CoD is all about multiplayer, as Activision’s extravagant marketing tricks you into believing the Call of Duty campaign is the biggest gaming event of the year. For many players, the story mode is more than enough of an afterthought, and it’s common to simply skip the campaign and jump into Team Deathmatch. I’m usually in the same boat, but I’ve learned to pay attention when Infinity Ward creates new campaigns.
Modern Warfare 2 relies heavily on gimmicky one-off missions that have become the bread and butter of the CoD playbook. It regularly retreats from traditional breach-and-clear operations to explore ideas of simple stealth, tactics, and even sandbox survival. A lot of it works, a lot of it doesn’t. Some are shrouded in that same raspy military zeal that puts Call of Duty fans to shame. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of Modern Warfare 2.
Note: The following contains spoilers for the Modern Warfare 2 campaign.
⭐BEST: Successor to ‘All Giriup’ remembered for years
Call of Duty has its iconic “all ghillie up (opens in new tab)” Missions have met with varying degrees of success over the course of 15 years (the 2019 Highway of Death mission fell short of its goals for a number of reasons. (opens in new tab)), but Modern Warfare 2’s “Recon By Fire” may actually be better than the original. At the last minute, lounging in the grass, lying perfectly still while a soldier passed just inches away. Even though I know these silly AI grunts are programmed not to look at me unless I move, I still feel the real rush from these behind-the-scenes enemy frontline-type encounters.
However, Recon By Fire won’t be riding Call of Duty 4’s coattails for long. As Gaz and Captain Price clear the hillside, the two of them pick off the enemy within the compound from 600 meters away. Infinity Ward takes cues from dedicated sniper series such as Sniper Elite and Ghost Warrior, calculating bullet drop in scope notches instead of taking wind deviations into account and doing the same “see the flag” trick. Giving his Gaz tips for. “400 meters. Corrected by two and a half notches.” I don’t think a real scout sniper would need a spotter to teach the basics of scopes while on duty, but enough integration to increase sniper believability (scope notches are usually for viewing in other games).
Infinity Ward then flexes the muscles of the Warzone map by moving you from half a kilometer away to where you just shot. This makes it clear that the whole perimeter is one big sandbox instead of a curated funnel of invisible walls. An hour-long blend of secret sniper operations and stealth action infiltration is a near-perfect example of what Call of Duty is all about: change. Unlike most other levels in Modern Warfare 2’s 17-mission run, Recon By Fire cannot be pointed out and declared to be a cheap knockoff of the other sniper missions from 8 of his CoD . However, I can point out that if you want a slightly more hardcore sniper mission similar to this, you should really play Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2. (opens in new tab).
⛔ Worst: These Jerks in Body Armor
This is Infinity Ward’s first post-Warzone CoD campaign, and it really shows. There are hints of Modern Warfare’s Battle Royale cousins sprinkled throughout the campaign. Most notably the enlarged map size in missions like Recon By Fire and the actual drivable trucks in Highway His Chase that were interactive cutscenes in old CoD. One Warzone hand-me-down I’m not a part of, however, is these armor holes that pop up unexpectedly in nearly every mission.
I assume that fighting them is meant to evoke Warzone’s longer kill times (breaking armor even plays the familiar “crunch” sound), but what they actually do is the pace of A good shootout is slowed down to crawling as one armor.It takes 2-3 mags to kill a goon. All the while, these daring juggernauts push forward with LMGs and shotguns, dropping Thorpe his McTavish faster than you can say “Oscar Mike.” Pushing eight pounds of lead into a single target shatters the already thin veneer of immersion that a good CoD mission can achieve.
😬CRINGE: Press mouse 2 to “de-escalate” civilians with guns
I think I backspaced through a foreign town off the surface of the planet.
