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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

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1.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 22 critic reviews
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Based on 2832 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Infinity Ward

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter

Players: 18

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: November 10, 2009

Summary

Modern Warfare 2 continues the gripping and heart-racing action as players face off against a new threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse. An entirely new gameplay mode which supports 2-player co-operative play online that is unique from the single player story campaign. Special Ops pits players into a gauntlet of time-trial and objective-based missions. Rank-up as players unlock new Special Ops missions, each more difficult. Missions include highlights from the single player campaign, fan favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and all new, exclusive missions. Setting a new bar for online multiplayer, Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer delivers new capabilities, customization, gamestates and modes, including: Create-a-Class Evolved. Secondary Weapons - Machine Pistols, Shotguns, Handguns, Launchers. Riot Shields. Equipment - Throwing Knives, Blast Shield, Tactical Insertion. Perk Upgrades. Bling (Dual Attachments). Customizable Killstreaks - AC130, Sentry Gun, Predator Missile, Counter-UAV, Care Package. Accolades (Post match reports). [Activision]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Cheat Codes & Hints: GameSpot Guide

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

VideoGamer

It's hard to see the majority of people wanting to play any other multiplayer shooter until the next CoD is released, such is the quality of what's on offer here.

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Cheat Code Central

MW2 is a fantastic follow up that doesn't muddle too much with the mixture of success found in the original, but instead just adds some more depth and a much higher level of polish. Whether you're a fan of the original MW or a newcomer to the series, this is easily one of the must-play titles this year. Honestly, unless you're completely against playing games in which you shoot things, this game's excellent single-player campaign, enjoyable Special Ops mode, and addictive and nearly endless online multiplayer experience should put MW2 at the very top of your "to buy" list.

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IGN

For those planning to check out everything Modern Warefare 2 has to offer – online competition, full co-op Spec Ops mode, as well as the campaign – you’re looking at a no-brainer purchase. For the strictly single player crowd, however, Modern Warfare 2 is surprisingly short, and doesn’t live up to the standard set by previous Call of Duty games.

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InsideGamer.nl

With the music of Hans Zimmer and the cinematic scenes, you're sucked into the game and spit out after you’re done. The single player is rather short. It will take you about six hours to beat the game, but you get an intense and memorable ride the entire time. The game seems to be a little scripted, but it isn’t annoying for everyone. The multiplayer isn’t annoying at all. You can play for hundreds of hours without being bored. The Spec Ops mode extends that with fun for two. If you ever played a shooter and liked it, buy this game!

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Gamervision

Infinity Ward has managed to outdo themselves with this sequel, a tremendous feat in its own right. If the games of 2009 were stacked up against each other, there’s no question that Modern Warfare 2 would be incredibly close to the apex, fighting viciously for the top spot and, for many people, getting there and continuing upward. This is what gaming is supposed to feel like.

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GameZone

From the first campaign mission to the 50th deathmatch round, Modern Warfare 2 is one heck of a ride. Its flaws are miniscule whispers against a thundrous symphony of greatness, where all elements combine for a must-play experience.

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Strategy Informer

MW2 is spectacular in all the right areas; building and refining on the most solid of bases. And although its political heart might not be in the ‘right’ place, at the very least it might make a few people think rather than skim through on muscle memory and twitch reactions. That’s a rarity in itself, and something to be respected in an age of apathy.

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Game Revolution

Compared to the hundreds of hours you might spend in Modern Warfare 2’s brilliant multiplayer mode, the few hours you might lose to its painful singleplayer game will fade like a bad memory.

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Edge Magazine

Its sheer assuredness in mechanics, spectacle and often situation are unlikely to be surpassed for some time.

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Gameplayer Sweden

Modern Warfare 2 is the best Call of Duty game ever. Thus it's also the best action game multiplayer experience ever. Hence it’s also a must buy. Don’t listen to the haters who claim that Infinity Ward has ruined the experience for PC gamers. The truth is that Infinity Ward has made the multiplayer experience tighter, better and more intense. For once you don’t have to pay heed to the famous Public Enemy quote ”Don’t belive the hype”.

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AtomicGamer

Modern Warfare 2 deserves to be one of the biggest games this year, but it's still up in the air whether the PC community will let go of their grudges and enjoy this version for the great game it is anyway.

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3DJuegos

The surprise factor of the first Modern Warfare is missing and the PC version is by far the worst in the PS3, X360 and PC trio. This new Call of Duty iteration exceeds every expectation with its off-line mode, but loses its place among the best shooters of this year because of its poorly designed and badly executed multiplayer.

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Everyeye.it

The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 must shack up with the absence of dedicated servers and a technical engine that doesn't perform very well.

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GameSpot

Modern Warfare 2 boasts an exhilarating campaign, engaging cooperative play, and addictive multiplayer, but the high price and limited multiplayer features may tarnish its appeal.

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FiringSquad

Artificial limits to and strict uniformity of online play, precious development time spent on extraneous and arcadey side-missions, removal of a crucial gameplay mechanic because “the game isn’t balanced for that?” I just expect more from a developer who wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for the PC.

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Gamers.at

Its surprisingly hard for me to recommend Modern Warfare 2 to anyone. Sure: The singleplayer-campaign is quite exciting, the atmosphere is intense and graphics are "ok", but the console-ported multiplayer quite simply spoils it all. What were they thinking?! Bottom line: Fans of the predecessor can give it a go, everyone else is way better of with Modern Warfare 1 - especially in terms of "value for money".

