Why Was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 SO AWESOME?!

call of duty modern warfare 2 is a non-stop thrill ride of action adventure explosions war and deceit or to summarize it a different way it's Cod 4 on a week-long cocaine binge that's no easy task creating a sequel to one of the most revolutionary and critically acclaimed video games of all time let alone in a franchise that traditionally made standalone games with self-contained stories Modern Warfare 2 believe it or not is the first direct sequel in the franchise and though modern warfare is easily the game that started many of the trends we see in first person shooters today and really put this series on the map Modern Warfare 2 cemented many of those trends and created new ones as well Call of Duty for United a huge fanbase together and naturally hearing that a sequel once again set in modern times was planned people got so excited how would they improve upon what was basically a masterpiece where would they take the story with old characters return what would the multiplayer be like so many questions the sales and success of this game speaks for itself but success doesn't determine quality and modern warfare 2 was the subject of countless debates and controversies sparking discussion about what's okay to put in a video game and what's not a popular new video game actually allows you to be a terrorist and kill people take a look [Music] despite the critical acclaim of Cod for modern warfare 2 did not receive the same amount of praise it's a pretty drastic drop in Metacritic score across the board which i think is an indication that people's feelings towards the series were slowly starting to change I mean the franchise had always been about war and soldiers history and they were always fun shooters to boo and it was mostly serious and semi-realistic or at least it tried to be in the way it depicted war but mw2 has a vastly different tone overall and all you need to do to see that is compare the trailers 50,000 people used to live here now it's a ghost town so called leaders breasts you to the dust to the rest destroyed our culture our economies our honor [Music] this is when Call of Duty really started to appeal to mainstream audiences and develop this gamer dudebro culture that has more or less replaced the series identity yeah [ __ ] yeah you got eminem spittin his lines action is cut to the beat it's so [ __ ] cool and it's a great trailer get you hyped up but it's just not what Call of Duty was at that point they even went so far as to create this hilarious and cocky commercial that was banned from TV sons of do it so loud they keep up the neighbors sometimes my dog likes to watch me do it some people go into a domination mode and that's some freaky deaky I've heard there's over 20 million people doing you now so it's safe to say that everyone is doing it I guess everyone really was doing it it's been over nine years since the games released and in that time we've seen nine new Call of Duty's but was there something special within Modern Warfare 2 that the other games didn't capitalize on is there still some secret ingredient to the Call of Duty formula hidden away in here and was the story campaign and multiplayer a product of its time that hasn't aged properly well let's whip out our noob tubes start World War three and no Russian our way straight into this at the end of cod for Captain Price and soap MacTavish stopped Imran's a Cavs nuclear missile launch and his attack on the United States and then they killed the bastard it was glorious a fitting end but the incident was covered up with the launch being labeled as a missile test by the Russian government and the heroes who stopped it didn't become heroes and the eyes of the public which leads us quite nicely into modern warfare 2 the story starts off with a spectacular opening credits scenes as dialog and snapshots from the previous game are played in the background what the hell kind of name is Sokka think the lime-green aesthetic here works well for the art style you know makes it feel what's the word modern afterwards this new guy general shepherd monologues has thoughts on war power and his words carry weight you can tell he's been through and seen enough [ __ ] to know how the cycle goes history is written by the victor and Here I am thinking we'd won and unfortunately Emran zekkai of didn't become an example he became a martyr to the Russians the dialogue is pretty well written it's not trying so hard to be taken seriously that it falls into the pitfall of destiny where they say things that sound epic and cool but really make no sense at all but it's also not a [ __ ] Monty Python skit a telltale sign of good dialogue is Shepard and the other characters don't always explicitly say what they mean you know it leaves things open to interpretation and in his words lies a small explanation for why the United States invades countries and pokes their noses into the business of others we are the most powerful military force in the history of man every fight is our fight because what happens over here matters