Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 reviews

Its the best single player war game around and it will be be for sometime.Its a great action game,excellent voice acting,great variety of weapons as one would expect,excellent levels and its all go,go,go.Fast and brilliant.The special ops missions are excellent and the only gripe I personally have is that the single player campaign is short.But having said that its an excellent game.

This game would have to be my favourite of all time. Everyone is saying that the multiplayer will be rubbish, yet I think it is great, apart from the occasional lag. I have played online for ages, yet still find it amazing and awesome.

For anyone who has previously played Call Of Duty 4 or World At War and is unsure whether playing with 2/4 bars of latency is worth your money… you will be pleasantly surprised.

Modern Warfare 2 has introduced a new feature in their matchmaking. The game will automatically search for games / lobbys under 50ms, then 60ms if none are available and so on, so forth.

Rarely does the game not find a suitable game under 50ms! It's heaven to finally play with 4/4 bars of latency in 95% of my matches. As a note, the whole removal of dedicated servers at first was a huge shock, but playing all the way to level 70, I really don't have any complaints about it. In fact, it's quite nice to boot up the game and be playing within 10 seconds!

Coming from someone who played 9/10 games in COD WaW with 2/4 bars of ping! You won't be disappointed. Pick this game up.

Am i the only one that's played the game!?? I know the people below me are complaining about dedicated servers and that. But you guys haven't even played it yet so it's hardly a review. I found a server alright and jumped on. Great Fun! They have added so much to the game it almost feels like to much! The custom kill streaks and the new perks are so much fun to Play about with.

One thing that bugs me however, is the fact that alot of the old guns from cod4 are not returning. Such as the G36c and the mp44. That hit me hard. However i soon found out they had replaced them with new guns that were soon to be loved. The Scar-H and the ACR bushmaster are some examples (Look them up). The Ak is the last gun you unlock. But of course the games not just multiplayer. So i''l tell you what i think of special ops. Special ops is a load of mini missions like mile high club. These missions are associated for multiplayer and are meant for 2 players. This mode can get annoying as some of the missions are very hard but generally it's a huge blast and I recommend it.

Finally the single player. Let me start by saying OMG it's So Cinematic and Awesome. The story is quite short and follows the first one. The graphics are an overhaul of the first one but could have been better. It's one of those games that has so many Epic and cinematic moments that you will be absorbed not to mention plot twists. An amazing thing about the game is the music which is conducted by German Conductor Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer has Conducted in alot of movies such as the Dark Knight. The game is full to the brim with amazing music that will keep you immersed for a long time. I will Close By saying That this Game is an amazing one and not a game to miss. the single player alone is worth the money with it's replay value. Add on the multiplayer and spec ops and you have HOURS and HOURS of fun awaiting. So go on…do it..

My Opinion

Graphics 9

Gameplay 9.5

Sound 10

Replay Value 10

Overall 9.6

Forget all the bad things about the Multiplay no dedicated server business, i have not had any lag problems and have yet to encounter any cheating, fingers crossed i don't in the future. Awesome single play, easily the best game of 2009. PC version looks far better than the console versions!

It was fun while it lasted, Single campaign is a bit too short. But was well made. Unlike many other review about no dedicated server. I didn't find any problem with it. Had no lag etc.

I haven't played the game yet, played CoD4 though, heard a lot of things from friends, not bad things, yeah no dedi boo hoo, but I'm more angry with the price, PC games were always $99.99, now along comes MW2 and all of a sudden prices take a hike to $120, which is the normal console price, but now they get it for $150! Even Steam charges NZ$125, so this is probably the cheapest your gonna see it for a while as CoD4 is still full priced after 2 years.

The Call of Duty franchise has been a benchmark for fps titles for almost ten years now. Astonishingly sales seem to rise with every new release, with the exception being World at War. This is no different.

The SP campaign certainly does feel longer than COD4. It kicks off with a beautiful cinematic where the last title left and flows strongly from there to a dramatic finish following as many twists as a season of 24.

Overall the SP did have just that special something missing, one keeps waiting for the mission that delivers the satisfaction of All Ghillied Up which never quite comes. The game though does deliver a better all round game with a large variety of missions set in new and unique locations. If you are a fps fan and do not own this – you are blessed with a buy now button on this page.

