As you all know by now, the year’s most anticipated FPS title has finally dropped, and we’ve all been living, sleeping, eating, and breathing Modern Warfare 2 for 6 days now. I decided to hack my way through the campaign before I touched the multiplayer, and managed to hack my way through on Veteran Difficulty in just under 9 hours, yielding me roughly 600 points worth of achievements. Now, I make no bones about being a huge fan of the COD series, but this campaign was awesome. I know a lot of you buy the COD games only for the multiplayer aspect, but with this iteration in the series, you are only ripping yourself off. Why? Hit the jump and find out.

First, the campaign. The story picks up where Modern Warfare (MW) left off, except there is a slight twist. Killing Imran Zakaev did not redeem America in the eyes of the Russians. Instead, they touted him as the “Hero of New Russia”, and praised his standard. Under this guise, a new player emerges, Vladimir Makarov. He is intent on destruction and chaos, and he uses the “murder” of Russia’s new National Hero as his modus operandi for masterminding a false-flag attack on Russian soil and leaves a trail pointing to the U.S.’s CIA operative connection. Of course, Russia is incensed at America’s willingness to kill innocent civilians. The story begins to unfold as the East coast, and the seat of our democracy, Washington D.C., is attacked and overwhelmed by Russian forces. You play as multiple characters from multiple Agencies, Task Forces, and Military Branches, as usual. The depth of field in this story is amazing, with the reasons for the attack on the U.S., how the attack is provoked, and how the attack is carried out. Of course, your part in all three operations is where the gameplay takes place. From the slums of Brazil to the White house lawn, you are thrust immediately into the harsh realities of war. Your squad mates drop like flies, innocent civilians are gunned down without mercy , and the heart of the U.S. military force is struck with political treason at the highest levels.

The replay value of MW2 is ridiculous with the Online Multiplayer, and Special Ops Modes. First, the new Special Ops Mode takes up where the campaign leaves off. Some Special Ops rounds are time based races, while others are wave-defense style rounds. You can defend your position alone, or with a friend in co-op. You earn a star rating based on your time in the races, or the number of waves you repel. Spec Ops also comprises the majority of the additional achievements for MW2 outside of the campaign. Spec Ops Mode is extremely diverse with it’s many combat styles. Some modes will employ sniper skills and anti-personnel mines, while others will require run-and-gun style defense and breaching, and still others will require snowmobile racing, and even asset placement (i.e. Predator missiles). Spec Ops Mode adds hours of re-play value to MW2, when you are waiting for your clan to come online for multiplayer, or when you are just plain tired of pwning noobs (yeah right, like that ever gets old).

And of course, there is the Online Multiplayer Mode. Modern Warfare 2 has provided us with a bevy of new weapons, perks, challenges, killstreaks, and deathstreaks. The new perks add a huge amount of customization to your weapons loadouts, with multiple attachments possible for both primary and secondary weapons. Also, the addition of Akimbo (dual wielding) primary and secondary weapons is another big step. I haven’t personally found it to be very effective, but others are raving about Akimbo P90’s being the ultimate win. The multiplayer mode is also the only point where the game has suffered, in my opinion. First, there are only two Hardcore modes, Hardcore Team Deathmatch, and Hardcore Ricochet S&D. MW1 also had the additional Hardcore Headquarters mode. Since Hardcore Headquarters was my personal favorite game mode in MW1, I was very disappointed to see it was not included, however it is possible that this mode will be added at a later date.

Finally, no party chat. This really chaps our behinds here at Loot Ninja, because we can’t stand listening to all the idiots pumping music into their mics, incessant racial slurs, cursing, and personal attacks, or the annoying kids that give a running play-by-play of every single move they make. PLEASE, GODS OF MODERN WARFARE 2, PATCH THIS BLIGHT UPON GAMING HUMANITY IMMEDIATELY! They have stated publicly that the reason for disabling this feature was to quell the cheating. This is absurd, if people want to cheat that badly, they will use Skype, or just put their cell-phones on speaker during a match. Besides, why would you disable Party Chat only in Team Deathmatch Modes? That makes no sense. As it seems to me, cheating of this sort would be most effective in the objective based game modes anyways, like Headquarters, or Search & Destroy. However, these two small infractions are not enough to demerit this game in the slightest, in my opinion.

In conclusion, Modern Warfare 2 is without a doubt the top dog in multiplayer FPS this year. You need this game. Even my hardest-of-hardcore Halo buddies are loving this game, and playing it non-stop. You need this game. Please, if you are still on the fence about it, don’t be. Campaign 5/5, Special Ops Mode 5/5, Multiplayer, 5/5. You need this game….wait, did I say that already?

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]