over there we don't get to sit one hour within the first few cutscenes you get the sense that Shepard wants to be a winner he wants to write his own history and that desire is what initiates the events of the game you take control of private Allen and as part of the Rangers you're tasked with retaking a city in Afghanistan upon your success Shepard recruits you into the illustrious task force 141 an elite unit under his direct command perspective switch as you were put in the shoes of Roach alongside McTavish the [ __ ] homeboy and the protagonists from cod4 and I like this because just like black ops 2 from black ops 1 you play as Alex Mason and then you play alongside him so you sneak through a sandstorm to receive an ACS module and then book it the [ __ ] out of there Makarov is at this point the main villain who's essentially taken up as a Kev's role as he begins a campaign of terrorism against Europe Shepard sends Alan on a dangerous undercover mission disguised as a terrorist in order to gain Makarov stressed you don't want to know what its cost already to put you next to him it will cost you a piece of yourself it will cost nothing compared to everything you'll save which brings us to one of the most controversial moments in videogame history remember it's still shocking to play through this level and whatever you might say about Call of Duty's decline in storytelling whatever you might say about Modern Warfare 2 you can't tell me it doesn't have balls this scene in the Russian Airport can be viewed in one of two ways either it's a desperate attempt to shock the player and create a scene as memorable as the nuke going off in cod4 or it's the writers way of showing how a single horrific act can spark a greater war I think it's a combination of both and for me it's hard to ignore the parallels between this and the 9/11 attacks but no contrary to what mainstream media would have you believe in 2009 there's more to this level than just a lot of people have a problem though where you get to essentially be a terrorist and kill people and it's very realistic very realistic very realistic very realistic violence is a tool for storytelling just ask george RR martin and while the deliveries as heavy-handed as doom fist checking off it does its job for the plot there's no consequence for not shooting the civilians and the game gives you the option of skipping it entirely so since Makarov was aware of Alan's identity from the start it means shepard essentially sent him off to die he's the real martyr that was no message this is a message and when the authorities found an American behind this attack they declared war on the United States without a second of hesitation hey anyone remember the war on terror wasn't that a jolly good time the thing about modern warfare 2 is even though it's not set within a nonfiction timeline it mimics many of the things that happened in the eight or so years prior to its release so it still has a feeling of authenticity except for this one very small oversight and logic you know something something small the fact that the Russian authorities did absolutely no [ __ ] research an investigation yes Alan was an American yes he may or may not have shot plenty of people but you'd think the Russian government would at least try and look into the identities of the other four shooters before declaring war against the United States a country they've had extreme animosity with for the last 60 years did they just think one guy did all of this I mean you guys got security cameras their faces were probably all over them oh one of these guys was an American and we never saw or heard from the other four oh wait no one of them died - but we never checked into his background or anything come on guys let's go invade the White House ray I don't know it's stupid so roach and McTavish head to rio de janeiro in order to find some evidence that implicates Makarov in the terrorist attack because none was [ __ ] at the airport itself you fight through the favela against military forces and I gotta say it's cool that they have civilians all over this game really makes you feel like [ __ ] is going down and there's real people caught in the crossfire you can't kill them though it's a damn shame so you're chasing down this guy Alejandra Rojas and [ __ ] he's gonna get away oh [ __ ] he's gonna be feeling that for a while so at this point the story has split into two narratives which is typical for Call of Duty on one side we got sergeant Foley privately and the American gang defending the mainland from the Russian invasion and on the other soap price and ghost try to track down Makarov and find evidence to implicate him you know maybe it's the inner Patriot in me but it's [ __ ] cool to play as the Americans and fight off the Russians defending and retaking the White House running to the top to light green flares signaling the Jets not to bomb them and seeing flares spread out across Washington DC modern warfare 2 has some real memorable moments and visual imagery and I like these missions because I kind of imagine it as what if the Cold War turned