The most fun and least frustrating feature is the new Spec Op two player component. This alone makes the game worth every cent. Attempting to beat IW times is highly addictive and MUST be experienced with a friend.

MP is it's own worst enemy. IW decided not to release dedicated servers for this title. It has resulted in a lot of frustration for anyone living in or around NZ. Lag is a frequent mood destroyer and that is when you manage to connect to a host. If you are lucky enough to connect to a host with a decent net connection it is one of the best on-line fps titles in ages. The new maps are nicely balanced. The killstreak rewards are a blast (pardon the pun). Overall, really brilliant – when it works.

The only reason I can think that someone would criticize the Dedicated server issue, is that they haven't played it. This game is amazing I do not regret buying this the single-player may be short but its very fun and ranges through various locales.

Now the Multiplayer is where the real fun is, the fear that servers would be laggy is not true, I have only had a couple of laggy games, 8/10 times you will get a good host, the amount of customization in this game is a huge improvement since the first modern warfare, more perks guns, killstreak rewards and the addition of callsigns and titles makes multiplayer a unique experience like no other.

So those wary of buying this because of dedicated server issues, don't be. This game is awesome online and will keep you going for hours and hours.

i loved the 1st MW both Sp and Mp. after finishing the Sp in the a day ive got to say i spent the rest of my time on Mp........on dedicated servers im liking the idea of having to host my own game to play online with mates. bad enough with NZ internet. i have just started Sp on MW2 everything about it is awesome game play kiks ass. but i can say im definitly NOT looking forward to Multiplayer with the aid of dedicated servers.

I am not much of a online gamer. I brought this game because I thought it was a different type of game.

The story is very short and its alright. I would say it is only worth purchasing for under $30 but not over

If you are after a very exciting and cinematic like Single Player campaign, this is the game for you. It definitely delivers a really good experience though it might feel a bit short in time (6–7 hours).

On the multiplayer side, the game is really fast paced and runs smoothly though sometimes you will need to wait a bit to get connected to a proper game with no lag. (there are some tweaks online in order to force the game to only search servers with a lag lower than a user inputed threshold).

Finally, the interface of the game makes it a little difficult to play with friends unless you know your way through Steam.

I got it, played it and I can safely say that Single Player was extremely enjoyable. Oustanding graphics, great continued storyline (don't understand the fuss about the so called confusing story), and it really does feel much more realistic than the first MW.

Nevertheless, as many have said, that is where it sort of stops; MP could have been so much more, but as usual the someone goes and whats to be daring and tries something that in the end just does not work. If it isn't broke don't fix it, but this was clearly ignored. No dedicated servers really broke the game. Yes, it is a great game, but for us it isn't worth and extra $10 for half a game. Our ISPs, well mine at least isn't nearly strong enough to handle a proper full player match.

So because of the sorry excuse of a MP, it's only worth 4 stars.

Ok I feel I have to give this a fair review and I feel that Mighty Ape should strike off all the reviews of this game that were given by people before the game even came out, most from the more hardcore gamers dismayed by IW's choice to not have dedicated servers for multiplayer. I'm not even going to talk about single player here, nor the graphics or anything else as the fact of the matter is the game is TOP CLASS if a little short and doesn't need going over. The issue is multiplayer. I have to say I can understand why people would get upset with regards to not having dedicted servers because it is a tried and true way of hosting games that allows gamers mods, choice and a few other things that really have gone hand in hand with online multiplayer for ages. But the truth of the matter is this, firstly I have had NO issues whatsoever with lag, no rubberband effect and no people disappearing and re-appearing over my dead body. I have Telecom ADSL2 and a good PC, not a full on gamers rig but decent and I can run the game on it's highest settings with ZERO bad effects. The next thing is important, I have not run in to noobs, hackers or any trouble makers as yet with the new matchmaking system. Every person i've played with or against has always had a great time, been nice and everyone is just enjoying the experience. With the matchmaking system it evens the teams out and even if there are slightly better players out of say 12 players it doesn't really matter. The idea is to get XP get better, open up more achievements, weapons and enhancements get higher rankings and so on. I don't care if one minute I'm on my mates team or we're fighting against eachother the next game. If I did, then I'd just start our own game and go from there. Multiplayer ghost town? Not even close. Believe me, there is very little waiting around for players, this could be determined by what time you actually play of course but for the most part you're almost straight in to games, awesome. I'd say most of the players i've played with/against have been from Oz and NZ and even bumped in to a mate from across town by accident. Also in between games there are little short breaks so you can re-adjust your eyes, take a leak, food etc. So please people, don't worry about all the useless reviews on here, the internet is full of them from the more hardcore gamers worldwide. But I think chances are most of them by now have picked up a copy as in reality, this isn't a game to be missed. Also as with most games these days there will be plenty of updates which ultimately means things will only get better. Anyone scoring this game any lower than 3 needs their head checked I'm afraid. I've loved every minute of multiplayer so far. Oh and before I forget there is no lean, but quite frankly who cares. Sometimes games just aren't for everyone, just like Steam (the program this runs off) isn't for everyone. If you're not sure, find a friend or someone who's got it and have a game, make up your own minds. This is one awesome FPS. 5 stars from me. I'm glad I didn't pay attention to the 0 or 1 star reviews. Cheers.