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GameSpy

With its combination of an engaging single-player campaign, addictive adversarial multiplayer modes, and enjoyable cooperative Spec Ops action, there's no denying that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the year's finest games.

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Boomtown

Infinity Ward has created a solid shooter which raises your adrenaline to dangerous levels in a number of places with some of the best set pieces I have ever seen in any game. If only it had changed the pace here and there and made it longer, MW2 would have been a classic.

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Meristation

Quotation forthcoming.

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PALGN

For the PC, Modern Warfare 2 is a solid shooter with an excellent but very short campaign, and an improved online multiplayer system hurt by the new matchmaking setups.

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Gameplanet

Matchmaking is as woeful as you would expect, and the campaign mode is too short and plays like it was designed by a committee. The Special Ops mode fails to lift the uniform score of this game to anything worthy of remembrance.

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BigPond GameArena

If you told me three months ago we would be suggesting PC gamers hold off on buying Modern Warfare 2 I would have thought you're crazy. But if you are buying this game mainly for multiplayer - especially if you're contemplating serious competitive play at a high level - that's exactly what we're saying. The single player story is great, and if your idea of multiplayer is a quick zap with mates maybe an hour or two a week then by all means - it's great for your purposes. However if you're a Counterstrike, Battlefield, ETQW or even a COD4 player looking for a serious competitive platform to move to - best wait. Wait and see if Infinity Ward can implement dedicated server support.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 1.9 (out of 10) based on 2832 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Spook75 gave it a0:
No dedicated server, thus no means to widely and decisively police the game for cheaters, griefers, and hackers. If we had the dedicated server people may be less inclined to hack if they knew that there were consequences, getting banned from your favorite server is one of them. I could go on about the minutia, but I will not, but focus on the most important part for me; PC Multiplayer. No more money will be spent on any further Modern Warfare products. I'm done with it unless they release a PC patch giving this game the same fundamental gameplay the first Modern Warfare had.

Lue D gave it a1:
Giving the game a 0 is rather harsh seeing as it had terrific singleplayer(altho fairly short) and clearly deserves a thumbs up for the singleplayer, however singleplayer is a very very small fraction of CoD and has always been, no difference with the latest game.. That said however with the latest "improvements" to the multiplayer they have successfully killed of the PC communities that were planning to move over to Modern Warfare 2, yes, they do have a Party system allowing us to play on the same team etc etc, but what we lost is abit greater than that, we lost our communities wich we had invested plenty of time in and where we actually had found alot of people we enjoyed playing both with and against, that however is no longer possible thanks to "IW.net", this game had definitly all the options of bringing down Counterstrike as the #1 game when it comes to FPS e-sports, however that is no longer the case. The lag in multiplayer is terrible, you more often than not encounter servers with only 1 person having less than 3 bars on the brand new and "improved" lag-o-meter, and that person is ofcourse, the host. This game hardly deserves more than a 2 in rating with the current state it is in.. heck, only thing that speaks "CoD" about this game is the singleplayer, and that, is a 8 hour bliss but after that I'm afraid you're out of luck.

Jake B gave it a0:
As a fellow Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 player i find myself questioning the leadership of Inifnity Ward. The new so called player "Matching" system is a joke. This morning i got "matched" with a listening server in Amercia (a host with DSL, whos upload is barely enough to support one client), when i am connecting through an exchange in Perth, Western Australia, the other side of the world. Now Infinity Ward if that is your idea of a match you seriously have failed the whole community. Bring back dedicated servers! Something that is reliable and does not lag!

Karri V gave it a0:
In multiplayer, in every game I've seen (haven't bought it and won't unless they do something to fix these issues), atleast half the players have >100ms ping which is completely ridiculous compared to the host's <40ms.. The P2P protocol is just not working nearly as efficiently as normal servers would. Lack of dedicated servers and the ridiculous p2p protocol used to replace them is just too much of a middle finger to the PC community. As far as single player goes, the game lasts a maximum of five hours. I played through it in one evening while at a friend's place... Come on, that is NOT worth the price. It is a good five hours, but doesn't justify giving this insult to the PC gamers anything but the lowest score.

Tyler H gave it a0:
I bought this game and just realised that I have wasted $60 :( so sad that my friends did the same. There is no Dedicated servers to play online... I like COD4 playing online once Singleplayer is done. People who host the game, if 10+ Players then the game goes crazy Lag. Can't able to shoot properly while playing online. My friends said the same.

D G gave it a0:
The one thing that this games does well is show the fullblown arrogance and ego of IW. Thank you for creating an arcadey shooter that feels like it was directed and produced by Bay/Bruckheimer (it's even scored by Hans Zimmer!!) and thank you for giving the PC community the big ol' Finger! /sarcasm. I'm glad I have Gamefly so I could finish the 6 hour game and return it as quickly as possible as I wait until I boot up Battlefield BC 2!!

b00tsy C gave it a0:
I agree with every single bit "Shawn M" said. Modern warfare 1 sucked already pretty bad, part 2 is even worse. If you want tactics, skills, nonlinear single player levels and cheating filled bunny hopping teens in multi player that cheat then DO NOT buy this game. don't get fooled by the marketing around the game, you are getting ripped off if you buy it.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

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