Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Multiplayer
Multiplayer
Javellin's, Semtex Grenades, Thermal snipers, Air Strikes, Attack Helicopters, Pave Lows, Stealth Bombers, AC-130's, Chopper Gunners and Nuclear Weapons can all kill you without you so much as taking a step (claymore excepted). These highly lethal weapons combined with a first shot victory styled combat system results in... you guessed it, camping. Heart Beat sensors, UAVs, Thermal Scopes, Ghillie Suits and a multitude of weapons effective at long to extremely long range all serve to enhance your mud sucking capabilities .This combination of 'modern' technology and extremely deadly weaponary while making for an interesting and contemporary game also makes for an incredibly frustrating and ultimately boring multiplayer experience.
There is a reason the 'camper' in the gaming world has been looked on with extreme distate since the birth of the multiplayer shooter. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a round to end or your death timer to run down, to run to the frontlines for some more fun only to be shot in the back by a player who decides enjoyment in a game is to be found sitting in one spot for extended periods of time shooting players in the back. Whilst MW2 admittedly encourages movement with a multitude of in game mechanics geared towards enemy detection, specifically the deathcam which shows you how you died, the game ultimately punishes those who do not adopt a strategy of hide, wait and kill. Whilst this alone is not necessarily a deal breaker, the 'killstreaks' that have been thrown in ruin any hope this game had of achieving any longevity. There are very few things I find in this game more frustrating than watching a map get levelled by a camper with the AC-130 gunship. To put this in context whilst the rest of the players are stuck using more conventional weapons, the man lucky or 'skilled' enough to unlock the AC-130 gets to man a Gunship packing a 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon, 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon and a sleak 1× 105 mm M102 howitzer. Ironically the aspect of this game most responsible for its addictive nature, and believe me it is addictive, are the kill streaks. There is something grimly satisfying about killing 15 people in a row from the safety of a flying battleship and for a brief moment being the source of so much frustration and the more you play the more you'll find yourself aiming to do nothing more than get those 11 kills required to unlock this weapon.
Another aspect of this game that has earnt it alot of acclaim is its supposed realism and for a while it is pretty impressive. It is, as you might expect, the small things that begin to poke holes in this juicy bag of immersion. There is a great multitude of objects that are inexplicably unclimable, a person can run a mile without stopping and immediatly take a shot at a person 25 yards away and slip slug into some saps dome without the slightest penalty to accuracy, you can bounce throwing knives off walls or the ground into people for an insant kill, etc. Not only does the illusion of realism quickly fall away but the aspects which one can only imagine were intended to help the game retain this realism really begin to frustrate in the multiplayer. For instance switching weapons and reloading weapons takes far too long. Whilst this is probably closer to the reality of combat it does absolutely nothing to contribute to an enjoyable game as more often than i care to count, you will go to switch weapons or reload your rifle just as you need to use it.
To top all this off the map design leaves something to be desired, with some of the maps being nothing more than an open field and a tunnel. This to me, more than anything else, reeks of lazy development and a lack of attention to beta testers and perhaps the general gaming community period. Finally as stated in my review on Modern Warefare 2's single player, What this game does CoD4 does much, much better. After playing 30 to 40 hours of Modern Warfare 2 I went back and started up a game of CoD4 to get a little contrast and the difference is truly amazing. You can make it as a non-camper and even excell without having to resort to tactics such as hoping around corners like some kind of highly trained monkey ninja (though this remains an option) and you are not constantly killed by killstreak rewards, though this still remains a too frequent occurance for my liking. Ultimately, Infinity Ward have insufficiently duplicated there debut title and amazingly have made no attempt to adress issues that, at least in my wayward opinion, seriously detracted from the base enjoyment and longevity of the title and have even gone to the extent of amplifying these issues. Interestingly enough however this seems not to have effected their paycheck. It will be interesting to see how far the hype can carry this game.
P.S. No dedicated servers. lul?
There is a reason the 'camper' in the gaming world has been looked on with extreme distate since the birth of the multiplayer shooter. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a round to end or your death timer to run down, to run to the frontlines for some more fun only to be shot in the back by a player who decides enjoyment in a game is to be found sitting in one spot for extended periods of time shooting players in the back. Whilst MW2 admittedly encourages movement with a multitude of in game mechanics geared towards enemy detection, specifically the deathcam which shows you how you died, the game ultimately punishes those who do not adopt a strategy of hide, wait and kill. Whilst this alone is not necessarily a deal breaker, the 'killstreaks' that have been thrown in ruin any hope this game had of achieving any longevity. There are very few things I find in this game more frustrating than watching a map get levelled by a camper with the AC-130 gunship. To put this in context whilst the rest of the players are stuck using more conventional weapons, the man lucky or 'skilled' enough to unlock the AC-130 gets to man a Gunship packing a 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon, 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon and a sleak 1× 105 mm M102 howitzer. Ironically the aspect of this game most responsible for its addictive nature, and believe me it is addictive, are the kill streaks. There is something grimly satisfying about killing 15 people in a row from the safety of a flying battleship and for a brief moment being the source of so much frustration and the more you play the more you'll find yourself aiming to do nothing more than get those 11 kills required to unlock this weapon.
Another aspect of this game that has earnt it alot of acclaim is its supposed realism and for a while it is pretty impressive. It is, as you might expect, the small things that begin to poke holes in this juicy bag of immersion. There is a great multitude of objects that are inexplicably unclimable, a person can run a mile without stopping and immediatly take a shot at a person 25 yards away and slip slug into some saps dome without the slightest penalty to accuracy, you can bounce throwing knives off walls or the ground into people for an insant kill, etc. Not only does the illusion of realism quickly fall away but the aspects which one can only imagine were intended to help the game retain this realism really begin to frustrate in the multiplayer. For instance switching weapons and reloading weapons takes far too long. Whilst this is probably closer to the reality of combat it does absolutely nothing to contribute to an enjoyable game as more often than i care to count, you will go to switch weapons or reload your rifle just as you need to use it.
To top all this off the map design leaves something to be desired, with some of the maps being nothing more than an open field and a tunnel. This to me, more than anything else, reeks of lazy development and a lack of attention to beta testers and perhaps the general gaming community period. Finally as stated in my review on Modern Warefare 2's single player, What this game does CoD4 does much, much better. After playing 30 to 40 hours of Modern Warfare 2 I went back and started up a game of CoD4 to get a little contrast and the difference is truly amazing. You can make it as a non-camper and even excell without having to resort to tactics such as hoping around corners like some kind of highly trained monkey ninja (though this remains an option) and you are not constantly killed by killstreak rewards, though this still remains a too frequent occurance for my liking. Ultimately, Infinity Ward have insufficiently duplicated there debut title and amazingly have made no attempt to adress issues that, at least in my wayward opinion, seriously detracted from the base enjoyment and longevity of the title and have even gone to the extent of amplifying these issues. Interestingly enough however this seems not to have effected their paycheck. It will be interesting to see how far the hype can carry this game.
P.S. No dedicated servers. lul?
3/5 Freds.
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