Interesting that the PS3 and the Xbox360 both have an ESRB rating of restricted 16 while the PC version is a full restricted 18… as for the game itself I would not recommend to buy, but a possible rent for completion of the campaign, as it's not fun leaving something unfinished.

I don't usually suffer from lag while playing so they can keep complaining but it doesn't bother me as long as the core game play is still worth the purchase, but I do have to put a warning that it comes off as a bit of a shoddy port (http://akaspvn.com/…onsole-port/), but overall I think its a good solid enjoyable game with awesome multiplayer, seems a bit more aimed at casual people with the riot shield and some other things but still adds more variety and is fun and good to start off with, no mods and some of the other things is disappointing though.

This has been one of the games I've most sort after and at first glance it was the best game I've ever played even better than C.O.D 4 but the 5–6 hour story was a bit of a let down but the amassing multi-player options, co-op modes and awesome looking, sounding and “working” guns brought it back up the ratings. I was also happy with the new characters, it gave the game a newish experience but I was pleased to play as soap because I'd gotten attached to the guy.

Amazing story mode, much better than CoD4, special ops is cool too, but multiplayer is kinda fail without dedicated servers. Generally, I'm quite happy with it :-)

Well what to say!
COD:MW was a great game,one of the best online shooters Ive played and a lot of fun.
MW2? Well to me it feels like nothing but an add-on. Graphics are still outstanding,but they were in MW1,and the game play is essentially the same.
Sure theres bit ADDED ON here and there (thus the add-on reference) but for a game with so much hype it comes down to selling through the power of its name.

well i played the single player and did it in 7h and thats with breaks but havent yet tryed multiplayer but i am not looking foward to it based on the single player. ohh and steam is a [..........] well you know.

It's got pretty good gameplay and good colours, though the graphics aren't as good as the the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare, though the clear cut brightness makes up for it – I'd totally recommend this game

I played it just now, for the first time, and I find its much nicer then mw3, and also all the hackers and noobs have gone. Suprisingly heaps of people still play it :)

Although this was the first in the COD series not to have dedicated servers the match making is not bad. You are put with the best ping but if you are in NZ you might not be so lucky as internet here is horrendous. Single player is good but nothing compares to the original. Co-op could be given a miss with out missing much. TL,DR: Over all good game bad reviews mostly due to it not being its predecessor.

You can almost never find any game types online besides from Team Deathmatch. It can get kinda boring after a while. I found the odd Free for All games but I had extremely bad ping in them. ( Ping is pretty much your lag )

I would recommend this if you don't mind only playing TDM the campaign is fine and you can play any game type through private match but you will need to have steam friends with the game to invite them.

Also you don't need a super gaming computer to run it I have a HP Pavilion G6 which I bought for around 500$ NZ and it can still run it smoothly besides the odd lag on high detailed/particle campaign explosions

Good solid action, great looking, and easy to settle in to. There isn't the “go where you want” aspect some games have, you follow a set channel pretty much. Worst thing about is how short the solo campaign is, considering the size of the game. But, I'm glad I bought it, and I'll definitely play it again.

A game you can easily go back through the second and third time round…

Great fun, continues perfectly from Modern Warfare 1. See how the other half lives in 1 part of this story. A must for all Call of Duty fans.

