Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was a complete behemoth in the gaming world and in many ways continues to dominate the industry. So, it was with great excitement, and yet a similar amount of apprehension, that I jumped right into the game as soon as I got hold of a copy. Do Infinity Ward meet expectations or fail to live up to the hype? Let’s see…

Choose your game

First of all, before we go anywhere, let’s take a look at the game modes put up for us in Modern Warfare 2. You are given three options on the opening menu, which can be broken down into the following:

• Special Ops: Challenges that feature co-operative gameplay.
• Campaign: Story-based single player campaign.
• Multiplayer: Features online and offline multiplayer game modes.

Special Ops

This is the newest mode in the Modern Warfare universe. Building on the basis of the huge popularity of co-operative gameplay, Infinity Ward decided to implement it into Modern Warfare 2. But rather than just simply taking on a two-player co-op version of the single player campaign, IW built a whole new game mode for it.

Special Ops consists of a series of challenges that get increasingly difficult as you progress through them. Each challenge has a 1-3 star reward system, depending on how well you beat the challenge and meet certain targets you will be awarded with more stars. Players must obtain certain numbers of stars to unlock later challenges.

As mentioned above, this game mode supports co-op play, nay was built for co-op play. Most challenges are quite generic, with the usual holding off waves of enemies. But there also some good little twists in there too, like a night time mission where one player covers another player from the air using the AC-130.

Special Ops mode supports one player, as well as two player local (split-screen) and online gameplay.

Campaign

I can’t really go into too much detail story-wise without revealing spoilers, so ‘ll make do with a quick introduction. Modern Warfare 2’s single player campaign will take you through a range of surroundings, from the desert landscape of Afghanistan to snow-capped mountain ranges. Each one feels perfectly suited, the snow crunches and leaves foot prints, while wasteland maps will have a constant sandstorm blowing around you.

As per the other Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare 2 will see you taking on the role of several different people throughout the missions. Sometimes you are working for the SAS-style Task Force 141, othertimes you are fighting for the American Army Rangers.

The missions tend to make use of new weaponry, like the remotely controlled predator missile, which gives you a black and white aerial view of the battlefield briefly before you take out a whole squadron of enemies with it.

Expect the story to twist and turn a fair bit, but always in a good way. There are some pretty amazing set pieces backed up by some brilliant level design and artwork.

Multiplayer

Considered by many as the ‘core’ to the first Modern Warfare (and probably Call of Duty: World at War too), this game mode features both online and offline multiplayer game modes. The offline is pretty similar to the online except you can only have up to 4 players locally via split-screen, unless you opt for a LAN setup, in which case there isn’t much difference at all. The offline mode now even supports local profiles, so you can save you and your friends progress each time you play, meaning you get to enjoy the feeling of unlocking all the rewards individually and setting up your personal custom classes.

The online mode is a much polished and enhanced version of the Modern Warfare and World at War versions from the call of Duty series. There are challenges, levels, prestige modes, custom classes, perks, leaderboards, party support, game invites and all the usual features you expect. However, there are a couple of new, gladly-accepted features too.

Modern Warfare 2 introduces a new item that could probably best be described as a gamercard specific to MW2 itself. This MW2 ‘gamercard’ displays an emblem (small logo picture), the players name and a title with graphic. Modern Warfare 2 lets you select your own emblem and title from a huge list (hundreds), which you progressively unlock as you complete challenges and levels throughout the multiplayer mode.

A slew of new weapons and equipment is brought forth to the scene with Modern Warfare 2, with fancy treats like a heartbeat sensor (similar to a personal, yet less-useful, UAV) attachment for your gun. I don’t want to spoil any more of the goodies so I’ll leave it at that, just rest assured knowing there is a lot more customisation available in MW2.

Perks. This is always a big talking point. There are some perks people hate (you may be glad to know martyrdom is no longer a perk) and some people love. Not only do Infinity Ward introduce a couple of new perks, but they have changed their usage slightly. Not only have they tweaked them to even them up a bit, but you can now also complete perk challenges to ‘level up’ your perks to “pro” versions, which tend to offer a much better equivalent of the original perk.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

When you think of games published by the likes of Bethesda Softworks, we’ve grown to expect games that are heavily weighted (sometimes too much) and relatively slow-moving. WET, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of The Elder Scrolls. It’s fast paced, tight and linear, and it’s better because of it.

The main protagonist is Rubi Malone, a gritty, no-holds-barred, contract killer, who isn’t afraid of getting her hands wet for the right amount of cash. Hence the games name, which itself defines the slang term ‘wet’ as meaning getting your hands bloody.

