If you’re reading this then you must be a fan of the great Modern Warfare series…but then again you can’t be that much of a fan because a TRUE fan wouldn’t give two shits about my or anybody else’s opinion on the game. You would just buy it confident that this game is smokin’ hot, RIGHT? Damn right!

AAAnyway….The game series I’m referring to is the “Call Of Duty” franchise, a giant in the “first person shooter (FPS) genre of videogames. Now I personally, LOVE this genre of videogames, have for at least 18 years. I started out with Id’s Wolfenstein and became hooked to the thoroughly dope Doom along with its add ons and expansions. I’ve watched the fps grow beyond “corridor” shooters to exploration and even straight up horror. There’s been great leaps in storytelling and presentation with bar raisers like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok, Metroid, Half-Life, Medal of Honor and yes, Halo.

I was constantly forced to defend fps’s to my rpg geek friends, their argument being they’re too short, very one dimensional, no “deep” storylines, just mindless shoot and kill games. I would always call these dudes pussies and say what’s wrong with a little mindless shootin’ and killin’, it’s a fantastic stress reliever and I don’t have to use Magic or build up hp to kick ass. I like kickin’ ass and chewin’ bubblegum…I’m always runnin’ out of bubblegum, so I love to shoot things that aren’t real, a lot. I love the “first-person” viewpoint because of the level of IMMERSION it provides, YOU ARE that person in the game. So I can’t see my feet all the time, so I don’t see myself “third-person” or over the shoulder style, I am part of whatever world I’m in and it feels great. Just look at how an RPG giant like Bethesda embraced the fps perspective with “Fallout 3″ and “Elder Scrolls: Oblivion” to great reception.

Now, my review of developer Infinity Ward’s latest entry into their completely awesome series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in a word BREATHTAKING. From the opening credits to the end, a truly unique and exhausting experience. Everything has been improved, from the graphics to the enemy A.I., the presentation overall is completely “cinematic” and lush. The physics are frighteningly realistic, bullets penetrate walls, explosions all over the place. One of my childhood friends is one of those oooh-rah type ex-marines who was in Desert Storm and Iraq…he says that the developers have captured the “experience” and “feeling” of wartime battle almost perfectly. If not for the cinematic aspect of the series, he says this is the closest you could come to actually being a soldier in these situations. This to me is the best endorsement a “wartime battle sim” could get.

There are different and exotic locales that push the Xbox 360′s graphical limits. From Iraq, to Brazil, to the Himalayas, each location has those visual flourishes that help with immersing you into each scenario. No simple point and shoot here, not that there ever is when Infinity Ward is involved. The storyline picks up right where the previous “Modern Warfare” left off…and boy does it go places never before seen in any fps. An “M” rated game for good reason, not just the gory violence, but in content. Very tough moral decisions are brought in. The controversial “Airport” sequence is squeamishly intense, definitely not for the faint of heart. Now those that totally separate themselves from on-screen gaming scenarios won’t be affected, if you’re like me and “get into it” it will affect you. Whether it serves a purpose or not isn’t an issue, it brings home the horror and coldness of terrorism to your living room. But I’ve already commented on this so…Knowing it’s “M” rated and not a game anyone under 17 should play. Going in, this game just ROCKS. The Spec Ops multi-player, co-op is fantastic, the multi-player is sick…period and I’m NOT one of those multi-player guys.

Sooo many options, from weapons, to stages, it’s all great with replay value out the ass. The single player campaign is relatively short(4-6 hrs),but do you really need 10-20 hrs of THIS type of intensity? Length isn’t why we buy these games anyway…is it? Infinity Ward hasn’t disappointed me in 6 years, that’s awesome when a game not only lives up to but surpasses expectations. A DEFINATE must buy and a keeper. Infinity Ward has done it again, made me glad to drop 60 bones on a game and that can’t be said for ALOT of games out there…A 9.5

In my book they hit it right outta’ the park home run.

Rating: (9.5/10)

Smites All Cornball

Sir M