![]() ![]() Staged moments feel organic–a terrorist widow picking up a gun out of her dead husband’s hands, a stumbling grenadier who’s barely alive after a helicopter attack, or a surprise attack from behind a door all feel real and dynamic.Ĭombat has its problems, though. Activision / Infinity Wardįreshly-dead victims drop in sickeningly predictable ways and continue to fall or move with gravity long after they’ve snuffed it. With an army or on your own, you always feel vulnerable. It all feels more realistic you’re regularly reminded that both you and the enemy aren’t superheroes, just very well-trained. After holding your breath when sniping, your recovering aim seems more affected than ever. Going from sprinting to prone is met with a sickening thud that you really feel. Reflecting the narrative pace of MW2, a greater focus is placed on walking and jogging you’re boosted by a double-tap sprint, which only lasts for two or three seconds at a time. For the first time, you feel perfectly comfortable with an entry-level handgun MW2’s story emphasizes the importance of simply being armed. ![]() Weapons are weighty–if anything, they seem to pack even more of a punch, especially shotguns. Thankfully, you still feel about ten feet tall, if only because other FPS games continue to set eye camera height too low. One aspect of Modern Warfare 2019’s campaign that needed next-to-no tweaking was the combat. Meanwhile, Mexican Special Forces operatives Alejandro Vargas (Alain Mesa) and Rodolfo Parra (Bayardo De Murguia)–underwritten roles, admittedly–still pack a punch, complementing series stalwarts Price (Barry Sloane) and Gaz (Elliot Knight), who fade in and out but nonetheless tie together most of the loose threads.Ĭomplementing these great roles is the interactive ability to respond to conversational pop-ups, which appear throughout Modern Warfare II, fundamentally improving the storytelling and adding another level to combat situations–while punctuating rare moments of potential boredom. Sadly, Claudia Doumit’s excellent Farah is relegated to cameo status, and Laswell (Rya Kihlstedt) has a brief badass stint before falling victim to an inevitable trope, meaning the sole deep female performance falls on the shoulders of María Elisa Camargo, who steals the show as Mexican sicaria Valeria Garza–the most intimidating character in the game, if not the whole franchise. military, trading his old Field Marshal Montgomery look for the smooth, stern face of veteran actor Glenn Morshower–the original MW’s Overlord. General Shepherd is finally believable as a member of the modern U.S. Between them, the duo offers a dark-comedy double act through thick and (mostly) thin, finally giving both characters the true depth they always promised–and a surprising amount of fraternal warmth. Soap, The Most Scottish Man Ever, is his rough, buff, and incredibly gruff cohort. Ghost–whose trademark balaclava is complemented by a skull piece like Game of Thrones’ Lord of Bones–takes a very vocal leadership role. Teased at the end of 2019’s Modern Warfare, Simon “Ghost” Riley (played brilliantly by Samuel Roukin) and John “Soap” MacTavish (Neil Ellice) hit the ground running. Simon "Ghost" Riley takes on a more vocal and deep role than ever. Infinity Ward isn’t messing about–this is arguably the finest acting you’ll’ve seen in an FPS, even in spite of the occasional plot hole. Even if a certain blink-and-you-miss-it plot point goes over your head, the game’s cast is so superb, you happily fill the gaps yourself. However, its 17 missions bring several of the franchise’s iconic settings into the mix, even if they’re used for new purposes or alternative story exposition. In the rush to cram as much exposition as possible into the first couple of hours, it initially spreads the action relatively thinly. This second reboot once again takes inspiration from well-known source material, but adds even more twists and turns to an already convoluted tale of intrigue and deception. A confusing story carried by excellent actingĪs crystal clear as Modern Warfare II’s graphics may be, the same can’t quite be said for its story. You’ll regularly annoy your squadmates as you listlessly stare at your surroundings–the sheer amount of mission prompt dialogue recorded for each character is a definite reflection of IW’s expectation that players will spend a lot of time gawping at backdrops. Each setting is more believable than the last. ![]() The same can be said for Modern Warfare II’s many other locations: the overcast shores of Spain, neon-lit streets of Mexico, iconic American city skylines, and–like its predecessor–anything in glorious night vision. Amsterdam is among the most beautifully recreated backdrops in FPS history. ![]()
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