Modern Warfare 2

[Vympel]

Everything about this game's plot is fucking retarded in the extreme. I've never played a game with pretensions of realism/ verisimilitude that so utterly fails to be believable on any level whatsoever.

This game's like a Michael Bay movie, switch off your brain and play through the (laughably contrived) set pieces whilst people on the radio chatter about nonsense that has nothing to do with anything.

* Did you know one SAS dude can jump into a (fictional) Russian SSBN and not only get the SLBMs to fire, but he can actually target them to generate an EMP in space? Wow, a real renaissance man, this fellow! Codes, you say? Firing protocols he can't possibly be familiar with? Poppycock!

* The Russians basically win in Washington! Even though they have absolutely no armor to speak of and are facing down armored units, somehow their MiG-29-Swarm-From-The-Ether-With-The-Infinite-Fuel-Tanks-From-Airbases-In-Another-Dimension and their Mi-8M-Swarm and their Mi-28-Swarm easily outmaneuver the hapless American defenders!

And tell me, how many more dramatic helicopter extractions am I going to have to endure? It was tired and lame by the second time.

Whoever wrote this game is a fucking moron, sorry.

EDIT: I'm glad I didn't buy the game. I finished this in about five hours of play, just now. And I am amazed that I actually did have to sit through ever more dramatic escapes, although not by helicopter.

Unfortunately the game suffers from Movie Sequel disease. Where the original is The Matrix or Bad Boys, this sequel is more like Matrix Revolutions or Bad Boys II. Everything is cranked up to the Nth degree and just becomes idiotic.

*Shepherd is angry he lost 30,000 men so he contrives a terrorist attack in a Russian airport that somehow causes Russia to launch a full scale military invasion of Washington DC? For what purpose? What, he holds Russia responsible for what happened in the Middle East? So the best thing to do is to fuck over Washington DC so he can go to war against Russia?

And the nuclear option is where in all of this? Oh, never mentioned. That's nice.

* What the hell is Sheperd supposed to be doing in the mountains at the end, exactly? Why is he there? Why does he have a base? Why does he have boats which lead to a sheer waterfall drop? What the fuck is going on?

[Jade Falcon]

Not to mention it doesn't explain how the Ultranationalists came to power, despite being effectively eliminated in MW1. What happened to Kamarov and co? How did Price end up in the Gulag? The whole Brazil sidetrip seemed pointless and contrived just to be another setting. Not to mention the Brazil mentions weren't even enjoyable in any way.

Regarding multiplay so far.

Has anyone else had Grenade launchers, whether its underbarrel or the thumper regularly fail to explode?

The FAMAS is crap, sorry, it just is. The M4 is a far superior weapon despite what the ratings say.

Why, if I use the riot shield can I not use the primary fire key to bash someone with it?

The matchmaking system sucks major ass in the PC. When you're getting match breaking lag on a 6 v 6 game you know something is wrong.

The one thing I do have to say is that I like the challenges and accolades. The fact you can define your killstreaks to an extent. The emblems and titles are just a frill but not badly done.

[Steel]

On grenades not exploding: there is a minimum distance they must travel before they arm (as in real life and MW1). This made the spec ops mission where you have to kill 10 juggernauts with only a grenade launcher a hilarious exercise where I circled round crouched behind an ammo crate shooting the massively armoured guy repeatedly point blank in the head with grenades that just bounce off his armour

I'd have to say I thought the story was retarded on the large scale. Smaller bits sort of made sense, but the big picture was nonsense. MW1 said here is the face of modern war: Elite special forces operations and 'futile' large scale operations in shitholes. It was also pretty serious (ish) about stuff. MW2 goes right off the deep end and totally outside the bounds of realism about half way through, at least MW1 could have possibly concievably maybe just about happened... MW2 just no. Not to mention theres no way an ultra nationalist government could ever justify replacing the statue of marshal Zhukov (sp., and absolutely awesome btw) with some random dickhead.

[TheMuffinKing]

As I agree with what has been stated thus far (though I must say I am highly entertained with this game), I can really only comment on the M203. The grenades take a few meters to arm, so if you shoot a wall that's too close, the grenade won't do anything, but if you shoot a person it gives you a kill and a nifty kill icon to boot. I've noticed the grenades consistently explode after traveling beyond 3 or 4 meters.


Steel beat me too it!

[Jade Falcon]

I have killed someone with a gutshot with an unexploded grenade mind, it's amusing to watch the body propelled quite some distance backwards.

