Modern Warfare 2 continues the gripping and heart-racing action as players face off against a new threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse.
About our Consumer section
This section provides a comprehensive review of everything that you need to know about each video game we have reviewed. We’ve thought about everything a gamer needs to know before making a purchase: Is the game too difficult? Does it have good graphics and sound? A solid story-line? Can you play it with your buddies and are the controls so hard that a cyborg would struggle with them? We all know how tough it is to find an awesome game and we hope that this review will help.
Challenge:
Anyone who played the first Modern Warfare will notice the increase in difficulty of Modern Warfare 2. The increase in difficulty seems to come mainly from the increased number of enemies and their aggressiveness. The enemies will actually charge the player and even try things like flanking or popping out of buildings to catch the player off guard. In some missions it can be fairly annoying, and difficult to overcome, however when turning the difficulty down to the easiest level of difficulty these parts are manageable even for people who are new to the series. Overall Modern Warfare 2 does a good job of adapting the difficulty to veteran players, while still making new players welcome into the game.
Graphics:
Simply put, Modern Warfare 2 sets the bar for first person shooters in terms of graphics. All of the levels, environments, and effects put into the game are phenomenal. Everything in the game is extremely detailed, and as a player you will find yourself extremely immersed with the countless explosions and gunfights in the game. The people at Infinity Ward and Activision took graphics in first person shooters to a new level with Modern Warfare 2.
Replay Value:
Modern Warfare 2 will not take a very long time to beat the main storyline, however the end of the campaign is hardly the end of the game’s playable features. As usual with this series, the seemingly best parts of the game are the online and multiplayer features. The online play is excellent and always exciting, and will keep you coming back for more action for a long time to come. As a consumer you will more than likely spend most of your time online playing other people. The replay value is nothing to be worried about, Modern Warfare 2 gives you your money’s worth.
Narrative:
As with most first person shooters, Modern Warfare 2 features a linear storyline. There is no choice on where the player goes or how the player choices affect the plot of the story. This is always something that makes holding the attention of the player more difficult, but Modern Warfare 2 does a pretty good job. The story is quite dramatic, putting the player constantly in danger or at major turning points during a global scale conflict. The narrative is nothing to be disappointed over, but it does somewhat limit the player’s involvement in the campaign.
Ease of use:
For any player returning to the series the controls come quite naturally, as they tend not to change across their games. To a new player, you may find some getting used to with the controls. The controls and introduction to the style of play are fairly well explained when starting a campaign.
Social Playability:
Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most socially playable games on the market today. The best points of the game in fact are the online play and co-operative play modes. I could very easily recommended that someone should buy the game purely for the online and multiplayer content.
Overall Grade: A
Modern Warfare 2 does not disappoint in any real category and in most places it surpasses expectations. The story is worth following, the graphics can mesmerize, and the online play can make hours seem like minutes. Modern Warfare 2 is worth its cost and more.
About our Parent section
Parents, we understand the problems you have with video games. Some are violent, inappropriate, and most just cost a lot of money. Fortunately, we understand that these are legitimate concerns and have therefore included in our review a few things that parents need to know about a video game: the amount of violence it has, sexually suggestive material, gender stereotyping, bad language, addictiveness and replay value. We have included all the criteria for a money-worthy and appropriate purchase for your children. We hope you find our evaluations helpful.
Replay Value:
As I said before, your child will spend a lot of time playing this game. Modern Warfare is one of the best games at keeping people coming back for more and Modern Warfare 2 is no different. You will get your money’s worth from this game, the bigger problem is really when will your kid stop playing.
Objectionable Content:
- Violence- Modern Warfare 2 is very violent. It features lots of blood, guns, and killing. It portrays the killing in a wartime scenario however, not as a raging mass murderer. It is the basis for the game, the only way to progress is to kill opponents and enemies. There is a level in the game that is exceptionally disturbing, however: Where the player is supposed to kill innocent civilians. The game gives the player the option to skip this level with no consequences, but parents should be warned that this particular level was even somewhat disturbing for older audiences.
- Sexually Suggestive- Modern Warfare 2 contains little or no sexually suggestive elements. It sticks to a strict content line of only showing soldiers and war, nothing that degrades women in any way.
- Gender Stereotyping- like most combat based games, especially those about American soldiers, the protagonists (there are multiple people you play as) are all male. The men are shown to be the heroes who are strong and brave who are there to save anyone else. But other than showing men as the dominant figures there isn’t any sort of negative stereotyping
- Language- as a game rated Mature, there is some mild language however it is not very prevalent through the playing of the game.
Addictiveness
Modern Warfare 2 is a very addicting game, which can be a good thing if you are worried your kid will not play the game for very long before moving on, but can be a bad thing if you are worried about your child spending too much time playing. This is mainly due to the online play, where it takes longer to upgrade characters and unlock items. In any case, the player will spend much time coming back to the game.
About our Academic section
In our dealings with virtual games, we have also explored the academic research on the topic. We understand the roles that presence, narrative, and even aggression have and we also understand that certain video games might influence learning, gamers’ social interaction, stereotyping and sexual messaging. We have included in our review this section for those interested on the academic perspective of video games and how certain game characteristics can affect video game players.
Academic Perspective
Modern Warfare 2 is very interesting as a game because of the improvements it brings to the genre of shooter games. The realistic graphics and effects and really generate a sense of presence (i.e., perception of non-mediation) in the game for the player. The fact that a majority of play is online with teams and against other people may cause this game to increase the player’s aggression more than other game titles. The violent content and the fact that many players will play for very extended amounts of time may be cause for concern when dealing with priming (i.e., activating of aggressive thoughts due to their relatedness with the aggressive material) and the familiarity one may gain when playing the game for so long. Modern Warfare 2 is, however, from a purely militaristic viewpoint. That is to say, there is no sexual perspective placed on the game play other than having a male soldier as the character. This could be argued for the sake of the realism in the game because most soldiers are in fact male.
Note:
Reviews