Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Majorly successful first person shooter that everyone raved about until they all realized it's not as good as the first one and has a bit of a rubbish ending [SPOILERS BELOW]
Just The Facts
- Modern Warfare 2 is the sequel to the popular videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Yes, big surprise.
- It's set five years after the original and involves a war between Russia and the U.S.A.
- It's overblown, pretentious and predictable. So, better than most games.
- Still, it's damn fun to play!
War: It's modern now apparently...
Let's start with what happened at the end of the first game (assuming you haven't played it, in which case, where the fuck have you been?):
Captain Price, Soap, Gaz, Griggs and some other soldiers not important enough to be remembered held their ground on a large bridge against what seemed to be every terrorist ever, all of them streaming in on trucks, probably with comfy seats and air conditioning. Smug bastards. The firefight doesn't go well, considering a tanker explodes, temporarily disabling Soaps ability to shoot, move, or talk (which wasn't a big loss). Griggs, trying to save his British buddy, get's the shit shot out of him, while Gaz is executed at point blank range by the main villain of the game, Imran Zakhaev. What follows is one of the most memorable and moving endings in videogaming history. All seems to be lost, the enemy are closing in, most of your friends are dead, everything is going to shit. Then, BAM, the good Russians showed up (cue applause and emotional music). As the Russians all started shooting at each other, Captain Price, close to death, threw Soap a single pistol, which Soap aimed carefully at Zakhaevs fat face. We imagine he was surprised.
"Oooooooh Snap!"
Soap shot Zakhaev and his guards, before dropping the pistol and looking over at Captain Price, who was lying on the ground, completely still.
This ending drew tears from the most hardened of men (we assume we aren't the only ones). Many questions went unanswered ("What happened to Captain Price?".....wait, no, that was the only question), and Infinity Ward remained tight lipped about a possible sequel. Now, two years on, and after having suffered another generic WW2 Shooter as a follow up (thanks Treyarch!), we have Modern Warfare 2, and here is the worldwide opinion:
Too Short
Disapointing ending
AWESOME MULTIPLAYER
Basically, what the world is saying, is that if you aren't online by now (seriously, who isn't?) then there's little point in owning this game after you've finished it. The story isn't as compelling as the first one and the plot twists would make M. Night Shyamalan blush.
Trust us, he's blushing.
An insight into the mind set of a COD:MW2 Character
It's important to establish a connection to a character when creating a videogame. With Modern Warfare, Soap was identifiable as the noob of the unit, helping any new players feel more comfortable (or something, we aren't experts at psychology, we're a website). In this game, there's Roach. He's a British man about town who has been assigned to Task Force 141, which is led by (drum roll) Soap. While this is exceptionally cool, in ways non-gamers will never understand, it really begs the question: Why didn't they just let us play as Soap again? Assuming most people who are going to buy Modern Warfare 2 played the first one, they aren't new to the dynamic of war in this day and age, in terms of videogames. Nothing would be as awesome as playing as the captain of your team. Now, we aren't suggesting that they should have had squad commands or anything, since that would make it unbearable to play (let Operation Flashpoint deal with that).
BE WARNED: SPOILERS AHEAD
Obviously, the guys at Infinity Ward are logical and they obviously knew what the gamer wants. So, after Roach gets killed (That's another playable character we won't be seeing again), players get put in the role of Soap again (YEAH! BOOYAH!). The section involves you following Captain Price through a warzone and a secret base in search of the traitorous wanker, General Shepard (voiced by Lance Henriksen).
Look at those soulless eyes!
This was an incredibly smart move on IW's part, considering it made everyone who played this game (including us) squeal with excitement and happiness. Nostalgia at its finest.
Modern Warfare 2 (as illustrated by a six-year-old)
The 5 best bits in Modern Warfare 2
5. Washington DC Battle
Now, this isn't one of the best moments because it finally depicts what America would look like as a warzone (weird by the way. How did the trenches get dug so fast?). This is one of the best moments, because of how it makes you feel. American or not, you have to appreciate the horror of seeing the famous city on fire. Nothing is as terrifying as seeing the White House with gunfire exploding around it. You know, unless the queen from Aliens shows up. But it wouldn't matter anyway, we have this guy, he knows what he's doing!
SOULLESS!
It's a great level. That's all that is needed to be said.