into a real war scenario you know it'd be pretty terrifying to imagine an invasion on US soil of course the last time that happened we pushed back those [ __ ] redcoats anyways Task Force One for one infiltrates a gulag in order to free the mysterious entity known as prisoner six to seven fighting through cell blocks picking up riot shields and killing the guards you and the team wind up at the cell and free who's inside and guess what it's just no it's it's captain price yeah hell yeah real homies squad up and then the crew raids a Russian port where they gain control of a submarine and all's well that ends well right good job price time to get out of there so we can go home price put you up - damn man starting to worry that Jesus what are you doing Matt in a daring and risky ploy price launches a missile headed directly towards DC and we swap to a space station in orbit where we see it unfold I will say sometimes it's nice to have a cocaine binge from time to time JK I don't condone the use of illegal drugs so the missile ends up being an EMP which knocks out all electrical equipment sending helicopters crashing to the ground cocaine I'm [ __ ] up everyone's day but it gives the Americans enough of an advantage to push through and retake the White House at the top sergeant Foley vows vengeance on the Russians and swears they will burn Moscow to the ground foreshadowing meanwhile at Makarov safehouse ghosts and Roach attempt a daring attack to steal vital intelligence and evidence from Makarov computer you breached the estate set it up for defense hold the line and then download the valuable data with [ __ ] Comcast internet speeds come on man hurry it up after it's finished you book at the [ __ ] out of there where you're greeted by a friendly face timely rescue there general Shepherd of course we got the data for you and a most shocking betrayal that feels like it came out of nowhere a lot of players probably didn't know what to make of this or why Shepard did what he did so he could criticize it for being contrived and betrayal for the sake of betrayal but in actuality there were plenty of warning signs Shepard had to kill ghosts and Roach because if they uncovered what was on the DSM it would have revealed his involvement in the terrorist attack on Russia his whole vision of himself would have been tarnished and his legacy destroyed thus why he says his famous quote essentially sums up his motivations five years ago I lost thirty thousand men in the blink of an eye and the world just [ __ ] watched losing that many troops in an instant has got to [ __ ] you up to some degree especially if you commanded them but even more so if retribution wasn't taken throughout the game Shepard talks about war heroes the u.s. being the most powerful military force in human history he's given everyone a [ __ ] pep talk about greatness all the time it's like do you have a hobby dude he's essentially deluded himself into thinking winning a war is what makes a person great what cements them in history and all the events of this game were orchestrated by Shepard for the sake of his own ego and image this is for the record history is written by the victor history is filled with liars if he lives we die his truth becomes written and ours is lost Shepard will be a hero this is what you need to change the world he's one good liar and a river of blood so now that we know the villains motivations it's time to kill his ass Makarov and Shepards men fight amongst each other in the boneyard while price Nikolai and soap try to regroup to take him down we infiltrate Shepards base kill his soldiers run after him and then we get an extremely preposterous boat chase scene after which Shepards hell after a shot-down boat falls in the water we wake up in a desert walk around for a bit and know what's up dog you chilling or what Oh a fight breaks out you get stabbed pull that [ __ ] out of your stomach toss it with expert precision and mission accomplished you [Music] it's a pretty cool detail how rust is in the background in this final scene so with our enemy defeated the story wraps up nicely but you can tell it's not over yet Makarov is still out there and no doubt he's scheming some treachery already so overall the plot is pretty entertaining it's a fantastic joyride from start to finish yet it does suffer from extreme action movie cliches absurd scenarios and that unforgivable plot hole I talked about after beating the campaign gained access to the museum which shows off all the set-pieces characters and locations we saw an experience throughout the story you can even grab a bunch of guns and shoot everyone in here it's [ __ ] awesome and very creative the biggest problem with the modern warfare 2 campaign is its lack of pacing and an over-reliance on keeping the action going in the original game there are plenty of slow quiet moments that made the loud combat parts more enjoyable and intense while modern warfare 2 has you climb a mountain right and helicopters listen to dialogue and do other things besides shooting the vast majority of your playtime is spent in firefights