Just finished the campaign 5 minutes ago on Hardened Difficulty with a playtime of 6:18 hours.
Well,what can i say without spoiling anything?
The campaign,to me, is leaps above CoD4's campaign. There are no infinite enemies and the levels are laid out very open (apart from a few, but those are kinda hard to be open from the setting alone). You basically always have the chance to flank or try another route to attack the enemies. But they also do the same to you. Lots of times enemies took another route to suddenly turn up on my side and rape me, so you really have to be aware of your surroundings. I also liked the inclusion of none invincible comrades (story characters are invincible of course), it actually made me feel sad to see them die in the crossfire cause I know I could have pulled them through if I didn't have to watch for my own hide that much.
The story may be very over the top,but (to me) in a good, "this is an action war movie so here's some plot to make you shoot lots of dudes" way and IW manages to put some scenes in there which you will not really see coming (especially if you have not been spoiled by the Net yet). I especially love how they took the whole "first person" perspective a step forward and let you do a lot of cool little interactive sequences.
It reminds me a lot of what Monolith likes to do in their shooters. There are definitely some incredibly cinematic moments in the game.
Oh and I (and no one in general) should not forget to mention the amazing score by Hans Zimmer which basically just drives the entire game forward. It's wonderful to listen to.
So basically, the campaign is great and never once have I been really frustrated (just sometimes going "god dammit" at dying again because some dude flanked me).
Does anyone else have the issue of sometimes hitting down on the sprint button (360 version) and then having your guy only sprint for a second. I had this in the first MW too and I'm trying to determine whether or not it is my controller before I go out and buy another one.
So have the people who haven't played the game and are complaining about infinite respawns finally shut up?
DoctorWho said:
Does anyone else have the issue of sometimes hitting down on the sprint button (360 version) and then having your guy only sprint for a second. I had this in the first MW too and I'm trying to determine whether or not it is my controller before I go out and buy another one.
From the 25 or so hours I've put into it, yes and no. Yes because there's so much more substance to MW2 and things to do/accomplish. Yet, No...because it's not exactly like COD4 which I've become really good at over the years. I was pretty much hoping for the exact same experience with new guns/killstreaks/maps, but MW2 is much more. The aiming is different, the movement...so much to relearn and think through again. All in all though, it's the superior multiplayer experience.
I didn't expect to care this much about the story, but it is quite good... until it falls to pieces at the end.
Here's what bugs me: The "disturbing mission" is there to make you see and more importantly feel how evil Makarov is. But General Shepherd's betrayal takes Makarov out of the picture. Why? You had a perfectly good villain there, you spent time showing us how evil he was -- and then you add in an unnecessary twist for the sake of a twist that robs you of a resolution to that plotline. And it also leaves the "disturbing mission" without a real justification for being there.
Nope, that mission is showing you that Shepherd is even more evil and dangerous than Makarov.
In the opening debrief, we can see that since Zakhaev`s death, he`s become a hero in the new Russia.
This infuriates Shepherd, who is still seething about losing 30,000 of his men from Zakhaev`s nuclear weapon in MW1; but Shepherd`s also pissed off and bitter about what he perceives to be a sense of public apathy towards the loss of his men. He wants some fucking payback, so he uses the CIA guy (who thinks he`s earning Makarov trust) and Makarov (who, remember, the game describes as a `whore`that works for money) to set up the lie at the airport that would start an all out war between Russia and the U.S. Shepherd knows that he can use the subsequent war and chaos to place himself a position where he is able to invade Russia (which has become pro-Zakhaev) and avenge the Marines that died in the nuclear explosion in COD4.
The lie Shepherd creates at the airport ultimately gives him what he wants: a blank cheque from the government to protect America and a war that not only instills a sense of patriotic duty in every American but also generates a mountain of volunteers that want to sign up and kick the shit out of the army that invaded Eastern America and destroyed Washington D.C.
So at the last third of the game, Shepherd needs to tie up loose ends :killing everyone that can expose the truth.
And through all of this, Shepherd sees himself as the good guy. He sees himself as a soldier doing his duty right up to the end, even though he`s sacrificed hundreds of thousands in order to get even.
It`s all there, it`s all in the game during the mission debriefings and `cutscenes.`
I'm liking the 3rd person playlists. It's a nice addition in order to change the pace for the player if they want to without having to put in another game or disc. My only complaint about it is I wish there was a dot in the middle of the crosshairs so you can make sure when lining up for headshots.
From the 25 or so hours I've put into it, yes and no. Yes because there's so much more substance to MW2 and things to do/accomplish. Yet, No...because it's not exactly like COD4 which I've become really good at over the years. I was pretty much hoping for the exact same experience with new guns/killstreaks/maps, but MW2 is much more. The aiming is different, the movement...so much to relearn and think through again. All in all though, it's the superior multiplayer experience.