Rubi gets thrown into a non-stop, slaughterfest that is portrayed in a way that would make Tarantino proud. The game lends itself to several films and other video games, ranging from Kill Bill (this one’s so obviously influenced this game I’m surprised Rubi isn’t donning a yellow tracksuit) all the way over to the Wii’s slash-and-shoot-em-up, Red Steel. Following on from the latter point, WET does what Red Steel tried to do and more. It gives you a sword and a gun and lets you use them in a variety of ways that will make gore-lovers drool; the odd severed limb can be seen after Rubi has finished with a room full of henchmen.

There are no in-game loading screens per say, instead you get old fashioned adverts that advise you on some good nosh, whether it is the classic hot dog or the not-so-appealing gherkin (pickle) in a bag. You will also get the occasional lift loading screen that features black and white CCTV footage of Rubi looking bored or playing away on her harmonica. Don’t worry though; these loading screens are never more than around 10 seconds.

The missions in the game and the story itself are quite basic. You are basically running or jumping your way from A to B, dishing out bullets or sword cuts non-stop to anyone in your way. This is refreshingly spliced with unique gaming moments like a car chase and free falling from an exploding plane as the debris rains down around you and in front of you, while you take advantage of Rubi’s ability to make everything go slow motion so you can squeeze between tiny gaps.

Every now and again, a mission will start with Rubi automatically shooting an enemy and the resultant blood splatter on her face causes her to go psycho. The next section of the mission will all be in vivid red, black and white colours and Rubi will go hyper, allowing you to slice up and shoot enemies at a ridiculous pace.

The game features Quick Time Events quite prominently, especially in the bespoke scenes, such as the car chase, where tapping the relevant buttons will allow you to jump, dodge or stab enemies.

In terms of variety the game offers 5 different weapons, which unlock throughout the game. Rubi starts off with her sword and the standard dual pistols, which have unlimited ammo, and later gains access to shotguns, sub-machine guns and a crossbow. WET also features an upgrade system where you can spend points that are obtained for getting kill combos and finding point pick-ups. You can upgrade the weapons (fire rate, power and capacity) and you can also buy new Rubi abilities, which can be anything from new acrobatic moves to being able to shoot while on a zip line.

Overall WET is gritty, dirty and graphically inferior to many of the games coming out at the moment. But all of this just seems to add to the style of the game, especially the film grain effect, which gives the game the Tarantino-esque it is obviously striving for. The story is about 8 hours long and probably won’t offer much of a reason to return to it and without a multiplayer the game has very low replay value, however, even playing through the missions just a couple of times is worth every penny for the amount of class this game just oozes.

Well, the game certainly has its good and bad points. The simple premise of the game is often complicated by the cut-scenes, but don’t let this put you off. As with previous Wolfenstein titles your spy character is ready to do battle with the Nazi regime once again in an alternate history storyline. The Axis is hell-bent (literally) on using the occult to give them the edge in World War II. The Nazi obsession with the paranormal and archaeology is the basis for the story as they attempt to use the secrets of the supernatural against the Allies.

Your job, in case you hadn’t guessed already, is to stop them and protect the inhabitants of the city of Isenstadt, along with the resistance groups. What follows is plenty of interesting missions which run parallel to the central storyline. You can make use of various weaponry and upgrades which can be bought in the marketplace. This part of the game is pretty cool as you can find hidden gold and other items hidden in every nook and cranny of the environment to be stored and used later in the shop. Upgrading your guns is certainly one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game and I particularly enjoyed the feel of shooting the MP40 SMG.

As you delve deeper into the game and uncover the secrets of the force known as the Black Sun, you get to play around with some even more powerful supernatural firearms such as the Tesla gun which can fire in multiple directions all at once and a weapon that can vaporise some of the Nazi foot soldiers.

The environment of the game quickly switches from the tight confines of the train station to the sprawling city, airfield, countryside farms as well as missions to key locations such as the Hospital, Castle, Dig Site and the Church. There are ten missions in all, plus the five side missions you can choose to undertake as you search for the secrets and the Tomes of Power.

With the quality of games of this genre out there it certainly looks nothing special, but it is certainly fun to play. At times it seems rather old-fashioned and grainy; it is no classic but for the good points alone it is worth sticking with. If you enjoy the age old first person shooter formula, like the sound of shooting some Nazis and playing with all manner of guns and supernatural weaponry, the game does have something to offer. The level of challenge may not be enough for some, but the online play element at least extends the interest level for a while longer.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10