now Call of Duty has never been what I'd call realistic but card 4 felt more realistic overall like modern warfare 2 is basically just one big shooting gallery this is when the series really started to transform into a balls to the walls power fantasy and it's pretty clear from behind the scenes interviews that the developers wanted the player to feel like a badass the thing I think is really unique about the level that were we're kind of new to in this game would be going through environment and having the feeling of early on in the level running to danger and watching all these people run away from it so you really start to feel like a badass you're running right to all the fire in the explosions they're running past you part of the reason why Cod 4 and world at war worked so well was the way they built up the action how each section led to the next you weren't always just dropped into a massive firefight sometimes you'd run across a group of captured German soldiers and you had to decide what to do with them or you'd be walking silently through the jungle when all of a sudden there was a time you had to grab captain Macmillan and set him down before engaging the enemy you know it added pacing in tension well things like that could spice up the moments in between the shooting I think when you have a vehicle escape section and there's like 50 other snowmobiles and you're just mowing them all down with the most accurate Glock 18 it starts to feel less like a war less like a battle and you start to feel less like a real soldier at least with black ops 1 it had the same level of over-the-top batshit crazy but it had a much more coherent interesting story the gist of what I'm saying is compared to its predecessors modern warfare 2 s campaign is over indulgent and too much combat is draining for example when you're chasing down Shepards boat at the end of the game was it really necessary to have 15 helicopters 47 boats 100 foot soldiers spread throughout miles of river lands all in the name of stopping two guys on a shitty little boat it's just a [ __ ] and it doesn't feel right the scenarios the game puts you in become so ridiculous that suspension of disbelief is no longer possible despite all this I've come to realize through my time playing all these Call of Duty campaigns and reviewing them that each one of them tries something new and I can really respect that cocaine warfare 2 might be a non-stop adrenaline rush and it's still fun on its own merits at least it isn't simply doing the same goddamn thing we've already seen before I think the problem people have with this campaign is the transit started for the future it wouldn't have been so bad if there's one iteration straight from the formula turned into an action movie and went balls to the walls and then we kind of came back to earth but almost every game after this has been just as ridiculous if not more so but I do appreciate modern warfare twos commitment to straight-up dumb fun in the tradition of mw2 amping up the action and intensity of the campaign to absurd earth-shattering levels the multiplayer does this as well it should come as no surprise to anyone that's watched my other Cod videos that modern warfare 2 has my favorite multiplayer in the series I've sucked this game's [ __ ] long enough it's time to tell you why I love it so much well all I really have to say is it's a kick-ass game despite what your friends in middle school might have believed there's more to this game than the 360 no-scope intervention montages good Lord modern warfare 2 and halo 3 basically started all these freaking MLG dank gamer 420 blaze it memes I think the sheer number of people trying to create badass cool montages and highlight reels says something about how influential the multiplayer was on the gaming community way back in holy-shit 2009 goddamn it's been 10 years way back when this game came out I was captivated and addicted to the multiplayer and it's taken me many videos hundreds of multiplayer matches a deep look into the pent-up rage and psychology of 12 year olds and about nine days of playtime to be able to put into words why it has to do with the weapons class customization progression killstreaks music voice acting and the most critical aspect of all map design but what to start with first well let's whip out our good ol AC art and start with the core gameplay let's a Call of Duty game so the basic rules should be pretty self-explanatory and I don't need to go over them time to kill an mw2 is pretty damn quick meaning firefights are more a test of quick reflexes good aim knowing the maps weapons awareness of your surroundings and mini-map this was the big debate back in the day and I remember it clearly halo 3 is better because it requires more skill you can't drop people in half a second Modern Warfare 2 is too easy and chaotic and while I still think this is true I have to say that's what I liked about it get back you get destroyed move fast paced easy to pick up and play pure casual fun but room for competitive players to take it to the next level it's classic Call of Duty mayhem