Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

[Rob Williams]

Following-up to a hit like Modern Warfare must have been tough, but Infinity Ward has done a great job of delivering what we hoped to see, while tossing in many other surprises as well. Let's take a look at the game from all angles, the fine and the rough, and finish things off with a look at performance across numerous graphics cards.

You can read our full review and performance report (and my 400th article) here and discuss it here!

 

[Doomsday]

oh man, really nice review!! u should definitely start reviewing games as well......
Batman: Arkham Asylum pls!

Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro looks like lego!

4th century, Congrats man!

 

[Rob Williams]

Thanks for the nice comments man

I do enjoy reviewing games, but to be honest, I haven't done much of it in the past due to the simple fact that I never felt enthused about a particular title. I admit, I game in a couple of MMOs, so I don't pay near as much attention to hot new releases like I should be. I'm trying to change that, though, and thought I'd kick things off with this game, since I dedicated a fair amount of time to it. Plus, I needed to benchmark it to replace World at War, so it all worked out.

Since Batman: Arkham Asylum has been out for a little while, I'm not likely to review that due to time, but I do plan on taking a look at it soon from more modest perspective... basically to see just how much PhysX adds to the gameplay. Two other titles I have in my reviewing sights are Dirt 2 and STALKER: Call of Pripyat. Both will feature DirectX 11 technology, so I can't wait to give them a go.

Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro looks like lego!

Yes! That's exactly my point, haha.

 

[Doomsday]

i really think Game reviews would be an awesome addition to Techgage! u guys should definitely go ahead with it! Especially ,like you said, the coming of DX11 games..........

 

[Rob Williams]

We have reviewed a number of games in the past, but it's been a while. It mostly comes down to time, and the fact that gaming isn't our forte. Things are looking good for the future, though, so I'd expect to get more posted.

 

[RobbyBob]

I'm actually disappointed in Infinity Ward beyond words. They used to be such a PC-oriented team of developers. You can look for a few minutes and dig up quotes showing this. Yet in recent years, they seem to have completely changed their position. Now they seem to hate us (PC gamers). Their PR team explained why they removed certain features, shaking them off with a simple "it's not balanced for that". Also, when asked if it was just a direct console port (it is) they said: "No, the PC version has custom stuff. Like in-game text chat and graphics settings." (that isn't an exaggeration. That is -- to my memory at least -- almost exactly what they said).

The fact is, Infinity Ward wants money (no doubt with influence from Activision). They don't want a lasting PC economy. They want to release their yearly or bi-yearly CoD titles, and they want everybody to switch over when they do so. I'm not buying it. If I ever buy another title by IW, it's going to be used, that way they get none of my money.

Here's the link to where I got my quote for those who haven't read the Ars Technica article: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/pc-modern-warfare-2-its-much-worse-than-you-thought.ars

 

[Rob Williams]

I agree with you on all points, and it bugs the heck out of me as well, but not to the extent of some others. I am not an ultra-dedicated CoD player, or game player in general, so I don't usually play games for weeks and weeks, or even longer. So a lot of what's lacking here, I won't even notice. I did notice something that bugs me though... when in a "private match", you don't seem to earn XP. That bugs the heck out of me, because you used to be able to in every other CoD.

I am not sure what's up with Infinity Ward, but I'm with you on the fact that it's clearly lost interest in the PC as a platform. On one hand, I can somewhat understand it, since consoles are huge business, but honestly, how hard would it have been to cater to the PC guys? Another thing I'm impressed by is that that many people would rather play an FPS game on a console. I find that insane. I grew up on the PC, sure, but the control makes way more sense to me.

What bugs me most about the entire situation is that IW doesn't seem to care whatsoever that they've pissed thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of gamers off, and their attitude pretty much proves that they have no intention of fixing what they broke. I'm not too confident about the future of the series on the PC. Deep down I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but their attitude doesn't instill much faith at all.

 

[RobbyBob]

Yeah, I'm just about done with every mainstream developer for the time being. It's the companies that struggle to gain a foothold that seem to put out the amazing titles. Indie is where I'm gonna stick as far as PC games go. Well, that and Valve, since FPS is pretty much all they do.