4. Cliffhanger
Set in Kazakhstan (must hold back Borat joke for later), this sequence involves Roach and Soap, climbing the side of a mountain to start their mission. The point of the mission is to retrieve an American ACS module (whatever the hell that is). But the mission's objective can't beat some of the standout moments that occur during its progression. The climb alone is brilliant, with a great shout out to the original game (the captain saving the playable character was done at the beginning of Modern Warfare as well). The level is extremely "James Bond," what with gadgets and saving your team-mate, but what really makes 007's erection rise is the Snowmobile chase. Snowmobiles + Guns + Terrorists = Awesome apparently.
You can almost hear the James Bond music!
In all seriousness, this is an amazing gameplay sequence that really sets the game up.
3. General Shepards betrayal
Ooooh, the smug bast- OK, we'll try and stay neutral....but it's very difficult when he's such a cunt. Shepard is an army General for the United States. He is rather sore apparently, having lost 30,000 troops in the nuclear attack of the previous game. Turns out he went a bit nuts about America proving itself as a superpower, so he teamed up with generic Russian bad guy, Vladmir Makarov, to spark a war with Russia. Seriously, he's that much of a dick that he had to start a war to make himself feel better. Douchebag!
Stupid moustache as well. Can't hold a candle to Captain Price!
He continues being a douche by shooting Roach and killing Ghost. Roach is still alive after the attack, but only long enough to see ultranationalists soaking Ghost and himself with what we imagine is a mixture of gasoline and urine. Just to kick them while they're down. So, not only does Shepard betray pretty much everyone, but he also sets two men (one of whom is still alive) on fire! Git!
2. Final Fight
Not to worry though, since in the end, you kick his sorry ass anyway! After looking extensively for him (as Soap. Remember, Roach is dead by now), you manage to track him down with the help of Makarov (Who lives, by the way. Possibly to return in the sequel, cackling). After a bit of a chase, you manage to get into a melee battle, which he wins, stabbing Soap in the chest with his own knife. Just as all seems lost, Price turns up and proceeds to open a can of good old British whoopass on him, which fails, since Shepard appears to be Superman. He starts to choke Price, but is stopped helpfully when the player manages to hammer the action button enough times to drag the knife out and throw it at his stupid head.
Pwned!
1. The Airport
We chose this because we want to be as controversial as Infinity Ward, which we'll obviously achieve doing this. Unfortunately, the segment was a bit pointless, and really felt like it was only there to piss off the tabloids. But hey, since when is that not cool?
Medal of Honor....?
Replynever mind, bad timing.
I felt more connected to the character than i did in battlefield 3, right away you see his ass getting court martialed and im supposed to play as this guy?
ReplyBF3's story style reminded me too much of Black Ops... The whole "You know everything that's necessary to stop the bad guys, and you're going to tell us about it via memories" thing really just felt recycled, or ripped off. Really disappointing.
The story in CoD is absolutely dire. I don't know how Cracked come up with this "connection to the character" and "best bits" nonsense. Its kind of hard to connect with a character who never talks, never does anything besides what they're told to do, who has no face, no personality at all and who you don't even get to hang on to for more than a few levels. I don't even get why people like Price so much, I can barely remember anything special about him other than his hilarious mustache.
ReplyReally, the story is ridiculous and I can't imagine anyone with even a hint of knowledge regarding war wouldn't notice the gaping flaws.
Why exactly are the Americans sending a guy in to help massacre an airport? What could Russian criminal man be planning thats so important that its worth keeping cover for this? Why not just shoot the five of them when their backs are turned and say "yay, war prevented" ? The Americans even act like the Russians went and made a mistake. "Oh, they just didn't know the whole story!", no the story is that you sent a US soldier in to deliberately shoot up an airport.
Then at the end of the game after Shepard betrays the lead characters, he becomes the main villian. Wtf? That's not nice or anything but Price is now willing to take sides with Mr. "Kill-Thousands-Of-Civilians-In-An-Airport" just to get back at him.
I present to you Gordon Freeman.Silent protaganists are great for video games because they allow you to project your own personality onto them,to better feel that you're controlling them.I don't know about CoD1-3,but CoD4 actually did have a compelling,if confusingly presented,story.
I don't think you understand how flowcharts work.
ReplyThat Shepard shoop with the knife through his head was great.
ReplyI misread General Shepherds Betrayal as German Shepherds Betrayal and was wondering how I missed the dogs and their nefarious plot to betray someone or something....