at its finest but why do I find more fun here than in black ops 1 black ops 2 3 4 modern warfare 3 ghosts world at war or any of the others the answer lies within the expert map and weapon designs I'm sure if there's a term game developers used for this but the best shooters in my opinion are the ones where every weapon has a place in the sandbox where everything is viable to a certain degree so that nothing in the game is wasted or repeated what do I mean by that well take Halo 5 for example with all the wrecks they added inevitably they just made a [ __ ] ton of reskin weapons and vehicles and while yeah there's a lot of tools to play around with too much of it just feels the same it's redundant but a modern warfare 2 everything fulfills a role equipment for example a tactical insertion allows you to choose your next spawn which in and of itself offers a multitude of possibilities claymores are used to watch your back you can put them in high-traffic areas throwing knives or for players who want a more stealthy approach or just want to get some sick highlight clips now of course some weapons and equipment are objectively worse choices than others but a big part of it does come down to preference personally I love the f2000 it's a spray-and-pray gun with a little damage high recoil looks wacky as [ __ ] and nobody uses it the blast shield isn't used either because it cuts your vision and radar but if you hate Danger Close you might consider using it I could run through each and every weapon and discuss their minor differences in performance and reliability where they shine best but as an old black woman once said ain't nobody got time for that so I'll just pick a handful to reinforce my points the FAMAS excels in mid to long range encounters and has a three burst shot the scar-h is a high damage high accuracy weapon with the shortest magazine tar21 is a close to medium range weapon that can more or less function as a hybrid assault rifle / SMG ump-45 is the opposite an SMG with some assault rifle characteristics the l86 is a high damage high recoil LMG that can be surprisingly accurate with quick trigger pulls the AUG H bar is an LMG with a clip size slightly higher than most assault rifles but lower than all the other LMGs the weapons I chose all represent a different archetype and playstyle and any guns that are similar will pretty much always have certain strengths and weaknesses over other if you want an informative guide on each one of these guns xboxahoy has a complete series on it and to me that goes to show how much depth that the sandbox has overall and when the sandbox has depth so do the players choice of loadout this is why I and many others spent countless hours fine-tuning their classes because the decisions really mattered you would discover a play style unlock the attachments fiddle around and try different combinations level up get the perks that worked best unlocked Pro perks etc the game's addicting progression and leveling system went hand-in-hand with its diverse set of weapons and customization my gripes with some of the newer Call of Duty's as they streamlined the weapon categories where modern warfare 2 offered 4 to 10 guns in each category newer games would have one two three and with the pick 10 system most players don't even bother with a secondary so it's almost like what's the point of even having them but one of the necessary elements of cod multiplayer the developers need to get right is the perks modern warfare 2 is by no means a perfect game but unlike black ops for the perks here are vastly important to your class setup you know sleight of hand will give you a speed advantage in firefights but without scavenger you could find yourself running out of ammo quickly and this game scavenger is actually a useful perk because not everyone starts with 6 full magazines you want a more mobile class taking marathon will help with that and if you Rock bling you can cover your weapons weaknesses more thoroughly stopping power helps increase time to kill and damage with most weapons but for some it's not essential hardline isn't all that good because you'd rather have a better more effective class than require one less kill to get a streak going cold blooded is perfect for stealth and Danger Close as the go-to for explosive based classes light weight makes you more nimble which is great for close quarters finally with the yellow perks yes you can run around with commando and a tactical knife it can be really fun but it's not too viable steady aim is great for snipers or akimbo weapons scrambler is borderline useless and gives away your position and ninja is just the best works on every class sitrep is great for finding claymores and tactical insertions and last stand is if you want to be an annoying [ __ ] what makes the class customization so dynamic is the clear benefits and trade-offs of taking one perk over another if the trade-offs aren't significant if you can have a good class without any perks then it's kind of like why are they there and if you're questioning the point of taking parks at all then maybe that part