It's the newest installment of this ongoing, huge series. It was a very highly anticipated game. It made $550 million in the first 5 days. I figure someone should talk about it.
If you liked Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, or any other first person shooter, you will very likely enjoy this game. It is very nearly the exact same game. I played a pretty serious session on Remembrance day, and completed the main story line on normal difficulty, logged about 3 hours into multiplayer, and finished just over half the Special Op's coop missions. My buddy and I did the hardened difficult for most of the Spec Ops. So, if you ignore the time sink that is multiplayer, you can experience this whole game in about 6 or 8 hours. The main story isn't that exciting. Terrorists orchestrate this war between the US and Russia. You kill Russians, Terrorists, and almost anything else that moves. There is a bit of controversy as well, as there is a level where you play as an undercover agent trying to get close to a Terrorist, who is taking part in a bloody massacre at an airport. You do feel a little disturbed (I hope) when you spray bullets into a crowd of unarmed civilians. It's somewhat important from a storyline point of view.
Single Player wasn't bad, but not great. They did a good job of making the missions a wide variety of objectives, while killing terrorists. I really enjoyed the levels, as you fight in some very neat places. All the levels where the US is attacked, and you are trying to defend it are excellent. You have an outpost setup in a Taco Joint, and are asked to do a recon mission at the Burger Barn! Sweet! They did a very good job of capturing the suburban neighbourhood. You also fight at the Washington monument, and the whitehouse. I really enjoyed watching those structures burn. It's how I envision the War of 1812 looking, but more planes and choppers.
Multiplayer is where this game shines though. They level progression system seems much faster. You get experience for a lot more stuff now. They added tons of challenges for weapon unlocks. But they also added so many levels of customization that you can spend forever trying to unlock everything. I still haven't fully unlocked the first assault rifle, and I have since gotten 3 more. I haven't even started upgrading secondary weapons, like pistols, and such. I think I will hit the level cap long before I finish upgrading weapons. A lot of the levels are a ton of fun. They are well made to support many different play styles. One of my peeves though is it's a small multiplayer game. There is 1 mode that suports up to 18 players total. Most games hover around the 10-12 player mark. It's not that it's not fun, I just enjoy some of the larger multiplayer games, like Battlefield, or the upcoming MAG. Since numbers are often so low, it really makes it an individual based game. You never have to work with your teammates to accomplish anything. That said, I like following a teammate around, and use him as a human shield / enemy detector.
The Special Op's missions are a ton of fun. Unfortunately, they are just the coolest and most fun parts of Singleplayer, in shorter, more direct, format. After finishing Singleplayer, I had already done all of them, but I get to do them again... If you do them first, Singleplayer gets a little boring, and drags on. I highly recommend you do them with a friend, as most of them are way easier with a buddy. (Xbox live gamertag: Toad008 =) )
Final verdict? If you liked the first Modern Warfare, you should get this game, as it's an improved version of it. If you like first person shooters, I'd wait and pick it up in a couple months, after a price decrease / used copies are available, as the multiplayer servers will still be packed. (Estimated 7 million copies in 24 hours? Jesus). If you don't like first person shooters, why did you read this whole article? Moron.
Also worth noting: I've got some review plans queued for Left 4 Dead 2, and Assassin's Creed 2, once I play more of both of those. Also, since Board Games are getting less love, I'm thinking of writing a review of Last Night on Earth, and Dominion. I just want another couple sessions in both so I can take a bunch of pictures. Last Night on Earth review may moreso be a retelling of the story the game unveiled for us. Seems like it would be fun.
Total Time: 19:43:54
