Call of Duty "4.2" Modern Warfare 2

[RedRaven]

got to agree with PZ on that, very impressive. was at a friends other day, he got his from an online store and it came with a set of night vision goggles :-X

[fragger]

it came with a set of night vision goggles :-X

?? I didn't get those! I should have, for the price I paid for it (games and electronic media are expensive in this country).

Agree about the graphics, they're superb :-X

[Fiach]

The were a special edition, quite expensive iirc :

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=cod+modern+warfare+2+night+vision+goggles&meta=&aq=1&oq=cod+modern+warfare+2+night

[fragger]

I see... just did a quick conversion to Aus$, works out at about Aus$159.

Thanks for that Fiach :)

[mmosu]

Holy crap-balls, that's quite a box set!!  :o

[KingRat]

I'll have to agree with just about everything fragger said. Got it for the 360 and played the last 2 days. About 10-12 hrs on regular...I suck on these run and gunners, but still had fun...oh, and I really suck at finding intel, only wound up with 3/45  :(

[mmosu]

Some of the stuff you guys are saying about this game reminds me of Black.  I don't know if any of you guys played that one, but it was an older FPS that was based around a black ops team that had basically stopped listening to it's orders and gone terrorist hunting.  There were a lot of similar elements like intel gathering and the like, and it was a tough game.  Checkpoints were few and far between and you would often be swarmed by enemies and have very little cover to use.  It had good graphics and a neat little "focus change" effect when you reloaded - stuff in the distance would go fuzzy as if all your attention was focused on the mag change - first time I had ever seen that done.

[Art Blade]

FYI

I've merged the topics "Modern Warfare 2" with this one. This one started first and ended before "Modern Warfare 2" was started. So there is a seamless flow. Also, the current topic's subject contains the origin of the game, CoD, which is more precise for those looking for this CoD sequel.

The only downside of merging topics is that clicking on some quotes (to see the entire post quoted) may lead to an error message telling you the topic no longer exists or is off limits. That is a little flaw in the forum software. Just check the time stamp of the quote and scroll up to the original post instead :)

Thank you.

[PZ]

Thanks Art,
You do a great job of taking good care of the forums  :-X

[Art Blade]

thank you, PZ :) My pleasure :)

[spaceboy]

I rented this one mainly to play online with a real life friend of mine who just picked up a PS3 and who loved COD4 on his x360.

I've only played a bit of the campaign so far but it is very intense combat.  The story is pretty lackluster and the characters aren't drawing me in, but the gameplay is fun.

As for MP, I've played a few matches with a couple different friends now and it is no doubt a fast paced - easy shooting fun game.  The levels are quite different and laid out well.  Overall it's a great FPS online shooter but as with other FPS games (like Killzone2) I miss having the variety of gameplay that Battlefield Bad Company has with many different vehicles to choose from as well as just running and shooting.

I'll keep renting for now (I've got free rental coupons) and maybe purchase it, but the jury is out on that.  Especially since MAG and Battlefield Bad Co. 2 are around the corner...

[Art Blade]

I've just learned that in Germany at least one part of the game has been massively censored: The one "scene" you get a warning and option to not play it stays, but if you choose to play, you are merely an observer trotting along and are only able to shoot some of the police officers that might interfere.

[spaceboy]

interesting.  I think the entire game is banned in Russia. 

*******spoiler*************

I played that level and to tell you the truth, it is a bit disturbing.  I understand the need to set up Makarov (the main bad guy) as a monster and that an American is framed which starts the war, but really that could be told in a cutscene or "video" that is shown.  To have the player actually play through is just for shock value in my eyes.  Basically you are undercover with the bad guys and you have to help them slaughter innocent Russian civilians in an airport.  The game won't let you shoot Makarov or his men.  I can't imagine any soldier willing to help slaughter hundreds of civilians when he is walking behind the head bad guy and could take him out - of course assuming he'd die from the other men - but most soldiers would probably take out the guy given the chance.

[Art Blade]

yes. A friend of mine has got the US version and told me about that part. I read an editorial (of my fave computer and science magazine) dedicated to that particular part of the game. The essence of the editorial was that they think it was a pity the game publishers did a completely unnecessary and revolting part, and giving a warning and choice to skip that part only nurishes curiosity so in fact people are more likely to choose yes than no, without actually knowing what they're doing and going to see. The editors think it was a very cheap way to push sales up and perhaps ruining the good name of that series. On top they say the game itself didn't change much compared to its predecessor.

