Modern Warfare 2 is starting a dangerous trend in gaming. Some game franchises and companies are creating a new way of making its money; and it’s a method that does not require as much effort from the execution part when compared to the setup portion. I personally call it the Blockbuster Hype Effect, which is when a video game is hyped so immensely, so intensely, it generates enough sales to make back its money and then some by the end of the week. Hollywood movies do it all the time, and beginning with Halo 2 certain video games are puling off the same feat. Modern Warfare 2 makes over 550 million within the first few days. Did Activision have to improve the game over the previous installment to make it a success? Of course not, what it needed was hype, heavy marketing, and the rest is history.
Does that make Modern Warfare 2 a bad game? Of course not, the game is still one of the better shooters you’ll see on the XBox 360 and the PS3. Could it have been better? Yes. Could the game have benefited more from changing the rules a little? Yes. Is this game better than the original Modern Warfare? No. Is it all Activision’s fault? Nope. Am I asking too many questions? Yep.
The plot of the game is over-the-top yet simple: evil Russians framed an American spy for staging a massive massacre in Russia’s homefront, staging a chain reaction leading to Russia attacking the United States beginning on Washington D.C. The goal is to find a way to reveal that America did not attack Russia, and that someone from the side of the United States may be in on the framing. The plot alone sounds like that of a massive blockbuster film. Adding to the Hollywood Blockbuster image of the game is the musical score being composed by Hans Zimmer, whom has scored Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, The Lion King, The Rock, among other movies.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the franchise is your inability to truly be attached to the character you are controlling simply because you play so many of them, and because most of them die off within a couple of missions. Gaming franchises like Zelda, Grand Theft Auto, and Final Fantasy rely a lot on storytelling and characterization to progress the video game along. With Call of Duty, the plot and characters are nothing more than mere setting, basically mapping out why you are doing what you are doing. This approach to gaming on one hand allows for a less-talk-more-walk approach to gaming; but on the other hand you won’t find a single moment in this game that comes close to hitting the emotional impact of Majora’s Mask’s end of the world, Final Fantasy VII’s most popular death, or Super Mario RPG’s finale.
The game isn’t all bad though. Modern Warfare 2 boasts a shorter single-player campaign than previous installments, but its still one heck of a trip. And hey, at least it’s not Halo 3. Modern Warfare 2 throws you all over the world, in multiple different settings, and a good portion of the game has you performing other activities that don’t involve mass shooting. There is a bit of espionage involved as well. The game flows beautifully in terms of graphics and playcontrol, as Infinity Ward didn’t deviate too far from the original Modern Warfare in terms of how the game handles. The game is quite relentless, and very intense. You will die multiple times, but luckily for the less-skilled, the game sprinkles all sorts of checkpoints throughout the missions, taking away a bit of the challenge and frustration.
There is plenty of negativity in this review, and that’s partially a shame since the game does play well and is worth the price tag especially if you are affiliated with Xbox Live. The more you enjoy multi-player online, the more worthy this game will become in your collection. But all this comes at a price: the multi-player in the Xbox 360 hasn’t been lacking. As a matter of fact, people are still playing Halo 3 and the original Call of Duty. So what is going to make this multi-player shooter any different? Its immersive, but just how long can you run with that excuse?
Age of the long single-player campaigns is a bit on the dying side; as there are very few video games that can truly boast a massive single-player. This is a trend that will have an effect on the blockbuster-style of releasing video games. With multi-player suddenly being the driving force, there is much less focus on other aspects of the game. How much better would Modern Warfare 2 be if they put forth the same amount of effort on their single-player as compared to their multi-player? The Xbox Live aspects of this game are fun, addicting, and just as good as Halo 2, 3, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War. But notice this: all the previous games mentioned, with the exception of Call of Duty 4, are known much, much more for multi-player. What happens when you can’t connect online? While it’s not an issue that most people have to ponder, it’s interesting when you realize just how much of the game you actually get to play once the internet is involved.
The last first-person shooter to truly bring something fresh and amazing to the genre is BioShock. And here is where the new technique of selling games succeeds: it doesn’t matter, people will still buy it. Just like how most people went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen before the bad press and word-of-mouth spread, Modern Warfare 2 was destined to be a smash hit. Luckily for us the game isn’t bad, but down the road, who knows what filth will sell within the first weekend before we realize what a crappy game it truly is. Halo: Reach, I am looking in your direction.
Bottom Line: Modern Warfare 2 is just like the typical recent Xbox first-person shooter: its good, has a strong multi-player, short single-player, yet doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. The Call of Duty franchise still lacks the character appeal of Halo, and has yet to really distance itself from the other shooter franchises. And its extreme hype is a bad sign of things to come, when companies may not dwell as much effort to a game and prefer to maximize its hype for ultimate profit before the realizations occur. Call of Duty is still the best in the shooter business, with Halo being a bit overrated and the other franchises still trying to topple Call of Duty 4.
But, with the competition heating up from BioShock, Halo, and even Metroid (see their latest trailer? Wow), who knows who may emerge as leader come the end of 2010. The competition in this genre is much too strong for the games to become more and more similar to previous installments, you have to really aim high in order to stand out. Call of Duty 4 accomplished this. BioShock accomplished this. Modern Warfare 2? Fell just a bit short. Graphics are amazing, so is the music, and so is the little amount of gameplay featured, but it missing something special to stand out. Despite that small setback, the overall production of Modern Warfare 2 is impressive, as a massive story is unfolded right in front of your eyes and you get to participate in it in a variety of ways with a variety of characters.
I am just afraid of crazy hype and what it can do to a business that’s currently experiencing the best years quality-wise since the SNES era. I am afraid that video games will dwell the path of movies: reviews won’t matter, because the first weekend denotes a profitable product. And while Modern Warfare isn’t a Transformers-like turkey, I fear as to what other heavily-hyped games in the future may bring. In the meantime, I’ll continue enjoying the first-day-received Call of Duty.
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