handful of checkpoints in the first mission of the sequel. Just by that estimate alone, I am telling anyone that reads this that whatever memory you held dear for so long, whatever inspirational, epic experience you may have had, Warfare 2 might not only revitalize those memories to the surface, but capitalize on the already established content that the first game was so positively noted for.

After the explosive entrance into the campaign, I can not verbally express the sheer thrill of what was happening. Goosebumps that I have for so long forgotten came back to the surface. The only way to describe it is to compare the game to a heart-pounding ride at Six Flags. I fell right into the action. I was the actual soldier on the battlefield, hearing and seeing those bullets smashing into the environment around me. Infinity Ward definitely wants long-time fans and newcomers to experience an intense and powerful game.

Of course, without question, there is training before one finds themselves in the nitty-gritty of the campaign. It's standard obviously, but the developers put an amazing amount of detail into the prologue beforehand, with the help of beautiful graphics, really convincing voice acting, and dynamic sound. The yelling drill instructors were actually alarming and I was compelled to do a better job!

Infinity Ward knows how to hit the right buttons, investing in creating a world so deep and motivating with the right kind of enthralling characters who are both good and evil. You love the good guys and love to hate the bad ones. I have yet to encounter the controversial moments. Although briefly scanning over information on the net, I have completely kept myself in the dark about what I should experience other than the trailers. As far as opinion about the highly questionable and controversial content, I believe that Infinity Ward knows what they are doing and wouldn't tack anything on for the purpose of turning corporate heads. Their stories are motivational and important.

I briefly took a look into the Special-Ops mode, which gives one or two gamers the opportunity to play together in little mini-games to earn stars. This mode takes an ample amount of time as it varies between objectives, such as elimination, challenge times or both. I can't wait to get back into it to see what more I can do.

Of course, last but not least, is the multiplayer section of Modern Warfare 2. It doesn't steer clear from the previous multiplayer and keeps all of the good elements that keeps it addicting. The perks are still intact with a few extra tidbits. This includes the ability to take the image of the last man who killed you and use their weapon configuration. Although I don't know how or why this is beneficial or implemented yet, as I have not played more than an hour.

Admittedly, I wouldn't mind Achievements in multiplayer as it is very fun, but I understand their reasoning. The awards in multiplayer alone are rewarding enough for an achievement-less or trophy-less addition.

By far, Modern Warfare 2 is adding up to be the successor to its predecessor and I'm only in the midst of the first couple of hours! Keep watching The Goozex Report for the full review.