I enjoyed this game as much the first when that was released. This game is a must Buy!!!

im not much into online shooting games but i do love campaigns… the story is short and its completed in 5 hours though i knew this from the re veiws when it came out.. it can be hard and easy and i enjoyed it…

the graphics are cool and as i said.. a little short.. but with might ape cheap price for this game its worth it

Its what I expected. A good game with the usual multiplayer faults. Nothing drastic but the guys useing ‘aimbots’ stuff up the game play. Looking forward to the next edition......­.............­....

I thoroughly enjoyed this game… Eventually. Here is why Its a great game if: If… You can wait to initially connect to steam and download the update(s). Let me preface with: my connection had just dropped to 64kbps as I had just run over my data cap a few days before. So Steam kindly told me "your game will start in… 2 days and 17 hours " – So not for dial-up people! If… You prefer single player games (I do. I use them for escapism like a book – to get away from people for an hour). Its a great single player game. Each mission is a full on action fest. If… You are a run-n-gun type player, enjoying being on the move, always, then this is for you. You cant sit still, no hiding behind a kitchen fridge (some missions are in suburban USA – lots of fridges) or in a corner somewhere – they will come and get ya and just keep coming. No turtling allowed – you will have to poke your head out to resupply. Im a turtler, preferring to take my time (stealth/sniper play style). So having to act quickly: snap shoot, reload, scan for new cover, run – repeat was out of my comfort zone. It definitely wakes you up!
If… You enjoy sensory overload. Its definitely a step up from the WWII versions of COD. The hud info, the esoteric US military radio comms. The shear number of guns left on the ground are a hoarders dream turned nightmare. Its tempting to try out every type of SMG or dual auto pistols you find… And you will. However as you can only take 2 and of course only fire one gun at a time, you soon learn to just take 2 assault rifles. Maybe different caliber, like say one 5.56mm and 7.62 (9mm or shot doesn't cut it unless in houses or corridors) one scoped, one with grenade say, and stick with that. You are then covered for ammo restock from guns you find and different situational use.

After all that, at the reduced price <$50, I enjoyed it, like a good jolt of coffee.

Just got this game had no problems playing Multiplayer at all. In fact I have enjoyed this game more than Homefront which is 2 years younger than this. This is a must have

If you've seen the reviews that say it's bad, forget about them. If your just a someone that likes to play the campaign on games and not the multi-player then this is the game for you. With extraordinary graphics and gameplay, this could be the best COD game yet. There are so many weapons to pick up from your usual hand-gun to silenced ones with a heartbeat sensor. This game even teaches you co-operation with some of the levels you are with a partner, taking down enemies together. The special-ops is cool, with 69 stars to get and 3 at a time per short game, you are not going to finish in 2 minutes. You can also play with a friend in special-ops, which makes it even more funner. This is a must buy game at any price, I give it 9.5 out of 10.

Great maps, great gameplay and no lag issues like in Black Ops.

Bought this for a friend and he loves it! Great prices Mightyape!

Really good game

Despite what people have said this is a really good game. I havnt had many connection problem and a pretty decent ping. Its not unplayable what people make it out to be. Iv played over 200 Hours online and had next to no problems with the connections. I even sometime get to be the host of the online servers with give me a advantage =) I would recomend this game =p

If you really want to be convinced then google a game site and read the reviews. One thing you can be certain of is that you'll find this game consistently ranked above 90% where ever you go. Personally I think this is the best FPS I've played in over 20 years of gaming. And the replay value (via the additional “Special OPs” challenge missions) is exceptional. If you have a choice be tween this game and anything else, pick this one! You won't be sorry.

Love this game, but its too short. The controls a great and video amazing. If they had more missions I would give 5 stars.

Still the best game available at this time have played it constantly on my 360 and now have transfered back to the PC and still in sustains my need for gaming only once the next edition comes out will I transfer from this awesome release

Fantastic Single player game, with awesome graphics that still run alright with a mid range system.

Unfortunately..... Whilst Multiplayer suffices for a while, it has been crippled by a lack of Dedicated servers and Punkbuster. Whilst this title is doing really well on PS3 & XBox360, on the PC platform the online community is dogged by hackers, swearing and stupid behaviour. You can only take so much of aimbots after a while.

To make Multiplayer worse the expansions are all pay content through steam, don't expect any free patches or maps!

Having said that the single player game is awesome and the Special Ops mode allows you to play limited co-op with a friend. A great game, let down by its lack of protection from undesirables (!) in the multiplayer environment.

