Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Back on my feet again after that nasty A/H1N1 hit me. But enough of that. Thursday night I downloaded Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Now, I am a great fan of the previous installment of the game (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), but I skipped Call of Duty 5 ("World at War") as it was set again in the Second World War. COD4 to this day remains the game I play the most (multi-player). Before that I played SOF2 (Soldier of Fortune 2) almost religiously and I even was in a "clan" for a while. Anyway: the single player storyline of COD4 was is still one of the most immersive I ever played. It was is as if I was am in the game. The characters and the missions you play are great and the AI is though enough to enjoy (i.e.: no easy kills).

I didn't pay much attention to the announcement that there was going to be a sequel to COD4 MW. Last weekend however, I noticed how Usenet got flooded with posts of COD MW2. This last week I was to sick for it anyway, but Thursday night I picked out one of the pirated copies that seemed to work, downloaded it and installed it. I have been playing it (single player) for hours since then.

There is a lot of controversy around the PC version (which I will get) and it's mainly aimed at the multiplayer part. From what I gather there is a lack of dedicated servers, lack of support for matches larger than 18 players, and inability to vote towards kicking or banning cheating players immediately.

The game uses Valve's (Steam) anti-cheat system instead of PunkBuster. But - low and behold - it already got hacked the day after it came out. Which is off course one of the main reasons I don't like playing online that much as I used too. Cheating is one of the most annoying things when it comes to games.

Anyway: I love the game so far. Many twists and turns in it. One of the levels - "No Russian" - made my jaw drop. It is the only level in the single player mode you can actually skip. It - reportedly - was also cut from the Russian version of the game as it involves a very nasty terrorist attack with a twist.

If you're into spoilers, watch the video below and you'll understand what the fuss is about. Personally I didn't fire a shot in this level except when being shot at.

Conclusion: not revolutionary new gameplay, but a damn good sequel. Loads of new weapons and yet again an immersive - and controversial - storyline. I am definitely going to buy this game (just like I did with COD 4 MW). I just love the fact that I have a chance to play it first before spending my money.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: "No Russian"