Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is the second installment of Infinity Ward’s remake of the famous Modern Warfare series that defined the Call of Duty series.  It is the newest installment to this franchise that has been popular for almost 20 years. Infinity Ward hit the nail square on the wood with this reboot of the hit classic that was released in 2009. The reboot is amazing with many of the iconic characters that fans love from the original MW2 returning such as Captain John Price, Simon “Ghost” Riley, John “Soap” Mactavish, Nikolai, and the infamous General Shepard. Characters from Modern Warfare (2019) also return such as Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, CIA chief Kate Laswell, and Farah Karim. Despite the familiarity, some new characters introduced in this reboot are quality characters too. Colonel Alejandro Vargas, a member of the Mexican Special Forces, Commander Philip Graves, Leader of Shepards Shadow Company, and Rodolfo, Alejandro’s deputy all present fantastic personalities. 

     In MW2, players rotate through many characters like Soap, Gaz, Ghost, and others as they fight their way through the terrorist group Al-Qatala as well as Mexican drug dealers working with the Las Almas Cartel. Task Force 141 (the user’s team) must find an Iranian general named Hassan Zyani before he uses ballistic missiles against the United States in retaliation for the death of his commander Ghorbrani. Players visit many locations from the quiet streets of Amsterdam in the Netherlands to the deserts of the Middle East and the urban streets of Mexico. Not only was the cast amazing, the graphics of the game are spectacular and have improved a lot since the last COD. The many locations of the game’s campaign missions look amazing, especially the mission in Amsterdam. It looks so realistic that many are comparing the visuals in this mission to the real life city, and it shows that Infinity Ward worked very hard to make it look as real as possible. 

     The majority of the missions are incredibly entertaining, such as one in which players attack an oilrig to stop a missile launch towards New Orleans. Some missions were frustrating to play like the one where players have to guide Ghost through a prison compound using cameras, which left me questioning my sanity. The thing I love most about the game is the guns, as they are some of the best looking and sounding guns I’ve seen or heard in a video game. 

     Overall, I give the MW2 campaign a solid 4 out of 5, it has great graphics, missions, and gun play. Some of those aforementioned ‘frustrating’ missions have bad mission structuring, and they weigh down the overall rating of the game for me, despite its very solid campaign mode. 

Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer mode is what players would expect from a Call of Duty multiplayer. Players can choose from the original game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Capture the Flag, and Domination. These game modes are fun, as always, but they tend not to be as fun as the returning game mode from MW19: Ground War. This game mode is the best in my opinion as players find themselves in huge open areas where they must hold five points across the map as they keep the enemy team from getting the upper hand. This mode may sound like a mix of TDM and Domination, but it has many qualities that other game modes don’t, such as space to find a good sniping point, or rain fire on enemies. Players also get to use vehicles like tanks and helicopters which make the game mode more fun. The one thing creators improved from MW19’s multiplayer was “camping players” and claymores. I’m not certain how  they did it, but in my time playing, I’ve encountered fewer “campers” and fewer claymores on the ground. When MW2 released, I expected some frustration about the amount of people hiding in corners with shotguns, and from running into claymores every minute. However, this didn’t happen, and I was relieved to see that. There are some annoying bugs like graphic issues and the game crashing sometimes, but I have confidence they will be patched soon, so that doesn’t bother me. Overall, I give the multiplayer a 3.5 out of 5 as it does have its issues with the glitches, and game crashes, but the gameplay is satisfying and will improve, as Season One is a few weeks away, meaning there is more content to come. 

Modern Warfare 2 is the fresh air that COD players needed especially after the disaster that was Call of Duty Vanguard. Vanguard, considered a disaster by many players, was so bad that the game was barely selling. In December of last year, the price of the game dropped by 50% for Christmas sales, something extremely rare in COD games. Modern Warfare 2’s future is bright, but it will require great work and ingenuity from Infinity Ward to prevent the game from becoming stale and boring.