Infinity Ward has clearly set out to create a more light-hearted military runaway after the tonal disaster that was Modern Warfare 2019’s campaign, but it’s also sassy for optional dialogue about Captain Price’s favorite guns. In between breaks, Modern Warfare 2 still finds some uncomfortable, gritting time to say to yourself, “Oh, Call of Duty,” and wonder why I’m still playing these games. It’s the moment I think
When the on-screen text prompts “press mouse 2 to de-escalate civilians,” as in a mission that begins with players overcoming Donald Trump’s infamous border wall, two armed special I’m justifiably interested in why troops trample their own yards. De-escalating in this context means, of course, threatening to kill them with a gun until they take off their pants and run away. What was an appropriate moment for was instead a darker timeline version of the “press F to pay homage” meme.
⭐BEST: Point and click stealth missions that work amazingly
Another pleasant surprise. Infinity Ward has one of the lowest points in Modern Warfare 2019: point-and-click stealth missions (stealth missions in which Gaz directs embassy personnel via camera through corridors and offices to avoid enemy soldiers). It’s taken and made one of Modern Warfare 2’s highest marks. The mission Prison Break employs the same CCTV gimmick and flips the scenario. Instead of helpless civilians trying to escape the place, you lead Ghosts from cover to cover infiltrating a heavily guarded prison.
Ghosts can shoot and stab bad guys along the way, or avoid them altogether. The controls are intuitive, and Ghosts’ takedown animation work is top-notch. It’s like watching John Wick commit murder on a security camera. My only complaint is that this section ends too quickly, followed by a series of unremarkable shootouts.
⛔ Worst: This Uncharted Wannabe Truck Chase
Remember that kicker part in Uncharted 4 where you jumped from truck to truck, shooting bad guys and driving in front of a convoy? It’s easily the weakest gimmick. You may have seen snippets of this mission, violence and timing in some of the trailers. And it starts with you hanging upside down on a rope, filmed in a technique that would have made Nathan Drake proud.
If the whole mission is getting less and less likely to shoot the truck, I’ll get in, but the adrenaline stalls early on when you start jacking up the truck and rinsing and repeating headshots. I’m not sure which part bothers me the most: Either the convoy is too long at about 8 trucks worth, or all the vehicles feel too slow, or it could be a very dark mini-boss truck. There is a nature. It threw mines into the street (blowing up dozens of civilian cars in the process) and kicked me over the edge. No wait, that was definitely the last shootout.Two armored jackholes with shotguns appear five feet in front of me and knock me down before tearing through their seemingly endless armor .
😬CRINGE: Bomb a small town in Mexico with PMC
Infinity Ward, I know you really liked the AC130 mission from the old Modern Warfare games, but I think backspace in foreign towns off the planet’s surface is over. Close Air and Hardpoint, a pair of aerial carpet bombing missions, steal a stapler from Nacy Pelosi’s office during the Capitol riot, this time in particularly bad taste.
You wouldn’t be surprised to learn that (spoiler!) Graves and Shadow Company is actually a twist on the villain in Act 3, but he’s so unlikely from the start that you’re going to blow him up with your own plane. I wish I could.
⭐⛔BEST WORST: Crafting
Perhaps the biggest swing Modern Warfare 2 takes is the two later missions in which Thorpe has to sneak around soldiers who don’t have guns and are making improvised weapons with random things on shelves. I’m impressed with how far Infinity Ward has gone. This isn’t his one-off moment like sticking a piece of cloth in a bottle and calling it a Molotov. There are 6 recipes and a complete crafting wheel with highly detailed animations for crafting each one. I especially like his DIY proximity mines. This is essentially a mousetrap + duct tape + gunpowder. somehow Equal to boom.
Crafting mode disappears for a while when Thorpe rendezvous with the boys, but returns again in the final mission of the game. In a showdown in a Chicago skyscraper, the gunless Thorpe avoids enemies and follows instructions. A voice in his ear disarming a missile in flight. It’s a pretty intense moment, and doubly, thanks to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes-style input, you’ll have to punch your laptop to pull it off, but the encounter feels completely disproportionate. Whichever route you take, you’ll either 1) get shot by bad guys or 2) fail a lot as you struggle to craft useful gear before you run out of time to disarm your missiles.
I give Infinity Ward credit for being one of the most unique final boss “fights” I’ve played in a long time, but on my eighth attempt, I just wanted it to end.
