Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2022) Review – Scorestreak Lost

Now here me out, it’s the refresh era of the Call of Duty series, which sees them refreshing their movement for the next four years (plus one break year) and their Warzone mode wipes the slate clean. But, is it the same for their terribly named sequel to their 2019 counterpart? A Yes and a No, in that order.

Presentation

The graphics are once again phenomenal thanks to the new iteration of the IW Engine that brings tech-like photogrammetry onto what is essentially ID Tech 3. It looks and sounds beautiful with a pretty good revamp of the audio from MW 2019.

Its map design also reflects the changes in how it looks and feels. For instance, the Singapore GP Map (aka Crown Raceway for copyright reasons), the shininess of the pit area, and the sound of Formula cars roaring as the match continued on make it rather immersive to players dueling to the death, Edge of Tomorrow style.

One pretty weak aspect of this edition is the campaign, when compared directly to its more interesting counterpart like Treyarch’s Black Ops Cold War, where there is player choice in how the storyline goes, this feels like the usual COD story with some outliers (the levels in Amsterdam and Mexico comes to mind), but it doesn’t feel quite as interesting as even it’s original namesake back in 2011. 

Which I and many others feel is far better than the modern iteration, both in intrigue and campaign gameplay standpoint, speaking of which.

Gameplay

Let me, the reviewer that has been on and off again on COD but has purchased the game without skipping a beat since 2019, state that the return to Dolphin Diving, a niche movement that hasn’t seen the light of day since the start of the future shooter era, is amazing for us oldies who have played the game since 2009-ish, even if we aren’t as good as before.

It promotes more frantic shooting that COD was known for and while cross-play means controllers players will get bodied harder than ever, it coincides with the return of Proximity Mics, making it feel more nostalgic for a wild-west era of gaming and, making a weird entry in as well is third person mode. Still quite of a bizarre feeling playing a COD match in the over-the-shoulder-cam.

Though I still think Infinity Ward’s nerfing of Skill-Based Matchmaking after Pro-players complains is quite cowardly considering now it’s reverted to the way it was beforehand, with higher-level players bodying low-levelers like nothing. But alas, ‘tis how the system works for years.

For Co-op, we now have the return of mission-based Spec Ops that feels like Destiny raids with a team of 2 or 3 players dropping in locations to do objectives and extract out of there.

Its baseline content so far feels enjoyable with the ability to do multiple times to level up your weapons in this mode and hopefully, IW adds more alongside Warzone 2,0 and DMZ, their new Tarkov-lite without the money aspect that feels half-baked at this point.

And finally, a word on the new Gunsmith feature. In theory, it’s okay with the point of it is a way for players to try out all variants of guns that the game features but when the grind of it is rather slow (if you don’t use Double Exps you find on Doritos of all things). 

It makes it quite a chore for someone that seldom plays the game to get towards the more fun weapons like MP5s and such without the need for a battle pass. An issue that is also plaguing their sister series, Overwatch, in the character department mind you, and just looking at the “improved” battle pass that MW 2, it’s going to be checking messy for the future.

Content

At this point, I feel writing about content on a Call of Duty game when compared to its size is a bit redundant, since the game is (at the time of this review) around a whopping 110 GBs, with the added ability to delete the campaign after finishing it (with brings it down to 80GBs).

One neat thing about the 5 – 10 campaign this time is the fact that you can get bonuses when you complete it to use in Multiplayer, which is good, I reckon.

And if they fix the issues of Warzone and DMZ, I guess you can justify the 291 Malaysian Ringgit price tag perhaps? I mean, these sorts of games are more fun with friends, so drag one of them and enjoy the chaos that is COD for the next two years.

Personal Enjoyment

Now, let me give it to you guys straight. I feel this is more of a step back for the Call of Duty series in terms of Infinity Ward’s list of games.

It lacks the soul of the original back in 2009 and its storytelling, which there are high points with both iconic characters of the series Ghost and Soap stealing the spotlight, is rather lacking any real threat like the original game, it edges towards it with their ending but in reality, it’s going to be a Warzone cutscene later down the line.

Perhaps the break of a full COD game next year (and a rumor DLC thing like Black Ops 3 did back in 2016) could re-frame the mindset of all three developers on what the future of the series should go forward because this game has the movement set and gameplay styles correct, but the rest still needs more refining, no matter what the rest of the Streamer communities say.

Because in the end, if no one is playing the game like Battlefield 2042’s current state right now, then no casual person is going to touch this game, and then you may have a problem retaining anything moving forward.

Verdict 

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 feels like a “one foot forwards, two steps back” type of ordeal where the gameplay is fun and the looks are nice, but that’s about it on the positive. Its multiplayer feels bare-bones even during its first season, the campaign is rather lackluster and the battle pass looks worrying. 

It’s still a solid game but not really worth its 70 Dollar asking price, wait for a 25% sale to try this out.

Played on Xbox Series S, Review copy purchased by the reviewer.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2022)

A “one foot forwards, two steps back” type of ordeal where the gameplay is fun and the looks are nice, but that’s about it on the positive. It needs more work to be fun with the masses.

• Presentation 8

• Gameplay 7.5

• Content 6

• Personal Enjoyment 7.5