Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | The Campaign

For those of you who have yet to buy or play through MW2's new campaign you don't have to worry about spoilers here. I will not go into detail about key plot points, story instances, or character roles. I will give you a basic take on the plot, and give you my honest thoughts on my experience with the campaign playthrough ...

Modern Warfare 2's campaign is as any CoD veteran might expect. A mostly cinematic on rails story broken up into interactive mission based sections, and dialogue inclusive cinematic sequences. It is complimented by the most photo realistic presentation to date, even on base level PS4 consoles. Despite the HDR being applied on my PS4 Slim it surprisingly did not push the console to overheat. The fan that usually blows when the console is pushed to it's limits didn't even turn on an hour in to play. 

Graphics aside, the plot follows the usual USA against the world narrative. A country whose military is supposedly defending it's people against terrorism from the middle east. Something we all can relate to in this day and age given the politics that are blasted all over mainstream media nonstop. Somewhere in the mission to save the day things go south as they tend to do in these scripted military ordeals, and sides are drawn into question as is loyalty. Needless to say all is not as it initially seems. There are espionage level deceptions involved, and people gone rogue in the midst of it all. Each with their own endgame goals. 

Where this story driven adventure lost me is not so much in the cinematic, and on rails storytelling or the characters involved, but in how the game takes the player on this important mission. At times the game will hold your hand, and push you where you need to be. Using assisting soldiers, and characters as a guiding beacon on where you need to go, and what it is you need to do. Sometimes these AI partners also take part in the killing and objectives. Effectively eliminating your role as any sort of Rambo-like hero. In fact you don't always play the role of a key character, but instead take the helm as a grunt, or assisting soldier. 

As the character you're in command of the job you do varies objectively, and from checkpoint to checkpoint. Sometimes you're stealth killing, going gung-ho, or guiding interactive elements such as missiles to do their part in it all. In fact the interactions are quite a bit varied this time around, and play into the more cinematic nature of the campaign. Each section of mission based gameplay that you take on has frequent checkpoints that will allow you to immediately pick back up if you fail or die. There is no delay in getting back into the action, and while the dialogue through spoken words and subtitles plays it's part in guiding your way through said mission objectives there are points where direction can get lost due to no pointers as to where you need to go or whom you need to deal with. It's this part of the campaign where hand holding is dropped that things become frustrating especially with a lack of direction. Not even the touchpad objective hints are enough to help the player know what they need to be doing in some instances. It could have been done much better in that regard.

For those of you looking for that campaign challenge difficulty comes in four flavors this time around. You'll find beginner, normal/seasoned, advanced, and veteran difficulty settings to choose from initially, and change between in the middle of a playthrough, if you so desire. The campaign section of the main menu system comes complete with a new game option, a chapters option, and a cinematics option. New game is where you'll begin, and as you progress through the campaign chapters will be unlocked for instant replay. This plays into the soldier unlockables, and Easter eggs that are hidden that you might miss the first time around. That and the trophies you can earn on the different difficulty settings. Also during your playthrough you'll be unlocking cinematics which can be viewed individually as they are unlocked. A way to go back, and view the story without the needs to participate in the warfare.

The Verdict ...

The campaign and it's story is kind of cliche, to be honest. While it has it's twists, and turns it follows a Hollywood formula. In that regard you can guess at points when things might play out a certain way. Foreshadowing the inevitable, if you will. That being said the game has a serious, more grounded in reality tonal shift that plays out more like a Tom Clancy novel. It's less over-the-top, and more like a military campaign. Everything from the locales to the characters are all rendered in a photo realistic nature that is amplified by realistic facial movements that align with the words that are being spoken. That and environments which are, themselves, photo realistic. Lighting is also very good, and the game in HDR looks amazing. Even on a PS4 Slim the game pushes the graphical limits to a near PS5 visualization. It is honestly a sight to behold.

Sadly, graphics aren't the end all be all. I feel the developers dropped the ball several times throughout the campaign by not clearly having a navigational pointer immediately clue you in as to where you need to be. This led to some serious frustration for me several times over, and had me confused for a good twenty minutes at one point early on. This needs to be fixed. If they do that then my mind will change about that aspect of the campaign. Overall the campaign is alright for what it is. It's what us Call of Duty fans expect though a little more pleasing to the eyes.