 

[Doomsday]

Yeah, I'm just about done with every mainstream developer for the time being. It's the companies that struggle to gain a foothold that seem to put out the amazing titles. Indie is where I'm gonna stick as far as PC games go. Well, that and Valve, since FPS is pretty much all they do.

Blizzard makes good PC exclusive games too!

that might change if they start listening to their partner Activision...

 

[aussiebear]

I am not sure what's up with Infinity Ward, but I'm with you on the fact that it's clearly lost interest in the PC as a platform.

Its to do with making large profits. The game has made US$550 million in the US and UK combined. That's FAR more than most Hollywood films...Why would they care for the PC, when a huge contribution of that profit is coming from console (Xbox 360 and PS3) versions?

On one hand, I can somewhat understand it, since consoles are huge business, but honestly, how hard would it have been to cater to the PC guys?

If the objective is maximising money; one would apply the very least amount of effort on a platform that doesn't bring more money. Of course, there will be consequences...Customer loyalty will wane. IW is going to have a problem if they ever want PC gamers buying a future product.

What bugs me most about the entire situation is that IW doesn't seem to care whatsoever that they've pissed thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of gamers off, and their attitude pretty much proves that they have no intention of fixing what they broke. I'm not too confident about the future of the series on the PC. Deep down I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but their attitude doesn't instill much faith at all.

The PC version of this game is actually a port of the Xbox 360 version. If you talk to hackers, they can show you that the PC version still has Xbox Live residue code left in it.

Infinity Ward chose to save time and money on development. They ported the 360 version to PC in a lazy fashion. (ie: Made no attempt to put an effort in offering distinct features or tweaks for the PC version).

They then came up with PR style spinning (excuses) in order to justify the deficiencies of the PC version. Things like the benefits of their IWnet and to "balance" game play. Its all nonsense and everyone knows it.

The fact is, PC games aren't profitable any more. Why waste time, money, and effort on a small group when you can cover a huge user base with consoles?

Activision is going to bleed this franchise to death. Milk it for all its worth until the Golden Goose is dead.

eg:

* They plan to emulate the success (read profit) of World of Warcraft with another COD series that involves a subscription service...Heck, a third COD dev team is being formed as we speak.

* There are rumblings of a Modern Warfare 2 based movie. Apparently, they've got the voice actor of "Soap" involved with this project.

Big name game developers are treating the games market like an entertainment industry similar to the movie and music markets...And you know what that means, don't you? We're going to get an era of "sugar high" products in the short term, but become really bored with the garbage they bring out in the long term. Things will become artificial, cliched, and uncreative.

By the way, John Carmack is thinking about doing the same thing with Rage and Doom 4. "Console-ise" the PC. He's just letting someone else bare the pain first.

The only way to make IW (and Activision) think twice about screwing PC gamers with poor attempts and excuses, is to form a community and develop our own games. If they leave it, its an opportunity for us to exploit this potential gap left by them. The key is to innovate, not imitate.

 

[evilives34]

well the call of duty game coming next year by the dev who made call fo duty:world at war have said that their COD game will have all the things that pc gamers want i.e servers dev console etc... so this shows it was IW that was lazy

and also EA dev Dice have said the next battlefield game will be really PC FPS, on their blog like 5hrs after IW said that MW2 would not have server support

and to paraphrase the blog "if your going to make a PC make sure it has what PC players want"

 

[Rob Williams]

Great discussion here guys.

Well, that and Valve, since FPS is pretty much all they do.

I agree there, but I admit I have a sour taste in my mouth thanks to the fact that Episode Three is <em>still</em> not here.

that might change if they start listening to their partner Activision...

Ugh, don't say that! I might not care for games like WoW, but Blizzard is one of the few developers left that's stuck to its roots. We need more companies like that.

Its to do with making large profits. The game has made US$550 million in the US and UK combined. That's FAR more than most Hollywood films...Why would they care for the PC, when a huge contribution of that profit is coming from console (Xbox 360 and PS3) versions?