Great selection of online mods to suit wider multiplayer experience.

New Resurgence Pack add extra fun elements to play with. Having said that, $15 USD from steam for 5 maps seem a bit over priced imo. Purchasing this + Stimulus Package = almost 1/2 brand new online FPS (Black Ops/ Medal of honor).

& we want dedicated server!!

call of duty modern warefare 2 is an excellent value for money. it is a thrilling and exciting game that i would recomend to any enthusiastic gamer that enjoys fast, fun and a good time. i would strongly reccomend this game to any gamer wether a hard-out gamer or a casual gamer. my rating of this game = 5 stars

Because you are not on dedicated servers, be prepared for games to die left, right, and center.

I played exactly one complete round one evening. All other games were abruptly terminated.

Single player is immersive and great.

Multiplayer is full of primary school kids trying to be tough. There are no dedicated servers and no way to avoid the immature idiots out there. I played for a few hours before I ran screaming back to Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Not bad, good fun, but tend to always think how much better this game would have been with dedicated servers, lean, numerical latency etc. All the PC options, instead of a console port. Worth a punt if your a casual gamer who enjoys a fair bit of online game time. Potential of this game done no justice by the removal of dedicated servers etc.

Wow. Let me say that again. Wow. Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 is such a big and awesome step up from its first game. This game has crystal clear graphics and BRILLIANT! Let me say that again. BRILLIANT game play. Just like the first one but more you fly and change to different location pretty much every single mission. And this time the game is also 100% more interactive. You can drive some vehicles, scale up icy mountains, there are heat sensing mechanisms and many more. This is such a great upgrade to the story and to the game play. I had a slight thought that CoD might go with BBC2 and get a worse but the producers have proved me wrong! This is an awesome game and HIGHLY RECOMMEND top buy it. Its not as long as i wished it would be but still top freaking notch game. 6/5!

I am used to fps where its team worked based and have vehicles like BF: Bad company 2. Its a fun change of pace, but is not worth its orginal price. I only bought it because it was on sale and 6 months since the game was released its still a bit too pricy.

Over the last weekend, Steam user's were able to play the multiplayer version of the game, with some mixed reviews. Some found it boring and tedious, others found it to be a potential game of the year, but with changes to the dedicated server options most people wont be looking at getting this game, A real shame as it did look promising.

Despite everyone's di­sappointment when Infinity Ward announced no dedicated servers, the campaign is really sweet.

Like CoD4 you play as different people around the country completing objectives, in MW2 they have changed it up and added new weapons and items to enhance your play such as the HeartBeat Sensor.

They have also added content which allows you to use both left and right mouse buttons unlike the traditional left click shooting. Another thing they have also added was a snowmobile in the campaign where you are trying to escape enemies and dodge trees.

All in all, the campaign was a huge step up from CoD4 and was enjoyable to play.

For online match-ups though, sometimes players are from overseas or have bad computers/bad internet connection which slows and affects gameplay.

If you dont mind waiting a little bit to find an awesome match, get this game! :)

I like the game a lot, its true the online (via Steam) multiplayer has no dedicated servers , you play on one of the IWNet servers, but apart from a few hackers its pretty good and fun to play on-line, free-for-all or team deathmatch, capture the flag and more.

Ofcourse you have the single player game, which is great, and as third you have a Special Ops – short mission option, this one featured many missions with three difficulty levels, you can play them solo, otr invite via steam a friend and play the mission(s) with a friend against the pc

What keeps you going is the ranking in the multi player game, the more points you gain by kills/assists and challenges, the sooner you climb higher and get a better rank, with that you get more weapons to choose from and socalled ‘perks’ for your weapons. I am still working my way up and am on level 48 now, it goes till level 70. After that you can start over again and enter the ‘prestige mode’ – great game Soon a map pack will be released for playing on-line even more maps.

When I got this game, I opened it, and was so exited. But when I started multiplayer I was wondering where the create game button was. There was only a play button, thats when it clicked, this was a game with no dedicated servers. This really let down the COD fans, and COD's reputation. I hope that in the next COD there will be dedicated servers, OR they release them in this COD.

The game itself is amazing, the online play is realy cool and the new perks and weapons are rad. Only thing that pissed me off was that there are no dedicated servers which makes finding a game anoying.