Modern Warfare 2 (2022) Review

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 broke countless sale records when it first released back in October 2022; rave reviews flooded in from fans and critics alike when both the multiplayer and campaign launched on the 28th October. What has happened since? 

Warzone 2.0 was released around 3 weeks after the initial launch of the game alongside the novel DMZ mode. With massive hype and expectation from the success of Warzone 1 and what players had experienced in the multiplayer; surely they couldn't fail? 

Story

Modern Warfare 2's solo offering is truly a highlight and a fine addition to the stories told in this franchise. The game picks up 3 years after the events of the first game (Modern Warfare) and follows members of the infamous Task Force 141. You play as Soap MacTavish, Simon 'Ghost' Riley, Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick and Rodolfo 'Rudy' Parra throughout the course of the game. Without spoiling the plot, the story lives up to its namesake and then some. The reintroduction of General Sheperd and Shadow Company reminds the player to be on edge at any point for any deception or betrayal. The levels are masterfully constructed and designed with only a few missions seemingly being incredibly difficult to complete even on lower difficulties. 

The addition of armoured enemies in general combat engagements turns the experiences from a run-and-gun experience to a more tense and tactical shooter where positioning, reloads and equipment makes the difference between life and death; even on easier difficulties. The level design is good; the gun-play is great as always and the story is a good sequel to the soft reboot of the franchise in 2019. The biggest critique of this mode is the length of the story and some of the story beats within the game itself. The mode itself only takes around 5-6 hours to beat on regular and hardened modes with a couple of hours given or taken either way for higher and lower difficulties. As for questionable story beats; without spoiling the plot - there are tension filled moments if you have played the original 2009 release where you know certain characters and their motives but the execution of their decisions fall a little flat. The story as a whole is thoroughly enjoyable but does lack some of the punch that the developers might've expected it to have.

SCORE: 8/10

Multiplayer/Spec Ops

Multiplayer launched just after the release of the single player to mostly positive feedback. Most of the new maps were solid and there were a wide variety of guns at launch. As has been seen in the last 3-4 years, after the initial release multiplayer has been put on the back-burner with more time and resources being allocated to Warzone and Warzone 2.0 respectfully. As such the multiplayer hasn't evolved much since the release with the exception of some new modes and maps. As with the single player campaign - the gun-play is smooth, maps are mostly well designed although nothing stands out as being exceptional and the variety of modes is great as well. The biggest critique of multiplayer is innovation. The release of fan favourite maps like Shoothouse and Shipment have bolstered the numbers of this mode but genuine innovation of new maps and modes have been sorely lacking. The other critique which applies to all game modes is the time-to-kill (TTK). The TTK is ridiculously short on this game and to the layman what this does is reduce the skill gap and makes players play less aggressively. This in turn hampers the experience as often gunfights become less about the skill of the player and more-so about the gun used or who-sees-who first. 

Overall this is a solid Call of Duty multiplayer experience but nothing that will blow you away if you're a long-time player of the franchise.

Spec Ops also released just after the campaign and for most people immediately fell flat. The mode released with 3 individual experiences with more promised in future updates. The initial 3 experiences are pretty forgettable and aren't as fleshed out as you'd maybe like them to be. The addition of the new 'raids' has breathed new life into this mode mirroring the concept of raids in other games like Destiny but the fact the raids are locked behind the paywall of the full release, it hasn't had the big impact maybe the developers thought it might've had. 

Overall Spec Ops is a fairly forgettable mode with its only real allure being the new raid mode.

MULTIPLAYER: 7/10

SPEC OPS: 6/10

Warzone 2.0 & DMZ

The free-to-play element of Modern Warfare 2's offering released at a staggered date after the single-player and multiplayer. Warzone 2.0 had made wholesale changes to the formula established in Warzone 1; introducing 2 and 3 plate armour systems, medium and large backpacks, 2v2 Gulag, different buy station mechanics and many other changes. The map on the whole is regarded as a vast improvement on Warzone's last offering; Caldera, but maybe doesn't reach the heights of regard of Verdansk. The biggest issues of this mode at release were actually its biggest features. A lot of people struggled to get to grips with the new inventory system and bag & plate carrier mechanics and this, coupled with an insanely fast TTK, led to the alienation of a lot of players. There were also glaring issues with regards to crashes and glitches within the game that needed to be addressed. 

Since release, a lot of the bugs have been fixed and in Season 2 of Warzone 2.0, a lot of the new features have reverted to how they were in Warzone 1. A positive change to the game was the introduction of the 'Nuke' Contract - obtained by getting 5 consecutive wins and finishing off a ridiculously hard contract to receive the most coveted rewards to date in the game. The allure of this contract has kept many streamers and gamers alike with the mode despite its shortcomings. 

With the release of a resurgence mode in Season 2 of Warzone and more fixes and adjustments to gameplay - the mode is hopefully on the road to recovery. The building blocks and foundation are there, it's just up to the developers now to get it right at the second time of asking.

DMZ is a new addition to the free-to-play experience. Piggybacking off of the success of extraction-shooters like Escape from Tarkov; DMZ has made a name for itself as being the more 'casual' of the two free experiences. In a sense, DMZ is its own mode but also is a spiritual successor to Warzone 1's 'Plunder' mode in which most people would use to level up guns and generally get away from the stress and competitiveness of the battle royale experience. 

That's not also to say that there won't be tense moments whilst playing DMZ because there certainly are. Finding yourself within range of a fully-equipped team when you only have some contraband weapons and a 1-plate vest is truly a frightening feeling. The mode revolves around completing pre-set objectives and extracting to safety before the radiation covers the map. The majority of engagements are against enemy AI and in larger numbers can be very tricky to deal with to say the least. The ability to recruit more players to your trio, and with proximity chat featuring as well makes this experience a lot more social than other modes.

Overall bugs have affected DMZ but the foundations of this mode are absolutely rock solid and this could well be the future of Call of Duty should the developers continue to put time and effort into it.

WARZONE 2.0: 7/10

DMZ: 8/10

Conclusion

Modern Warfare 2 offers an absurd amount of content built from the same base. The high points are DMZ and Single-player as of the time of this review. The low points are the underwhelming Spec Ops mode and Warzone 2.0's shortcomings. Ultimately the product benefits and hinders itself with the wide array of content being that the highs are very good in the context of the franchise but the lows feel neglected - as if some of the content has been spread too thin. If you're a fan of Call of Duty or have played it in the past, this is a game that will quench your thirst if you're prepared to go through the technical issues still plaguing this game.