One complaint I've heard a lot of people make is that the killstreaks are overdone and take part of the focus away from infantry combat. Do you feel this is true? Sorry if it sounds like I'm grilling you, but I'm interested :lol
From the 25 or so hours I've put into it, yes and no. Yes because there's so much more substance to MW2 and things to do/accomplish. Yet, No...because it's not exactly like COD4 which I've become really good at over the years. I was pretty much hoping for the exact same experience with new guns/killstreaks/maps, but MW2 is much more. The aiming is different, the movement...so much to relearn and think through again. All in all though, it's the superior multiplayer experience.
Can I ask what do you mean exactly? Does it feel like there's less aim assist? When David Ellis from 1up was describing how it played when IW unveiled the multiplayer, he said he could have sworn it was a little more work to get a kill.
I might poke around some stores today on the off-chance someone broke street date. Problem is there are no mom and pop stores that I know of in SF, just the major chains.
From the 25 or so hours I've put into it, yes and no. Yes because there's so much more substance to MW2 and things to do/accomplish. Yet, No...because it's not exactly like COD4 which I've become really good at over the years. I was pretty much hoping for the exact same experience with new guns/killstreaks/maps, but MW2 is much more. The aiming is different, the movement...so much to relearn and think through again. All in all though, it's the superior multiplayer experience.
Does 7-11 still sell games? I haven't seen any at the 6-7 stores I have been in.. not for months. Not since like right before SFIV came out. Maybe they stopped after so many broke the street date on games?
Just beat the SP on regular. Spoiler-free impessions:
- A couple days ago, when I was a little over 2 hours in, I was hating on the SP quite a bit. I would like to retract some of that negativity. The fact is MW2 just doesn't open well. Act II is considerably better than Act I, and Act III is better than II.
- There's one stage in particular in Act I that just had me dying over and over saying to myself "this just isn't fun." It's the worst example of enemy spawns and monster closets in the whole game. Almost ALL instances of shitty enemy spawns & monster closets come in Act I - II & III feel MUCH more reasonable and are more fun as a result.
- Game is short. My clear time was 5 hours 9 minutes. I don't know if that counts deaths/retries though... and I died a lot.
- Storyline makes no sense. IW certainly does "OMFG BIG SHIT GOING DOWN" better than probably anyone, but the narrative seems to have sacrificed coherency in exchange for a globe-trotting adventure.
- The storyline ultimately ends up feeling unsatisfying as well, since
it ends on a semi-cliffhanger. Since IW puts the player through the ringer, the game really needed to end on a different note so the player comes into the credits feeling pumped.
- I feel like IW's bag of tricks is just running low. MW1 felt very fresh. MW2 doesn't. The objectives, level design, weapon design - everything feels pretty same-y.
- MW2 is probably the most intese game I have ever played. I hope military folks won't be offended by this, but I feel like playing the game gave me a window into what combat must actually feel like. I can't count the number of times the commander is shouting in your ear, you're hurt and scrumbling for cover, there are explosions going off all around you, and I'm shooting at what I *thought* was an enemy, only to realize it was a friendly. Every time it happened it was sobering, and eye-opening. No one captures the confusion of the battlefield like IW.
- Some levels are criminally short and it seems as though the game had quite a bit cut from it, but some set pieces in Acts II & III make up for this. You won't believe some of the places you end up fighting.
~~~
I found the *overall* experience to be a little less polished than MW1. It opened strong and remained strong throughout. MW2 seems to take a while to find its feet. I also cut MW1 more slack than I normally would, since it felt so FRESH. MW2 doesn't get that luxury, from me.
Is the game worth a purchase for SP alone? Probably not. It doesn't innovate in any major ways, and is fairly short. But it's still an extremely impressive ride, and anyone that enjoyed MW1 will find a lot to love in this 2nd outing.
Edit: I forgot to mention - the "controversial" mission seems to be in the game for no reason. It adds nothing to the overall package and should have been cut.
Finished it on Hardened. I thought it was much better than CoD4 in almost every respect.
Bravo, IW. Bravo.
Edit: I forgot to mention - the "controversial" mission seems to be in the game for no reason. It adds nothing to the overall package and should have been cut.
- There's one stage in particular in Act I that just had me dying over and over saying to myself "this just isn't fun." It's the worst example of enemy spawns and monster closets in the whole game.
yup. Low point of the campaign, and it follows a couple so-so missions. Had me concerned about the entire game. And had me posting negative impressions here on GAF.
Luckily the rest of the game is significantly stronger.
yup. Low point of the campaign, and it follows a couple so-so missions. Had me concerned about the entire game. And had me posting negative impressions here on GAF.
Luckily the rest of the game is significantly stronger.
Funnily enough I disagree with you in general about Act I, because I think the game starts really well... but we agree about that level in particular. Insanely frustrating.
The third person camera is kinda weird... they should have done something like OTSV and the movement would probably feel a bit more natural. Camera perspective is a little too far back.