Of course, and I agree. But the PC isn't a chump when it comes to potential revenue. Take a look at <a href="http://www.xfire.com/games/codmw2/Call_of_Duty_Modern_Warfare_2/">Xfire.com's CoD: Modern Warfare 2</a> page. Since the game launched, there has been over 70,000 gamers in the game per day on average, and that's just the people who run Xfire. Unfortunately, there's no telling what the % of those copies are pirated, so this might not help my case much.

If the objective is maximising money; one would apply the very least amount of effort on a platform that doesn't bring more money.

Well, I agree to an extent here, but the thing is, Infinity Ward didn't refuse to add things, it decided to take things out. They removed the in-game console, and removed dedicated servers. The former feature is no doubt still in the game... as even the console versions would require a console for debugging and the like. So as far as I'm concerned, it's still there... it would just require some sort of hack to reveal it again. This situation would be like selling someone a car, and then siphoning the gas out of the tank before you give them the keys.

The fact is, PC games aren't profitable any more. Why waste time, money, and effort on a small group when you can cover a huge user base with consoles?

If they dislike the platform that much, then why release the game at <em>all</em>? Sure, it would piss people off, but it's not as though their refusal to give PC gamers what they'd expect wasn't going to accomplish that anyway.

Activision is going to bleed this franchise to death. Milk it for all its worth until the Golden Goose is dead.

I've been saying the same thing about Guitar Hero and Rock Band for a while, and sadly they still exist.

Big name game developers are treating the games market like an entertainment industry similar to the movie and music markets...And you know what that means, don't you? We're going to get an era of "sugar high" products in the short term, but become really bored with the garbage they bring out in the long term. Things will become artificial, cliched, and uncreative.

Agreed... and that's pretty depressing to think about.

The only way to make IW (and Activision) think twice about screwing PC gamers with poor attempts and excuses, is to form a community and develop our own games.

That's certainly easier said than done, because developing games is not cheap, and finding world-class talent like that to work on a community-based game would be tough. I know the surefire way to get them to change would be to not purchase the game at all, for the console or PC. Of course, that's also easier said than done, and I'm confident it will never happen. Too many people just put up with whatever changes are given to them, and as a result, there will never be a true "stand" for anything. If you happened to look at the Steam group for protesting against MW2 on the day of launch, you would have seen that half of the gamers on the first page were playing MW2. Nice.

well the call of duty game coming next year by the dev who made call fo duty:world at war have said that their COD game will have all the things that pc gamers want i.e servers dev console etc... so this shows it was IW that was lazy

and also EA dev Dice have said the next battlefield game will be really PC FPS, on their blog like 5hrs after IW said that MW2 would not have server support

This is REALLY good to hear, and while I'm not a huge Battlefield fan, I'm already looking forward to that one. The same goes for Treyarch's next CoD. World at War was fine, but the real-world stories aren't really my thing. I love the story type that MW brings to the table.

 

[Doomsday]

i hope the guys/gals who made World at War make a modern day FPS... That would be a kick up Infinity Ward's A*S !!!

 

[Rob Williams]

i hope the guys/gals who made World at War make a modern day FPS... That would be a kick up Infinity Ward's A*S !!!

I sure wouldn't complain if that were the outcome. I admit I'm tired of the same kind of WWII theme. I like to play games to get away from the real-world for a bit, and it's hard when you know the stories are based on real-world situations. I think that sometimes, these stories need to be told, but a unique storyline is much appreciated as well.

 

[Doomsday]

Well, just finished it... it was nice..... will be trying the Special Ops thingy....... now i wanna know what happens to our buddies next after the ending, COD: MW3 pls........lol!

 

[Rob Williams]

Hah, I agree... I want to see MW3 just to continue the story. It's not that MW2's story was that original, or intriguing, but it wasn't too bad at the same time.

You'll like Special Ops I'm sure, but I recommend playing with a friend, not solo, because it's much, much more fun that way.

 

[Syrix]

While playing Single Player i felt like i was watching a high budget movie or something.
But unfortunately the game is to short. Multiplayer and Co-Op is where the fun is.
And should i mention that the game is ranking third on Xfire?

Anyway, if there is anyone that likes to team up with a good player let me know