[Edward Yee]

The FAMAS is crap, sorry, it just is. The M4 is a far superior weapon despite what the ratings say.

Nothing to apologize for here. At least it's a starting weapon, to be never seen again after one gets a better unlock.

Why, if I use the riot shield can I not use the primary fire key to bash someone with it?

I'm guessing it's so that someone doesn't get mixed up, controls-wise.

Tangential thought: Compared to Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, I'm not surprised that one can't shoot even one-handed while wielding the shield. "Realism" aside, the possibility of the non-underbarrel shotgun, launcher, or handguns/machine pistols akimbo as one's secondary makes it a non-starter, and I'm not bothered by the use of a riot shield instead of a proper ballistic shield. Anecdotal one: Glancing at the 360 MW2 board on GameFAQs... apparently one of the advantages of Riot Shield in MP is the psychological effect. Although on the PS3 board there's mention of "a growing minority of people" who respond with the knife.

My only comment on explosives in MW2... it's hilarious watching the guys in the Museum ragdoll collapse, sometimes with their death scream delayed, when I hit them with a flashbang.

[RRoan]

The FAMAS is crap, sorry, it just is. The M4 is a far superior weapon despite what the ratings say.

That's funny, because whenever I use it it's awesome. Different playing styles, maybe?

[weemadando]

I'm loving my SPAS-12. Riot shield as primary. Have the faster and longer sprint perks and... something in slot 3. Anyhow - it's a great way to rack up points in any mode that requires you to be Johnny-on-the-spot (like Domination) as you can move very fast and with the shield in your inventory you can also draw points just for attracting fire.

[Edward Yee]

weemadando, have anyone actually try to close the distance with you yet instead of backing away firing?

[weemadando]

A few, but then again I'm playing on PC where there's a much greater twitch ability for snap shooting.

[Pulp Hero]

A fully upgraded Jack the Ripper build has been either winning me or placing me in second place with a monstrous kill death ratio all night in free for all.

Jack the Ripper:

-SMG (Any, you're never going to use it)
-Magnum with tactical knife
-Perk 1: Marathon Pro
-Perk 2: Lightweight Pro
-Perk 3: Commando Pro
-Claymore
-Flashbangs

At the start of every life you plant the claymore immediately wherever you spawn and then begin sprinting around the map with your pistol out without stopping unless absolutely necessary. With Commando Pro you have a ridiculous knife range and can't be hurt from fall distance. Combined with your sprinting this makes maps like the Favela a crazy parkour game session. This build works the best on Afghan (way too well on this map once you learn where all the usual sniper camps are), and Highrise. Even on Team Death Match you can sprint to enemy sniper positions on Derailed and circle the whole map on Wasteland, just silently knifing the fuck out of people.

Also any build with Scavenger and claymores absolutely destroys on Highrise.

[Edward Yee]

Any particular attachments for the SMG and pistol, or does the build rely only on knife kills (and maybe the Claymore if you're lucky) and thus render them irrelevant?

weemadando, it's interesting in hindsight to recall vaguely IW going out of its way to reassure people that the Riot Shield would not be overpowered, but I guess that doesn't do shit for the sheer psychological shock and "forced exit from mental comfort zone " that you charging head on with Riot Shield in hand does?

[Pulp Hero]

I carry an MP5k with rapid fire, but no it doesn't matter. Your kills come from your handgun and knife. It is a bitch to earn a tactical knife because you have to shoot the pistol to earn it instead of earning it for knife kills. The magnum is easier than the starting pistol to earn the knife for because you need less total kills with it, plus you can unload all six shoots in at a second and kill someone.

The key is to move fast and learn statistically where people will be on a given map. Gamers aren't smart, they will camp the same places over and over even after getting killed a bunch of times.

A pretty impressive MW2 speedrun that you guys will like.

[weemadando]

Any particular attachments for the SMG and pistol, or does the build rely only on knife kills (and maybe the Claymore if you're lucky) and thus render them irrelevant?

weemadando, it's interesting in hindsight to recall vaguely IW going out of its way to reassure people that the Riot Shield would not be overpowered, but I guess that doesn't do shit for the sheer psychological shock and "forced exit from mental comfort zone " that you charging head on with Riot Shield in hand does?

Oh, I die ALL THE FUCKING TIME when I'm using the Riot Shield, because just like a Heavy in TF2, it's a fucking bullet magnet. But it let's my buds get the job done while I'm having every fucker shoot at me.

