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Call of Duty Modern Warfare II is the latest entry in the series, and while I missed out on the 2019 reboot entry in the series, from which this continues on, I absolutely loved the slightly more recent 2020 Cold War entry – since the early ’80s is my thing, as well as 2021’s World War II-set Vanguard. While I’m not a historian, and I never got into the subject at school, partly because Mrs Maher was a constant grump, and Mr Cross was as mad as cheese (since he was cross by name AND nature), and about as mentally stable as Adolf Hitler, the games are fantastic introductions into the era, whether in Call of Duty or Battlefield.
Taking place in the modern day, I won’t go into too much detail about the plot, but you’re not just part of Task Force 141 – more like several parts, since you get to play as many of the soldiers within, whether on a run-and-gun mission, driving, even swimming part of the way, top-down shooting from a helicopter (this part seemed a bit too complex – unless I’m just total rubbish at it), or taking part in an interrogation in order to meet the mysterious El Sin Nombre!
The real-life CGI cut-scenes are incredible and quite possibly the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen Glenn Morshower – here, as General Shepherd – in many shows including ‘24‘, plus Rya Kihlstedt as Kate Laswell, and while I know they’ll use motion-capture, not only is the detail on the faces perfect, but in Glenn’s case, to get his slightly off-centre mouth perfect as well is something else. It’s fantastic attention to detail.
The missions aren’t just all straight-forward third-person ‘tote a gnu and see what happens’, since there’s even one where you start off firing a rifle from a plane, before looking to get down on the ground – but via the unconventional route of falling out, and dangling upside down for a while, trying to cap as many baddies as possible, before landing on and commandeering a vehicle, and then jumping from one to another before they blow up!
When you have to craft items, it’s not too difficult, since it’ll give you the basics to accomplish the tasks, such as in ‘Alone’ (mission 12) when various doors are locked, but look around and you’ll easily find a rope and a piece of metal to bind together, in order to pry the door open.
There’s also a few safe codes to crack open, but try to avoid doing this while being shot at, because it won’t end well for you 😀
Graphics are exceptional in general. In fact, since this can run like a train in 4K 60fps, why are Focus struggling to get A Plague Tale: Requiem running on the latest console beyond 4K 30fps, or on a PC at all?
One improvement I’d make is an easy way to cancel a selection to throw a grenade, for example. So, if I select it, it’s a bit convoluted to try and select something less dangerous to myself if I’m in a confined space, since I certainly don’t want to let go! And while I like the ability to lob one back, sometimes, that’s a bit of a faff, and quite frankly, I’ll try and run off somewhere away from it, wait for it to explode, and run back.
I have had a few issues with the installation, though, in that the review code I received was for the Vault Edition – which allowed early access from October 21st, but first, it told me that I needed to install a DLC pack so I could play the game in Early Access, but then states I need to buy the Vault Edition… which is the version I have! Huh?!
Going into my PS5, it still states, as of today, that it’s the Cross-Gen Bundle, even though my redeemed code states Vault Edition on the Playstation Store. I’m currently trying to resolve this with Activision Support, but they keep asking me the same questions several times and not responding to the fact I have responded!
Plus, at least in the first week or so, every time I wanted to play it, it would try and install more content. Maybe they were updating things as they went, but at times, it did take forever sit at “Installing”… Wasn’t that the point of installing the entire game in the first place?!
NOTE: I am just a single-player guy. I don’t go in for multiplayer as I get my butt kicked way too easily.
Thanks to our friends at Activision for the review code for this game.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II is out now on PS5, Xbox One / Xbox Series X/S, PC/Steam, and PS4.
Important info:
- Developer: Infinity Ward
- Publisher: Activision
- Players: single-player, multiplayer
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
10 10 8 9 |
| OVERALL | 9 |
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.