For my part, I wouldn't mind very much, but for me the icing on the cake was: IT REQUIRES STEAM  >:( :D

[PZ]

....The editors think it was a very cheap way to push sales up and perhaps ruining the good name of that series.

For a game to be banned by a country (Russia) indicates their level of disapproval, and I must concur.  While I initially contemplated purchasing this game just for the time or two that linear games offer (because of the great graphics), I'll not even consider playing nor watching it.

spaceboy's SPOLIER ... slaughter innocent Russian civilians in an airport.  The game won't let you shoot Makarov or his men...

This part is outrageous in my opinion.  It is one thing to take a historical fact out of context when creating a video game, but to bring sensitive current events in a way like this is not palatable.

I won't support the fiscal endeavors of such a company, and it is disgusting that a company would stoop so low - thank you for posting your candid comments.

[Art Blade]

Actually, I do mind.

Everything considered, it is just silly to pretend it may be fun to shoot innocents when you don't have a choice.

When I said I didn't mind much, I was imagining other games that had civilians in it, like HitMan:BloodMoney, but it is a decision you have to make, whether or not you're going to shoot them. That may be fun sometimes, like erasing the entire map, but the goal of the game is the opposite, to avoid violence. It always punishes you with a malus.

Thanks for putting it that way, and I do agree: To include that part is outrageous, and the warning is just making it worse.

[Fiach]

I havent played this yet, I have been replaying CoD (MW4) first, but I'm starting to recall why I wasnt crazy about 4.

I found 4 to be really annoying for a number of reasons.

1. You are funnelled through levels, If you outpace your team and you follow the homing marker on your compass, you cannot progress, until eventually they catch up and one of them does a bang and breech on a door that you cannot interact with. It just feels bonkers.

2. For every good level, you will have a level of complete suck, which is annoying in a very short game.

1, Tutorial, 2. Ship, 3. Some crap with you in a chopper miles up in the air firing rockets at little dots in a field, 4 Radio Station, 5. Arab town, 6. More crap in a chopper, 7. a nuke and you character buys the farm, 8. Its OK, you can play as a brit again (doesnt really foster a bond between you and your character), which makes you not give a toss about who ever you control, compared to most other shooters, where they do their best for you to identify with your character, which they re-inforce with the FPS view.

Can anyone explain WTH is All Ghillied Up about???

You are in Russia (or someplace cold), suddenly you are back 15 years with some tosser making you plod through the most boring stealth mission ever created, that goes on and on and on and.... Eventually the dork gets shot, you have to carry him through the second most boring level ever created, then you are back in the present day, i still have no clue wth I just went through all that BS for.

I hope MW2 is better than this.

[spaceboy]

you make a fine distinction there Art, about a decision and the game giving you bad karma or something.

*******more spoilers***********
to even further my thought that it isn't necessary is the fact that your character actually gets shot by the bad guys at the end of that level (they knew you were undercover).  You actually play as this "recruit" for a couple levels and then die and then play as some other guy (I think from the previous game maybe).  So it's not like a big part of the whole story is a guy being undercover and having to do "bad" things to get to the head of the operation (greater good argument). 

That said, am I disgusted enough not to buy the game?  I suppose on a personal level I would support making that statement, but I may wind up getting it as a way to play with my friend who so far has only this game on PS3.  BUT, I'll probably just keep using my free rental coupons as much as possible and make him buy MAG in January.

The funny thing, my friend is one of those guys that never even plays the story/campaign of COD games and just goes online.  And it IS a solid online game (except no vehicles - a negative in my mind).  So all this hubbub means nothing to him.  I know he's not the only one so I think that may be why Infinity Ward even made this level - create a controversy to get more people to even play the campaign.

The story in Killzone 2 was not w@&k of fine literature mind you, but you played a character that you were supposed to related to (as Fiach mentions) and you had defineable (and cool looking) adversaries in the Helghast.  I bought into the story and enjoyed the campaign tremendously.

Anyhow, what the hell, this is coming from a guy (me) who just bought 45,000 florins worth of fine art from a merchant to hang on the walls of my villa in Assassin's Creed 2, and who spent time reading about my video game character's ancestors....so maybe Infinity Ward is not actually trying to reach me for their campaign levels...

