If you haven't heard about Modern Warfare 2, you've been hiding under a rock somewhere for the last two years. Now that you've crawled out from under that little rock, we'd like to share what we got out of the first bit of time that we spent with the game last night... errrr... this morning...
So far everything is bigger, better, and prettier. The original Modern Warfare looked amazing, and they've actually topped that with Modern Warfare 2.
We spent the first few hours with the single-player campaign mode, and the story is every bit as good, or better, than the original Modern Warfare. There are some of the original characters back ("Soap" MacTavish, etc), as well as some new characters.
We don't want to spoil anything, but here's a few tips that we learned the hard way while messing around on the "Cliffhanger" mission:
1. DON'T LET GO! You WILL fall off the mountain and die!
2. DON'T stay in one spot too long... You WILL fall off the mountain and die!
Also, be warned. The "Disturbing Mission" warning is there for good reason. We played through it last night, and it IS disturbing. If you've got younger people playing, or are sensitive to terrorist type attacks, skip it. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
We spent several hours with the online Team Death Match, and it's even funner than the previous Call of Duties. The maps are bigger so we didn't have issues with the "Lob a grenade and pray for a kill" (it actually looks like they reworked the grenade tossing because you can't throw them as far), and there are quite a few maps to play through.
Here's a quick rundown of what we've noticed so far, aside from what we've mentioned already:
TONS of new weapons and items to unlock for them (a silencer for the .50 cal sniper rifle, seriously?!)
Damage screen indicator much more graphic... It's hard to see through all the blood when you've taken a lot of damage.
TONS of new Perks, and the entire perks and killstreak management has been reworked.
Death Streaks are cool, and can help if the person's WAY above you, but so far we like our own custom classes/weapons...
Secondary weapons no longer have to be pistols or watered down primaries.
Snipers blend into the terrain WAY better. We had several people run right over the top of us, just to find our knife in their back!
Inifinity Ward has been MUCH more generous with their experience point awards, including awards for things such as stopping an enemy from getting a kill streak, longest shot, best kill/death ratio, etc. So far it's made it MUCH easier to level.
Level cap set to 70 in Modern Warfare 2.
Aim assist has been added. It's enabled by default and allows you to target an enemy easier when you snap up your sites. Makes it MUCH easier to target in, especially when there are multiple enemies.
The Riot Shield is a nice addition as well. With it you can cover your body, from head to toe (if you crouch). When you've got it on your back (ie. when you want to actually shoot someone) it helps protect your backside from getting shot off.
So far it looks like the hype behind Modern Warfare 2 was well deserved. We'll have a full review up as soon as we spend some more time with the game.