[Edward Yee]

A pretty impressive MW2 speedrun that you guys will like.

Having already found out the plot 'twist,' that was actually the first thing I did when I got to the Pit.

Oh, I die ALL THE FUCKING TIME when I'm using the Riot Shield, because just like a Heavy in TF2, it's a fucking bullet magnet. But it let's my buds get the job done while I'm having every fucker shoot at me.

So in your matches, the psychological effect isn't exactly working and they already figured out how to deal?

But still, kudos on being a team player, and it's good that apparently your teams are taking advantage of your sacrifice.

[Jade Falcon]

A riot shield build can be a blast (literally) in Wasteland because you know that 9 times out of 10 there's going to be an utter brawl at that bunker where three trench systems meet. If I go riot shield and the other guys use my shield as cover, it can work well. Terminal also isn't a bad riot shield map.

[Pulp Hero]

Also, I really want to complete some Spec Ops missions. If someone else is on XB360, just message me.

Tag: Expendable EOD

I will stop playing pretty much any list to go play Spec Ops.

[Steel]

Christ I hope they put proper servers and server browsers in soon. I tried playing but it would randomly assign me to servers sometimes taking minutes to get into a game because apparently sometimes once it got 10 people it decided to start again. Then once in you're there with like EIGHT PEOPLE OR PERHAPS LESS if someone drops.

The first priority should always be to fill a server seeing as the default size is so stupidly small. I was in a game that was 5 on 3 which is ridiculous and for the 5 minutes till the match ended nobody was teamswitched. Lag seems to be worse than MW1, given that I have never before seen people bounce out of the way of bullets or kill be before I come round a corner...

Quite fun, but I really hope once the launch sales have passed they make it a proper PC game.

[Jade Falcon]

It's irritating when people wait throughout the intermission time, and then when the game countdown starts half of them all drop out when the timer reaches 1 or 2.

[Steel]

It's irritating when people wait throughout the intermission time, and then when the game countdown starts half of them all drop out when the timer reaches 1 or 2.

Is it actually people doing that? I thought it was shoddy coding meaning it didn't update frequently enough to check people were there.

Bloody thing is now starting, connecting to steam, and then after about 30s saying steam connect failed and being unable to play. You'd thing seeing as its made half a billion pounds already they could have made a bit more effort to ensure everything was set up perfectly...

[Jade Falcon]

I've been having connect problems with Steam as well. A mate tried to invite me to a game and it went tits up.

[Steel]

What is inexcusably stupid is that the spec ops missions have no public games or even matchmaking. I've done all the missions to varying degrees now except for the 2 coop ones, which I cant till someone I know gets MW2 on PC. The missions are pretty fun though.

One thing, that in retrospect is obvious now, is that Captain Price is actually immortal. Think about it- he was fighting in WW2, you've seen him shot to pieces multiple times and get up without a scratch, he was certainly dead at the end of MW1 and then he turns up in a Russian prison for important people they can't just dispose of. What possible reason could they have for keeping a random SAS captain there except if they couldn't find a way to kill him?

[loomer]

I think it's more likely, Steel, that Price is actually a series of Clones. MW3 will pit you against the sinister forces of the NWO, fighting alongside the One True Price against an endless series of inferior copies.

I'm thinking of picking this up, but 6 hours of implausible story?

How's the multiplayer in general? Not builds or specifics, just general 'fun' level on a good server. If it's that short, I want good MP.

[Pulp Hero]

Talking from the Xbox experience. Yes, its really good.

Most maps are noticeably bigger than COD4, which eliminates dumb stuff like start of round grenade barrages.

There is lots more stuff to unlock than COD4, and for the most part all of it seems somewhat useful. The guns all feel twice as damaging as COD4, so you don't have the experience of loading a whole magazine into someone and watching them run off.

If you are like me and hated the air support rape from COD4, taking the Cold Blooded perk means that you can basically ignore enemy air support and focus on killing the enemy.

Speaking of SP, yeah it looks a lot prettier, but COD4 single player beats it hands down when it comes to cool set pieces and emotional moments. (Also COD4 makes sense, in a Tom Clancy kind of way.)

[Ypoknons]

It definitely has that cinematic CoD immersion and atmosphere. But it's 5-7 hours of gameplay and $60 for PC (USA), with an ludicrous plot that seems to be the norm as an excuse for modern warfare games (HAWX, MW2, not so much MW1). Much better a rent than a buy if single player is what you're interested in - those scenes are worth seeing if you have some spare time.