of the game isn't designed well yes there are some frustrating elements in this game how could we forget one-man-army danger-close noobtube spam one-man-army was [ __ ] broken but you know it was worse than all that the model 1887 thank god this [ __ ] was patched but let us never forget to summarize the class customization here is as perfect as it's ever been or going to be and call it duty it wasn't bounced [ __ ] now but in terms of options viability fun factor the sandbox is the most complete out of all the cod games in my opinion [Music] [Music] now let's switch gears and talk about the killstreaks it was a huge change of pace for call of duty to leave World War 2 behind and head into modern territory cod4 and walled up war had the same exact system when it came to kill streaks and it worked just fine three kills for a recon plane five for an airstrike and seven for an AI controlled ally easy straightforward and even but when modern warfare 2 came out it turned this simple formula into and then you start thinking to yourself wait a minute I didn't do any drugs this morning and just when you thought the game couldn't get any more batshit insane our Lord and Savior ghost descended from the heavens to tell us the sacred words tactical nuke ready for launch and so it was that the face of gaming was forever changed and the land of memes would never be the same let me just say that the voice acting for the different factions and announcers is what gives this game so much character it gives it an identity just just [ __ ] listen to these announcers ready for launch repeat predator missile ready for launch show us what you want I don't think I've heard anything past advanced warfare that was any bit as memorable as some of these lines just listen to the intensity enemy I see 130 now let me get one thing out of the way real quick modern warfare 2 is not meant to be balanced it's meant to be stupid chaotic fun this means you can have an absolutely great time when you're [ __ ] [ __ ] up and you can also have a terrible time when you're getting ass blasted it's a tough dichotomy but that's what the game excels at and what's a good Call of Duty game without the killstreaks the variety is astounding and they could be the best innovation made from the original to the sequel of course you've got your UAVs air strikes and attack helicopters from cod4 but fun fact unlike Cod 4 you can actually shoot down the UAVs then there's counter UAVs which adds some much-needed disruption to the game care packages drop a random kill streak with varying drop rates you can call down sentry guns set them up in defensive or offensive positions there's the godforsaken predator missile which the enemy always seems to get when you're about to get your Harriers which incidentally is the best kill streak in the game bang for buck which means they should have made the precision airstrike 5 kills because there's no reason to pick it over the Harriers and without a doubt the most fun kill streak and Call of Duty history the emergency [ __ ] airdrop you know why I love it so much because not only do you get for random kill streaks falling from the heavens not only can you get a chopper gunner and an ac-130 in the same drop but it creates this mad dash in the match where your team is running to secure them and back you up and the enemies are trying to steal them it's glorious on the higher end you got the pave low which is an absolute beast in the skies the stealth bomber is very underwhelming for the nine kills it takes to get it but hey that's why we have care packages the monstrous chopper gunner an ac-130 are the most extreme power fantasies come true and if you see one on the enemy team it's a sign that someone to be killed cuz no they're not going for the EMP they're going for the this game had huge balls and how overpowered and busted they made the killstreaks and that's why I love them however the ridiculous aspect comes at the cost of a fatal flaw which has since been rectified with scorestreaks you get [ __ ] campers like there's no tomorrow because everyone wants to get a nuke everyone wants that badass feeling and for a lot of players myself included the game becomes less about winning and more about getting kills no matter the game mode this isn't something that ruins the experience it just has the potential for players to abuse it which they most certainly do but in the end the game is better off because of the kill streaks even if it's frustrating to die by them over and over because you can always bring that same retribution to the feet of your enemies got a little present for ya what is it that makes a good map in a multiplayer game this question alone could be its own video and varies from shooter to shooter what you have to ask yourself is this why does a level like high-rise stand out so much more than a level like generic factory number 27 well there's plenty of reasons and one of the most glaring is the overall selection of game offers if nearly every map you have falls under the umbrella of flat small linear three Lane design then every multiplayer match is