ReplyDo not taunt them.
*glass shatters in the background*
OH GOD THEYRE CLOSING IN! THEYRE COMING THROUGH THE WALLS! GAME OVER,MAN! GAME OVER!
I'm not gonna lie, the airport scene is my favorite in the game.
ReplyDear God, there is something wrong with me...
mine too. well not really, because those turkey a*****k terrorists always hog all the civillian kills
wtf cracked? you say the airport was "a bit pointless?" It started the entire war between the US and Russia
Reply1) Didn't need to show that scene or even what caused the war in the first place
2) Why couldn't we just shoot Makarov and all his accomplices right there
3) The Russians obviously would have realized who was really behind the attack, and just used the American to justify the inevitable war, which brings us back to point 1
So maybe "pointless" is less accurate than "for a really stupid point"
Call of Duty is so-so. The thing I hate is when other games try to steal things from it and shoehorn it into their franchises. This ends up making every other game a Call of Duty clone, or just ruins what made it unique in the first place.
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesI swear, Mass Effect was the greatest game I ever played, hands down. Then they came out with the sequel, which I was so excited for. When I played it, I found that they had put a whole lot more action heavy features that seemed to be ripped off from CoD. I still loved the game, but it would be two times better if they kept the RPG elements from the last game. I mean. seriously, weapons using clips instead of the incredible and futuristic system they used in the original? The "take cover to regain health in 5 seconds automatically" bullshit that is designed so even the stupidest gamer can stumble through to the end? Powers that recharge almost immediately, which takes away all the tenseness of having to manage resources carefully and the satisfaction of winning? Shame, Bioware, shame.
those changes were made in the interest of the games not sucking
I actually enjoyed the usage of ammo. It made you have to think more tactically than "Fuck it, I'm just gonna charge them and hold down the fire button." The cover system was meh, but not awful. I kind of agree with the powers, except I think part of that was to make you feel like you and your team are the deadliest sons of bitches out there that they're supposed to be.
Or maybe to please the retards with ADD that seem to be everywhere nowadays.
Regenerating health not only makes no sense,but it doesn't even add fun to the game.It just means that health is no longer relevant.
Reminds me of Resistance 1 and 2.
I got them both in a double pack (great deal) and put the first one in. The film reel aesthetic,mostly silent main character,sense of mystery and discovery,and British narrator immediately stuck with me.I loved the health pickup system and how it was integrated into the story,and the fact that a little background pamphlet would appear when you picked up a new wep.I also enjoyed the wep inventory that allowed for shifting strategies.Want to take out a crowd of Hardfangs with a LAARK rocket?You could just as easily kill them with repeated shotgun blasts or an air-fuel grenade.Plus,DRIVABLE STALKERS!
Then I delivered the final blow to the reactor and watched the awesome,mysterious ending.The game took me at least a week to complete.I promptly popped in Resistance 2 and sat back.
After 1 and a half days of killing huge things in America with a regenerating health system,weps that left you to figure them out,an annoying 2 weps only system,and whatnot,I killed Daedalus and watched the ending.Then I thought,"Wow,the first one was actually better."
Honestly, I still couldn't understand the plot after No Russian. It simply doesn't make sense, and here's a chronological why:
Reply Hide All See All 5 Replies1- Your char was shot by a bullet just before the ambulance left with Makarov. Problem: the bullet was lodged in your skull, so the police could trace it back to a specific gun - namely, the one that was not in the hands of the Russian special forces. Where did the bullet come from then? And it's not like a guy on the scene could claim he shot the dude (for fame and a medal) since he'd have to produce the gun.
2- The police arrives and finds the body by now. You've got a guy with a bulletproof vest and an SMG. Okay, fine, but what if he was some tourist kidnapped and planted there to frame the US? And how exactly did Russia know he was from the US? Indeed, passports can be faked and pretty much anything can be planted. From what I remember, we only know that Russia somehow found out who the dead guy was and declared war.
What I'm saying is the investigation would last at least nine months to determine how and why the attack happened - you can't go to war against a superpower (even if you're one) like that or you're fucked.
3- you'd think in 2009 there'd be more diplomacy, too. Sure, Cold War and whatnot, but nowadays diplomatic relations between the two country are getting somewhere. IW is telling us Russia didn't even bother to open an investigation - they went straight to war because they found an American on the scene of the crime. History is full of "finding some nationality in a sensitive area", and in no cases was war declared for this reason (we've heard other reasons in that case).
