Like many sequels, Modern Warfare 2 faced a nigh insurmountable challenge: to meet and exceed the high bar set by its predecessor. Spec Ops and Multiplayer are refreshing evolutions of the excellent experiences formed in the first iteration of Modern Warfare, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
But in terms of the single player narrative, it fails.
(Spoilers after the Cut)
It's not that I'm disgusted by the game's infamous "No Russian" airport massacre or have issues with the mechanical aspects of the spawn points or enemy A.I. In light of Grand Theft Auto 4, I did not find the brutal terrorist violence of Modern Warfare immediately more shocking - if anything the storytelling twist it delivers was the more intriguing, and as fellow bitmobber Nicholas Kunst commented in Jacob Hinkle's "Now Boarding: Terrorism", 'it wasn't an "OH SHIT!" moment... but an "oh, shit..." moment'. Your 'fresh faced' ernest enlisted man turned CIA plant guns down hundreds of Russian civilians in cold blood in a ham fisted attempt to earn the trust of one of the most dangerous men in the world, and you fail miserably - dooming thousands if not millions more to the slaughter. An "oh, shit" moment indeed.
But sadly, this was one of the few times where Infinity Ward did something profound and meaningful with the narrative of the game. The return of Captain Price was a welcomed surprise, but at no other time did I feel like I did in the first Modern Warfare: there is no painstakingly replicated, photorealistic Chernobyl or Pripyat to first sneak and later thunder through in a frantic game of cat and mouse. There are no moments of sacrifice where you bravely turn back despite being within an impending nuclear blast zone to save a downed chopper pilot, only to spend your last moments bleeding out under a blooming mushroom cloud. Even the intense first person accounting of a "fictional" coup in a "fictional" Middle Eastern Country is missing.
Somehow, I'm not compelled at all by the ruinous sprawl of Washington D.C. I've played Fallout 3, so the destruction is not "new" or "shocking". 11/13/09's "4 Guys 1Up" points out the "clean" destruction of American soil - we see no bodies, are not in danger of killing civilians at any point during the events of the Russian invasion. Maybe it was a missed opportunity to instill that crucial emotional resonance into the game. Maybe. I like to think that it's more a matter of the sequence having no real present day correlation. Unlike the 1980's (really, anytime during the Cold War), there is no fear or threat of Russian Invasion. What made the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare truly compelling is that it touched on events that were (and still are, to some degree) unfolding at the time of its release. And with regards to Chernobyl, the designers went to the trouble of painstakingly recreating and placing a narrative sequence into a time and place that were relevant. Somehow, knowing what I'm experiencing is "real" - that the place is "real" - is more compelling, more involving, then simply taking a famous landmark and wrecking it like so many movies and games have done before.
I also found the potential for the International Space Station sequence is lost on me - I think it would've been far more intense to be floating, helpless above the Earth, while the world below irrupted into frightened panic and static ridden chatter then to simply be "blown away" by the "big reveal" (pardon the pun). I did feel something when Roach and Ghost died, but it was only a serviceable hatred and despise for your enemy, further turning him into a cardboard cut out villain, full of empty "I'm doing this in service of the greater good" rhetoric that falls flat when mixed with yet another plot to write himself into history as a hero. It's a pity Infinity Ward did not take the time or have the lucky foresight to actually pull a prominent, heroic NPC from the first game and explore his turn and downfall. And since when did an "international taskforce" like 141 ever exist? (G.I. JOE this ain't) I found it rather jarring and odd that men from the SAS are now suddenly in the command structure of the American military? At best, Infinity Ward implies so, but there seems to be no precedent or explanation for the acquisition of the special forces of one country into the control of another. It's incredibly unlikely that such an event would ever happen, whether it be controlled by America or by NATO - such special forces assets are nigh priceless pieces of a country's military arsenal.
On a pure gameplay level, Modern Warfare is still an excellent, frantic, polished shooter. But the narrative, the memorable and compelling moments that frame said action is missing. We are given but a shadow of what made the first game's narrative great, and instead must subsist on a few almost-great moments, some flimsy justifications, and a set piece that fails to give meaning or pause to reflect about the events that unfold. But then again, that seems to be the problem with Modern Warfare 2's story. Infinity Ward took the one foot they had firmly planted in reality with the first game, and pulled it back into fantasy.
Comments (12)
As odd as it may seem, I wish I could have seen some dead people in their homes. I mean, if the military had no idea the Russians were coming, how could the civilians? Consider how much more controversy would have come from showing a family who had been gunned down while they huddled in the corner of their suburban home's basement.
The game falls into a typical run and gun action movie and loses its narrative along the way.
It is sad when I think the best part of the last two hours of the game was the credits. Please do not skip past them, I think the credits say a lot about the short term memory we seem to have when it comes to war, and how we see those who played a part in them as curiosities at a museum exhibit.
The game does perform as well as its predecessor did in the gameplay and mechanics realm, but after the No Russian level it does little to make itself relevant.
Did I seriously dodge rocks while white water rafting?
John, you reference the "4 guys, 1 UP" episode that discussed MW2, and I will say that the 1UP team did bring up some solid points about the general tone of the game being unfocused, as well as the lack of realism in representing a war-ridden U.S. This is probably where IW missed the most in the campaign, and should have just shot for the "all-or-nothing" approach. I also really liked the 1UP guys' idea of your Russian squad forcing you to do something evil in the 'No Russian' terrorism mission. I was so awestruck by the situation that I could not bring myself to shoot a civilian; my team should have acknowledged my hesitance. Now that would have been very intense.
I dunno, maybe it's me, but I liked the plot twists that they provided. It may have been a bit more fantasy, but there's only oh-so-much you can touch on the real world before you start being scrutinized. At least the plot they provided was somewhat engaging and action-packed. Having to run through the battle between the General's men and Makarovs kept my heart pumping.
I was also satisfied with the ending, and how they left it open so that they can make a 3rd game.
Even on the lower game settings I felt like I was constantly throwing myself into a meat grinder.
For instance, I probably had to play the snowmobile part half a dozen times before I avoided running head first into a tree. Good times! When I finally made the jump the moment was no longer exciting or thrilling. It was simply frustrating and tedious.
Then there was the first half of the Favela mission. I kept getting killed by the ten zillion enemies swarming around me from all sides. I died so much during this section that I was convinced that I was playing the game wrong yet I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to be playing it right. I still don't!
And it just went on like that for almost the entire game. It also didn't help that the dialogue was so muddled that I couldn't hear my orders half the time and therefore didn't know what my mission objectives were supposed to be.
All and all it felt like Infinity Ward thought that making everything louder and more intense would mean that they were making a better game but in the end is simply came across as a frustrating, cacophonous, bewildering mess.
Multiplayer is great though! Ha!
What would REALLY be interesting is if the use some older style warfare, like from Vietnam. Could you imagine bombs filled with Napalm, showered over major cities like New York or Miami? Or even some chemical warfare, like bringing back Agent Orange. I think including the element of suffering on a wide scale would be more gripping.
What if they released an agent that made people crap out their mouths?