[Art Blade]

That is a good point Fiach and you are mentioning, characters and how the player relates to them, especially the one you're actually playing. What I never really understood is why all CoD games make you switch so often during an ongoing game (avoiding "storyline" here). One moment I'm a Russian Soldier, the next moment an American etc, back and forth, left and right... the only thing that kept me playing those games were the until then nice graphics and the simple fact that they were (mostly) WWII shooters. Modern Warfare (1) was a very interesting deviation from the WWII theme, and I enjoyed the various settings and modern weapons, but I fully agree with Fiach that basically you are being dragged through good and bad levels you have no conrol of progress or regress, and indeed the levels I recall from MW1 I'd consider "good" were... one level. One. I kept playing that TV station assault with that office fight over and over, hehe. But else... tsss. In times like these when game devs strive for more and more open world and free choice of missions and side missions, it is rediculous to keep producing games that haven't changed their concepts in years. And I think it's a sorry excuse to claim a senseless violent level of a SP story to be a reason for people who tend towards MP to play a (silly) SP story, rather than making a game that just does one thing: either SP or MP. HitMan seems to be a game suitable only for SP, and maybe war games/sims, such as ArmA/OFP and perhaps CoD could be both, but to me the bravest concept would be to focus. Make a branch CoD SP with good levels, and those who dislike SP, well, let them have a MP only. There used to be a game called Quake, that did basically go that way, from SP to MP. Q3A (A as in Arena) completely skipped the SP and was a pure MP game.

Hmmm. Was that a rant? :)

[Art Blade]

Oh I forgot, the second level im MW1 I liked was the very last one after the credits, call it "secret" level. It was a hijacked plane and you were to kill the hijackers and rescue the hostages. Since a timed bomb was aboard, you had to really hurry. I loved that level, although the end, you jumped out of the plane, had an accoustic error in it (don't exactly recall it, but I believe it was you heard something in front of you while it was behind you, an explosion? Never mind, though).

[Fiach]

Y'know one thing that really irks me, is a videogame making a gameplay rule, then breaking it.

Take that stealth section "Ghillied", you get attacked by a chopper (kinda Airwolf type), and you both shoot it and it explodes......

Yet in the next part of the same mission, 4 lighter choppers come into the area and disgorge rapelling troops, but you cannot shoot them down. They just shrug off the bullets  :D

[Fiach]

Things I hated about CoD MW 2

1. Strawberry jam, whoever came up with the idea of smearing that on the screen when you get wounded, needs to be kicked in the 'nads.... alot!

2. Travelling, just getting to or from a mission, sometimes took about 20 minutes of just pressing the stick forward.

3. Follow my leader, Follow Price for a half hour, pretending to sneak in camo gear past roving patrols, to do a mission that lasts 5 minutes, then you travel away again.

4. Really bad politics, I dont know if it was irony or not, but one mission seemed to say that US Marines would fight harder to re-take fast food restaurants than defend the Whitehouse.

5. Having to get my life saved, even though I did nothing wrong, just for padding, where some dork pulls me to safety for 10 minutes, or for some reason, I miss a jump to a chopper (scripted) and fall to the ground and have to run to a new extraction point.

6. Playing as lots of different people that get killed, one scene took about 20 minutes of me being ferried in a car through city streets, just to be shot at the end. Others were just missions, where I may as well just have worn a red Star Trek shirt and carried a sandwich board that read MARTYR!

7. Defend the helicopter, I dont know the mission, even though it made me play it twice for some reason, gave me a gun about 40 bullets and that was it, after the bullets were gone, the scene ended, next mission occured, then reverted back to the 40 bullets bit again.

8. The mission that is "optional", it was the most boring half hour I ever played in a game, nope I wasnt disgusted, its a game ferchrissake!

9. Story.... was there one? Actually there was, but it was told in such a haphazard way, through the eyes of so many people, I just stopped paying attention.

10. SHORT! 5 hr:58 sec, easily 1.5 hours of that was just sheer boredom as mentioned above.

[Art Blade]

Excellent rant  :-X

missions, where I may as well just have worn a red Star Trek shirt and carried a sandwich board that read MARTYR!

ROFL  ;D ;D ;D

You know what, you deserved another applaud for all the trouble you're going through, reviews with pros and cons. And some funny rants  ;D

[Fiach]

Cheers mate, its either ventilate or explode......explode is messy :)

[Art Blade]

Ventilating here at least is something we all may enjoy, and exploding is something better left to in-game situations  ;D