4- But let's say Russia really wanted to wage war against the US. Is a supposed terrorist attack a casus belli? I'm thinking no, especially since botch countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council. That means the UN would certainly root for the US (think of the Iraq War - France didn't want to get the UN involved because the reason was not good enough, but the UN didn't root for Iraq because, most likely, it wasn't part of the SC).
So pretty soon Russia would have to face the US and the UN. Don't forget that in Russia only 74% of the population lives in urban areas (that is 12 635 796km^2). Therefore, you take that 74% and you're done with the invasion.
On the other hand, 82% of the USA's population lives in urban areas (that is 8 057 873,5 km^2).
While you'd have to take more km^2 (and a whopping more - 4 millions!) of Russia, I didn't include the density (number of people/km^2) because honestly I don't know how to include that in the equation.
The difference between the two countries is a goddamn 25 more people per km^2 in the US. Imagine just what these people, armed with their guns protected by the third amendment could do against an invasion.
In conclusion, Russia was fucked from the start by starting a war that they had no business conducting in the first place. So, yeah, take that Infinity Ward and f**k you with a retractable baton.
Americans would be safer from their Third Amendment rights? "Fuck you, Ruskies, American soldiers aren't constitutionally allowed to occupy private residences in peacetime! Wait, we're at war? And you're enemy combatants? There's probably something in the Geneva Conventions about this, so f**k you anyway, pinkos!"
I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant the Second Amendment, or you just have very strong beliefs about quartering American soldiers in private residences during peacetime and its effect on a Russian invasion.
After reading your comment I can see the points that you are trying to make and it makes some sense. Althogh if you look at the previous level, Cliffhanger some of your points are a bit irrelevent. In that level you are trying to recover the ACS Module before the Russians can crack it. Later in the game when America is invaded, you learn that they were to late and the Russians cracked it meaning that the ACS Module had something to do with America's security. The Russians had the ACS Module before the events of No Russian. This means that the Russians had been planning a war well before then, they just used the events of No Russian ( most likely working in colaboration with Makorav, hence no need for an investigation) to make it look like they had a legitimate excuse. The Russian invasion was a suprise attack as well meaning it never involved and did not get a UN sanction like the example of the Iraq war you gave.
Also it does not matter about land mass and population density, the best way to win a war is to break the will of your oppent so that he doesn't want to fight, which is pretty much what the Russians tried to do with a suprise attack.
Finally its the Second Amendment that protcts America's right to "Bear Arms".
broke my ankle trying to get past that wall of text
It's modern warfare, the plot doesn't have to make sense
1. The bullet was tracked. If you watch the load screens, even the Americans knew that it came from the dude in Rio. Even if he wasn't killed by the police, it doesn't mean the US isn't behind it.
2. Russia's Intelligence agency, probably has people in the CIA. Joseph Allen was a part of the CIA officially after he was moved. The Russians knew he was American
3. Really? If a team of highly trained operatives entered JFK international and shot up the place, and one of the bodies left behind was chinese or something else, would we talk to China or invade it?
4. People with guns in America don't have tanks, fighter jets, and body armor. The Russian attack was a surprise attack, and had planes flying over the airfields where the United States air force was on the ground. If you paid attention, you could see how badly the Americans' asses were getting whopped because of Russia's air dominance. Only the EMP that destroyed that advantaged let the Americans win.
I'm not going to get into the impossibility that 1 private in the Rangers could do that much damage without dying. It was an even fight that could be won by either side, but it is true that eventually the US would kick Russia's ass out of its country.
I'ts disappointing how many times Russia is depicted as "Evil bad guys".
Replystill not as many as the holy trinity of zombies, nazis and aliens
It's because IW doesn't have the balls to go after the Chinese.
IW confirmed ghost is alive. they even put his character model in the MW3 trailor as the shady guy to trick people into thinking he was back. but yea, they said he isnt dead. also out of the CoD games treyarch made the only one that sucks is black ops. oh how it sucked
Reply Hide All See All 4 Repliesblack ops is the best cod game so far... the order goes like this: blops>mw3>mw2>mw>WaW
@sgt...wow. Really? Wow. CoD2>MW>MW2>MW3>blops>WaW
Nah, Chuck, you got it all wrong. It's MW > cod1 > cod2. Rest doesn't matter.