going to feel the same this is the biggest issue with having fun and modern Call of Duty games the map design is so safe predictable and boring that it's just not exciting you already know what you're gonna play before you pop the game in and my black ops 4 review I talked about streamlining and how the Maps heavily restrict player freedom and I compared it to query where you were able to jump climb and run around all the boxed areas which brings up my first point a good map needs a unique aesthetic a desert surrounded by a crashed airplane split into fragments unique a train wreck in a snowy environment with boxcars strewn about in a chaotic mess unique a series of interconnected buildings and houses within the alleyways of Brazil unique atop the roof of a skyscraper surrounded by buildings in a helicopter pad unique oftentimes the simplest idea of what a map is where it's located and the aesthetic can make it stick in your brain it makes it memorable I find myself not being able to remember the names of most of the newer maps because they just aren't memorable especially if you're making a game based on war well you're probably gonna fight in some locations that are [ __ ] up and a bit destroyed if you look at black ops 3 & 4 most of the environments are totally clean and sterile like it's a [ __ ] simulation or something so now that we understand a map needs a unique identity it's time to flesh this out point number two a good map needs a variety of terrain in order to give players interesting choices throughout a match there needs to be an interesting design so if you ever want your audience to want to play your Maps hundreds of times without going insane well it's gonna get real [ __ ] old real [ __ ] quick when your options boiled down to pick a number between one and three but when you start incorporating things like strategic cover high ground low ground hill slopes ladders bunkers underground areas buildings debris interactivity then you start to create interesting ways to attack defend and traverse the map and better yet you create power positions areas where players can have fortified positions or a great view of the map control of a choke point for example the hallway on Skid Row a good map needs interesting landmarks points of interests that stand out and draw a player attention so you know where you are on the map in relation to these landmarks the house on estate for example the downed plane on Afghan or the cockpit in terminal verticality is a big part of this too there is no map in cod world war 2 or an original map in black ops 4 that offers three-story heights none so when you have no height differential suddenly all your maps feel flat and lifeless if you took the map wasteland and set up a bunch of walls to trap players into going down certain paths without this wide-open freedom you'd have a blackops format favela might look small on paper when you try it out but when you play it there's all sorts of buildings you can go through different ways you can get to the top it looks like a three lane map but it's far more dynamic and interesting than that and my third point a good map needs flow how does a player move from one area to another at any one spot in the map what options and routes can a player take can you predict where the enemy will spawn will the enemies spawn right up in your butthole a map with good flow is a map that players can learn that's why you see people at the start of the match launch a noob tube at a seemingly random point in the air because they know how far it's going to Travel and where the enemy is going to be you probably noticed plenty of areas of modern warfare to where there isn't much action going on where players rarely go I call these safe spaces and it helps with flow because unless there's a chopper gunner or a c-130 in the air it gives each player a fair chance at taking in their surroundings respawning formulating a plan of attack good flow consists of multiple paths so for example on scrapyard you can run outside of the destroyed planes you can run inside of them and you can hop through the windows to get in or out that's good flow a map that has good flow means that after playing it enough times you get an idea of where you're most likely to encounter an enemy and this ties into risk reward the reward of running the gauntlet on high rise is you get to the highest point with the best view the risk is you're wide open while you run it the reward of climbing the ladder to the top of query is again a great view but the risk is you can get shot all the way from below maybe there's a path through the map that can get you to the objective quicker but leaves you more open than running around in flanking risk reward good flow both essential to an enjoyable multiplayer and my final point a good map must be in tune with the sandbox Call of Duty has more of an issue with this than say halo because the weapons are found on the map and certain locations so the developers can pick and choose what goes where and if this weapon belongs on the map and if it doesn't they can just take it out but since cod