Modern Warfare 2 impressions

[burning_phoneix]

So unlike some of you, I actually did give Modern Warfare 2 a try during the steam free weekend and thought I would share my impressions because despite the hate I have for MW2 and Infinity Ward/Activision nowadays, I used to be a huge Call of Duty fan I've played pretty much every main game in the series (even CoD3 but I never really finished that)

So here we go go: Good Part first:



-The graphics have been given a leg up over CoD4, which was already a good looking game. It's not THE best FPS out there but it certainly is pretty.

-They added Deathstreak awards. In CoD4 there were Kill streak awards: get 3 kills in a row without dying and you'd get to call a UAV to pinpoint enemy locations, 5 kills gets you an airstrike and 7 let's you call in a helicopter than will kill any enemy it sees. Basically this ensured that hot players would continue to dominate the round. Now they've introduced death streak awards, if you die 3 or 4 times in a row you get a little award to give you a leg up such as "Copycat" which allows you to copy your opponent's weapon loadout, even if you haven't unlocked it yet. Or perhaps "Painkillers" which give you a health boost for a short period of time.

They're nowhere near as powerful as even the weakest killstreak but they're a nice little incentive to keep your chin up.

-Speaking of killstreaks, the original had only 3 awards but MW2 ups it to something like 15. The orginals are in as well as new ones such as being a chopper gunner, an AC-130 gunner (like in CoD4 singleplayer) or launch a predator missile strike. You can only select 3 out of the 15 though at any one time.

Oh and the Tactical Nuke sucks balls.

-A lot more weapons are included, the best are the different rocket and grenade launchers which are standalone as opposed to a special perk. Unlike the solitary launcher from MW1 (The RPG) you get too choose from many and a lot of them have lock on capability which finally gives you a fighting chance against choppers,UAVs and Harriers.


Now for the Bad:


-No Dedicated servers. This is absolute balls. You wanna know why? High ping. It takes 3 or 4 games until I can find a game with even halfway decent lag. Why? Dedicated servers are usually connected to very high speed connections "BUT Fenix,I have 20mb/s internet! surely that's fast enough for host?" I don't care about your download speed. What's your upload speed? usually it's something like 1mb/s or even lower. That means the host has a lag advantage.

-The system of choosing a host sucks balls. There's no way to opt out of hosting (otherwise pretty much everyone will) and sometimes I'm selected as host...oh boy. Since my connection is shit and I'm located in the mideast it becomes a lag-o-fest for everyone. Of course that means I'm called everything from "faggit", "shit host" "Nigger" and when they find out I'm Arab "faggit shit sand nigger host". One time I was selected host I immediately quit before anyone said anything simply because I couldn't stand the coming abuse.

-Also because of the limitations of peer to peer networking as opposed to dedicated servers, now you can have a maximum of 18 players at one time as opposed to 40 players (with mods) in CoD4. Plus, no dedicated servers means NO MODS, No user generated content at all! Now drop your pants like good little consumer sheep and give Activision 15$ to molest you.


-Callsigns are a good idea in principle. What are callsigns? They're this:

Basically they're a real snazzy sort of gamertag thing. You unlock the titles (that bar at the top) and emblems (that little icon to the right) through game achievements. For example, I fell of a flight of stairs and killed myself by accident so I was given a title bar that was a pair of crutches with the word's "Accident Prone" on them. That caused me to lol but then I thought...Why can't I upload my own goddamn images and uses them? Thankfully, they haven't gone the Xbox LIVE route and actually got us to spend money on these things like gamerpics (....yet)

-Many of the new maps accentuate the bad things about Call of Duty's multiplayer, camping and sniping. Some of the new maps have huge open spaces perfect for snipers. Add to that the lowered playercount and that means they're safer to camp a single spot and headshot you from across the map...wonderful.


So basically we're getting an inferior product to CoD4 AND we're expected to pay an extra 10$ for the privilege.

It's not a bad game overall and maybe I can see myself buying this game from a bargain bin or used gameshop many years into the future for like 5$ (and after it's been hacked and modded to allow custom maps and dedicated servers) but every time I hear about how succesful this game and its "stimulus package" is I weep manly tears for the videogame industry.

Comments

[vampiricdescent.livejournal.com]

Actually the only two maps where snipers have a big advantage are Derail and Wasteland (maybe Afghan too). There are far more maps with twisting, short corridors that favour close-quarters combat.

You also completely fail to address the two worst aspects the game, Commando knifing and infinite noob tube spamming, which pretty much ruined the game the last time I played several weeks ago.

[burning-phoneix.livejournal.com]

FUCK! I forgot those witches running around with Knives. True Story: I was knifed by one of these dudes, and when I respawned he immediately knifed me again! ARRGHH.

But those two maps are what everyone wants to play (you forgot Estate as well).

I liked Favela, Skidrow and Terminal though.

[vampiricdescent.livejournal.com]

Aside from getting spawnlocked at the boathouse Estate offers enough coverage against snipers, especially if your teammates are able to control map flow (accidentally or on purpose)

Favela is a terrible map but maybe that's just bad memories due to retarded pubbies who don't know how to cap points for shit in Domination and Demolition

Skidrow and Terminal are the best maps in the game

[superbus.livejournal.com]

I'm growing a little weary, whenever I complain about the Stimulus package, of being told to sit down and shut up. The industry doesn't deserve tears, it's getting what it deserves.