Cod1 and mw before cod2 because cod 2 is the slowest game ever created.
Black ops was okay, but really the WW2 thing is being done to death. Time to move on to something else.
This game and all games like it suck so much ass. They are a disgrace to the gaming industry as a whole.
Reply Hide All See All 3 Replieshow so?
Come on, don't be a dick.
Around the time of CoD4,this was actually pretty enjoyable.Now,my reaction to these games is "killitwithfirequickly," or "killitscreatorswithfireNOW".
I totally lost the plot at the airport scene.
ReplyGeneral Shepherd's betrayal never made sense to me. I played it through 3 or 4 times trying to figure out why and even read the wikipedia description and even now I don't get it. "I hated seeing my soldiers killed, so I decided to kill more of my soldiers to start a war that will get more of my soldiers killed in order to prove a point!"
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesIt's because Roach and Ghost saw evidence that Shepherd was working with Makarov and that he started the war. He didn't want anyone else knowing that. That's why the level is called "loose ends", Shepherd got rid of the loose ends.
He felt that when he lost all those soldiers, America was the underdog. He had to prove it was a superpower. He started a war to prove America was the strongest country, but would be killed if news got out he worked with a terrorist. Since Roach and Ghost had evidence he had started the war, he had to kill them.
Seemed to me he wanted to go down in history as a great general etc. There was the whole thing about how "history is written by the winners" and he wanted to win and write his own history.
wow so many people who clearly fail at cod... if you play like a noob do team deathmatch... if you want to play the game properly do hardcore search and destroy. Also the game is fine even when you have no guns, after the 8th prestige fairly sure I can say that pretty easily
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesSir, please leave!
After the 8th prestige I'm sure you are superb at masturbation!
If you want to do it properly, ask yohowruman.
Bwahah Prestige means nothing. I've stomped down prestige players, all it is, is a title. Also Hardcore Search and Destroy is meh and mostly boring. I'll stick with TDM because it's a bit more fun. Stupid elitist prick.
Yohowruman...isn't it past your bedtime?
Worst CoD so far.
Reply Hide All See All 9 RepliesNope that happens to be black ops
Compared to Blops, this game is a masterpiece! Blops is cold war nonsense, it's like it was written by a psychotic republican with an anti-communist boner.
You 2 kidding?
The Story was alright, but the online was completely destroyed. Full of campers, riot shields, and GLs. Not a fun game at all.
Guess we'll have to wait for Modern Warfare 3.
Fair play, Chikablam, online for Blops was a lot more fun, but the story was tripe. Complete nonsense. Seriously, I half expected to see it was written by Glen Beck at the end.
The multiplayer for CoD:MW2 was only good if you got the game early on and were good enough to unlock the guns. And, to be completely honest, multiplayer is usually the best part of the game for me (mainly the deathmatch).
I have a beef with Black Ops too but it wasn't because of the story, the multiplayer is boring, which is said considering it functions better then most other multiplayer components.
i got a wargasm when i heard the next CoD was gonna be in vietnam. instead i got cold war conspiracy crap
Obviously none of you played Call of Duty 3, and I can't blame you for that.
Hahahah :p
Replyi love the game and this article
This really isn't funny or interesting. Honestly, it sounds like something a 14 year old kid with difficulty making friends would write in the back of his maths book. Also, there is a simmilar article on CoD 4 which is better, kind of like the game.
ReplyI'm touched, thank you good sir!
and the reason for the russians being the enemy is because they were the enemy in the first one and to change that they would have to change 90% of the story line and if they did change the enemy it would take too much explanation to justify why youre suddenly fighting the canadians or the chinese. Your also forgeting that the russians are one of the most ingrained and most memorable enemies we have even, over the nazis, we "fought" with them for over 50 years and about 20 years ago we were still fighting with them
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesFighting? Really? There was a total of 32 deaths in the Cold War with just Russia on the US side. Pretty sure there were more substantial losses in WW2. The definition of Cold War is a war that involves little to no actual military conflict.
Not including the near constant proxy wars fought between puppet regimes. Plenty of blood to soak hands on both sides.
they wouldnt have been able to pull explain some of the bigger and more dramatic battles in the army rangers story line without another major military power as the enemy.
And during the cold war, most of it was confidential.