allows every weapon on every map then it's reasonable to expect that most weapons should function and be viable on most Maps again a huge oversight by the developers of cod world war ii and black ops 4 there's just no room for sniping a sniper is supposed to be able to find a comfortable spot to take out their enemies from afar but you'll never find a comfortable spot because the sight lines are so short the maps are so small and the spawns are so terrible simply put modern warfare twos weapons fit in the maps they work and you don't have to avoid an entire category of weapons just because the map designers were lazy as balls in essence every level in modern warfare 2 adheres to these points those are its key strengths the maps are interesting different and fun to play with the possible exception of derail personally I just think it's too big and there's too much running around but it's still unique and I respect it now doesn't that say something the one map most people don't like still has something different to offer from the others modern warfare 2 takes risks it gives players a lot of freedom and how they move around and what class they choose and the map design is one of the core reasons I found enough enjoyment in the multiplayer to put nine days of my life into it in order to compete with world at Wars fantastic and addicting Nazi Zombies mode Infinity Ward needed to bring something equally as interesting to the table they couldn't just copy Treyarch partially because it was called Nazi Zombies at the time and well there ain't no Nazis here while SpecOps wasn't as widely acclaimed as zombies or offered as much replay value it still had its place the multiplayer always had its claws dug so deep into me that I didn't spend much time in spec ops but that said having revisited it it's a welcome addition the mode consists of 23 separate missions some of which can be completed in less than a minute and others that take longer as you finish each level you'll learn stars and with those stars unlock more missions however it's not a simple task of getting from point A to point B at your leisure you often have to deal with the clock and it soon becomes a race of perfection the drive to earn 3 stars on every mission is an enticing one and it's something I've been pursuing not just for the sake of this review but because I want to unfortunately many of the spec ops missions are simply reused areas from the multiplayer and campaign which means you're more or less seeing the same damn thing from mode to mode but I'd rather have this mode with recycled areas that not have it at all some missions are co-op only and will force one player to man the skies in an ac-130 while the other moves on the ground bobbing and weaving through buildings as your ally frantically tries to cover you hey oh [ __ ] man Danger Close there's a wide assortment of missions and they're all pretty great you know not too much to say about this mode overall spec ops is decent fun it's nice to have something that caters more to the PvE crowd and it fits in nicely with the rest of the content it's a great way to take a break and just chill out and even though it needed to be fleshed out a lot more it was a great stepping stone to modern warfare 3 's take on spec ops despite the controversial no Russian mission an unbalanced but fun multiplayer a side mode that fails to replicate the replayability and fun of Nazi Zombies modern warfare 2 is still a great ass game it may not have lived up to people's expectations but for many of us this was the moment we became Call of Duty fans spec ops has its moments and it's a nice change of pace especially if you have a buddy to play with the single-player campaign might be a [ __ ] of adrenaline cocaine and over-the-top action set-pieces but it's still entertaining and has a great story with memorable characters and moments multiplayer on the other hand is what I picture when I think of the perfect Call of Duty multiplayer the weapons class customization progression map selection map design attachments parks equipment it's my favorite multiplayer offering in the whole series and you can probably gather that much from the sheer amount of time I spent talking about it though modern warfare 2 may have started several of the bad and tired trends we've come to loathe from this series it's given me far more memories and good times than I care to count and that is why call of duty modern warfare 2 was so awesome that's how it's done nice job Rangers you

Channel: The Act Man

Views: 6,657,731

Keywords: Call of duty, mw2, modern warfare, modern warfare 2, mw2 review, modern warfare 2 review, modern warfare 2 nuke, modern warfare 2 multiplayer, mw2 campaign, general shepherd, makarov, soap mactavish, captain price, infinity ward, activision, act man, the act man, act man call of duty, cod, call of duty 4, call of duty modern warfare 2, no russian, mw2 cutscenes, call of duty review, mw2 nuke, mw2 custom classes, modern warfare 2 remastered, mw2 gameplay

Id: xHYIymYeytA

Length: 45min 5sec (2705 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2019