TITLE: Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II
DEVELOPER: Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Beenox, Treyarch, High Moon Studios, Sledgehammer Games, Activision Shanghai, Demonware, Toys for Bob
PUBLISHER: Activision
RELEASE DATE: Oct 28, 2022
GENRE: Action, Shooter
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the 2022 edition, is a sequel to the 2019 reboot of the Modern Warfare series. The game can be easily mistaken as a remake of the 2007 title, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, due to the overlapping naming convention. While it brings various gameplay improvements and impressive audio-visual aspects, the Campaign experience doesn’t evoke as much emotion for the writer as the 2009 version. This is primarily due to the disjointed storytelling and the lack of unexpected twists, as well as the cluttered game interface and numerous comical glitches.
Firstly, I must correct the information in the previous article about Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War being the final installment for the previous console generation. In reality, the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard last year was also available for both console generations, and the same goes for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in 2022. The main difference between the two console generations is primarily the frame rate and resolution. The visual experience still bears resemblance to the cinematic feel of recent Call of Duty titles.
Continuing the storyline of the 2019 Modern Warfare, this sequel takes players back to the members of the Task Force 141 special operations team. Familiar faces will be encountered, such as the character Ghost, who shocked the writer with their fate in the 2009 version. Alongside iconic characters from the Modern Warfare series like Captain Soap and Captain Price, this sequel introduces a new character named Alejandro Vargas, a member of the Mexican special forces, who collaborates to combat a well-known antagonist.
After the introductory Strike mission, which serves as a tutorial, the player’s official experience begins with the second mission: Kill or Capture. This mission immerses players in a night-vision-intensive battle, reminiscent of the Clean House mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare but with double the intensity. The campaign’s gameplay diversity is further showcased in the Violence and Timing mission, where players engage in a thrilling pursuit involving driving and gunfights, although not as intense as similar sequences in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
Not only that, the gameplay diversity of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II continues in the Alone mission, incorporating survival and crafting elements. However, at this point, the writer encountered numerous bugs in the Campaign mode, and as of the time of writing, no action has been seen from the developers to address them. One notable issue is the main character getting stuck and unable to move when performing certain actions, forcing a “restart checkpoint” or replaying the entire level, which leads to a frustrating loop of errors.
One of the bugs that infuriated me was in the Prison Break mission, where the game requires you to rappel, but your teammates block the path and do not open the access to the rappel line. This bug is particularly frustrating when playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on the Veteran difficulty setting. In this section, the writer witnessed the character dying countless times. To make matters worse, the temporary workaround made it seem like it was an intentional game design. However, only Infinity Ward, the developer, can answer this question as players like me perceive it as a game flaw.
Furthermore, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II also causes extreme frustration with the player’s AI teammates. In many gunfights with enemies, your teammates seem to merely provide background fire like extras in a movie rather than supporting you in eliminating the enemy. Instead, the player has to do everything themselves. As if that wasn’t enough, the development team incorporated several extremely unfair designs, forcing you to battle nearly indestructible “bullet sponge” enemies unless you use more drastic measures.
It is worth noting that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II concludes the experience with a lack of intensity, especially in the final boss battle, which left the writer extremely disappointed due to its monotonous level design and a sense of time-wasting rather than excitement compared to the much more engaging preceding levels. However, the Campaign mode still provides players with diverse and interesting missions. For instance, taking on the role of a sniper, executing “one bullet, two bodies” shots like in Sniper Elite 5 or conducting a raid on a moving cargo ship amidst a storm with constantly shifting containers.
What is interesting is that the mission scenarios in the Campaign mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II are also built into separate and exciting multiplayer game modes. This is the biggest advantage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II with its two system groups: Core Map and Battle Map. In reality, there isn’t much to mention about the Core Map, mainly consisting of familiar game modes on a small scale of 6v6 between two teams, such as Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, Domination, etc. The new game mode, Prisoner Rescue, is actually just a variation of the VIP Escort mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Instead of escorting a VIP, you either carry a prisoner from your faction or kill prisoners from the opposing faction. On the other hand, if you prefer fast-paced battles, Knockout and Search and Destroy are two quite exciting game modes. Both modes do not allow respawning, so teammates play a crucial role. However, the most thrilling experiences come from the Ground War and Invasion game modes in the Battle Map system, with their large-scale gameplay and massive player participation, making the battles unpredictable and highly replayable.
Specifically, Ground War brings players into a 32v32 battle to control 5 key points on an immensely large map. Players can freely utilize everything in the game to create extremely chaotic and exciting situations. Moreover, with the ballistic trajectory physics simulation that leaves nothing to be desired in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and the grandeur of the battles, the writer feels like they are participating in a real battlefield, although not as hardcore as Hell Let Loose. You can be hit by enemy bullets without being able to locate them.
However, if you only participate in the battles within the Core Map system with the small-scale 6v6 format, it would be difficult to feel this. It’s a very different and indescribable sensation, unless you immerse yourself in the gaming experience. In reality, the writer feels that even the latest installment in the Battlefield series, Battlefield 2042, which emphasizes this aspect more, still hasn’t created the same intense battlefield atmosphere as the game modes in the Battle Map system of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
Equally enticing is the Invasion game mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, designed as a Team Deathmatch with a battlefield scale similar to Ground War. The biggest difference between these two modes is the 20v20 battle, along with AI-controlled “reinforcements” for players to drop in and out, making use of various means of transportation and creating intense warfare. The winning team is the one that reaches 2000 points first. What’s interesting is that AI-controlled characters are only worth 1 point when eliminated, instead of 5 points for player characters.
However, while the level design of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is top-notch, not all large maps bring excitement. From a player’s perspective, the biggest drawback of the game modes in the Battle Map system is that the map environment becomes a great opportunity, if not somewhat favorable, for campers. This often leads to frustration and a sense of unfairness. Moreover, achieving high killstreaks by exploiting map advantages also results in players receiving significant battlefield support.
Another downside is the somewhat “grindy” process of unlocking favorite weapons if players don’t seek guidance from the internet. Specifically, guns and attachments are not simply used and leveled up. They are interconnected with various types of weapons. For example, to unlock the Lachmann Submachine Gun, you need to level up the Lachmann 556 to level 12. This is just the final result, as the unlocking process for the Lachmann Submachine Gun extends through leveling up other weapons and more. Unlocking attachments follows a similar pattern.
On the other hand, the newly introduced multiplayer mode, 3rd Person Moshpit, is equally exciting. As the name suggests, this game mode offers a thrilling third-person multiplayer experience, adding diversity to the multiplayer gameplay and refreshing the atmosphere. However, the most surprising aspect is the return of the highly enjoyable co-op Spec Ops mode that the writer cherished in the original Modern Warfare 2. It’s a bit disappointing that this game mode only includes three short missions.
In the end, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II delivers an exciting FPS experience with diverse gameplay. The biggest drawback of the game is that the Campaign mode fails to ignite emotions in both the storytelling aspect and level design. On the contrary, the multiplayer component truly shines with its varied game modes and excellent map designs. If you’re a fan of first-person shooter games in general and the Modern Warfare series in particular, this is definitely a must-have title for your game library.