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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Review Thread

Draugoth

Gold Member
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Game Information

Game Title
: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)

Platforms:
  • PlayStation 5 (Oct 28, 2022)
  • PC (Oct 28, 2022)
  • PlayStation 5 (Oct 28, 2022)
  • Xbox One (Oct 28, 2022)
Trailers:

Developer: Infinity Ward

Publisher: Activision

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 74 average - 44% recommended - 19 reviews

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Critic Reviews


AltChar - Semir Omerovic - 65 / 100
I don't think Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is a bad game, it's just incredibly boring for a Call of Duty campaign. It's just not as memorable and won't stick with me for years as some other Call of Duty campaigns did.
Perhaps I should learn to keep my expectations in check from now on but even if I went in expecting nothing, I'd say Call of Duty is just an okay game that could be worth your time if you're a die-hard fan.

AusGamers - Kosta Andreadis - 7.8 / 10
Even if you've never played a Call of Duty, or dipped in and out of the franchise every so often, you'll probably be okay with not knowing who Task Force 141 and Soap MacTavish, Ghost, and Captain Price are before jumping into the campaign.

DualShockers - Kyle Knight - 7 / 10
If like me, you're a Call of Duty fan, this is very much more of the same — but that also means you can't really go wrong. Some new features feel unnecessary, whilst others feel like a tutorial for Warzone 2.0. Modern Warfare 2 is certainly let down by repetitive gameplay and missions that overstay their welcome. But, that said, Infinity Ward has given fans what amounts to a gripping story and stunning cinematic experience that's peppered with a few flawed concepts and disappointing elements.

Everyeye.it - Giovanni Panzano - Italian - Unscored
With the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign, Activision wants to emphasize the importance of this game component within the package that is offered annually to users. Infinity Ward proves once again to be the most skilled team in charge of the franchise.

GamePro - Tobias Veltin - German - Unscored
You can tell that Infinity Ward has put a lot of thought into creating a varied campaign and in its best moments, MW2 actually comes close to the old trilogy. If you are looking for a solid shooter campaign, and can get over the lengths, Modern Warfare 2 is definitely recommended.

GameSpot - Tamoor Hussain - 8 / 10
Modern Warfare 2 had big shoes to fill, but the campaign includes a large serving of nostalgia and a fun variety of missions.

GamesRadar+ - Josh West - Unscored

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign is a riot from its impressive opening act to its explosive finale. While we're still waiting to test the multiplayer, the campaign makes a great first impression on behalf of the entire experience.

GamingTrend - David Burdette - Unscored
Overall, this campaign brought me back to the beginning. There’s a deja-vu here, with familiar missions and faces, but that takes you off the beaten path into something more awe-inspiring than it’s ever been. I felt completely immersed in the seven or so hours I spent with Ghost, Price, Soap, and the others I grew up with, riveted to the screen, and I kind of want to do it again. Modern Warfare II is not something you’re going to want to put down, and I get the feeling this is just the start of it.

IGN - Matt Purslow - 6 / 10
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s campaign is a lackluster follow-up to its refined predecessor, saved by its best-in-class shooting.

PCGamesN - Jordan Forward - Unscored
The shooting is sharp and impactful, and the slow and snipey set pieces feel as slick as they did all the way back in All Ghillied Up, but it feels like the ratio behind this tried-and-true formula is a little off this time. It’s more stop-start than any COD in recent memory, and the highlights are diluted by a few too many drab stealth missions. It’s not one of the best Call of Duty campaigns, but it’s far from a bad one.

Press Start - Brodie Gibbons - 7 / 10
As a sequel to the Modern Warfare reboot, Modern Warfare 2 feels like both a celebration of the series' original trilogy as well as "the team" at its core. The party is spoiled somewhat by inconsistent pacing, technical issues, and incongruous mechanics, shoehorned in from what will ultimately be the game's multiplayer suite. Through it all, the referential nods to Call of Duty of old stitched the experience together for me.

Push Square - Liam Croft - Unscored
If you're eager to get started with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then the campaign will serve you well until the multiplayer and online co-op mode unlocks on Friday. With many missions that break away from the status quo, it's not always just about shooting the bad guys. From high-speed car chases and crafting systems to the turrets of an AC-130, Modern Warfare 2 thoroughly entertains when it's offline.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Ed Thorn - Unscored
A largely excellent COD campaign with a slapdash mixture of the spectacular and the middling, with all the tonal pitfalls you'd expect too.

Stevivor - Ben Salter - 8 / 10
Outside of those missteps, the remaining missions are all top notch and that’s why they’ll be spoken about less – they meet the lofty expectations of a Modern Warfare campaign. Infinity Ward has deliberately varied the pacing to avoid monotonous murdering, and while it doesn’t flow quite as well as Modern Warfare 1, it’s a nice mix that compels you to keep playing just one more mission until suddenly the credits roll. That’s Modern Warfare 2’s campaign. It isn’t as innovative as past Modern Warfare games, nor does it have as many iconic moments. But for the most part, it’s a unified campaign that nails what Modern Warfare should be. Fans of Call of Duty campaigns won’t be able to put their controller down.

TheSixthAxis - Nick Petrasiti - Unscored
Modern Warfare 2’s campaign, while not being as good or groundbreaking as its predecessor, is a seriously fun thrill ride from start to finish, and I’ll definitely be running through it again to experience the quite frankly excellent set pieces on offer.

VG247 - Sherif Saed - 4 / 5
Modern Warfare 2’s campaign is a cocktail of modern mechanics, updated characters, and callbacks to classic missions and villains. By the end of it, the campaign ends up saying little of substance. And though that is certainly true of its predecessor, it at least had the gall to try.

Washington Post - Mike Hume - Unscored
As enjoyable as “Modern Warfare II” is — and it is certainly enjoyable on the whole — the moments when the story prompts uncomfortable real-world questions about the game’s intentions shatter its illusion of immersive entertainment. In those moments, I forget about whatever it is that Capt. Price and Co. are tasked with doing and just wonder what people were thinking when they made the decision to include whatever cringeworthy moment I just witnessed. As Infinity Ward plunges ahead with this story — teasing an upcoming Russian attack during a mid-credits cutscene that includes a nod to the airport massacre from the original “Modern Warfare 2” — they’d do well to devote a little more scrutiny to such decisions.

XboxEra - Jon Clarke - 8.5 / 10
As finer an example of “AAA” Hollywood gaming spectacle as ever there was – full of incredible visuals and set-pieces with a tonne of gameplay variety and only a few moments that fall flat. It can’t help but occasionally feel to be a greatest hits collection of previous Call of Duty moments at times, despite the earnest and well intentioned efforts to mix things up a bit, and that’s okay. For fans of the series, they’ll be more than satisfied.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
My buddies want to play the multiplayer together so I will probably get this. but I am in no hurry.
 
The first couple of missions felt like a step up from MW19...but the whole game quickly falls apart after that, disappointed considering how impactful the original MW2 campaign felt.
 

chixdiggit

Member
The 8/10 scores seem right to me. Campaign was fun. Enjoyed the pacing and it was just the right length.
Looking forward to multiplayer this weekend.
 

tmlDan

Member
finished the campaign and it was a whole lot of "meh". There are stealth segments and "no gun what do you do" options that really pissed me off and took the enjoyment out of it.

I'm not a fan of a stealth mission that doesn't let you take down an enemy without a knife, in those missions you can't even take them down with your hands? you're special forces...

i'd give it a 6/10 - more of the same, bland, boring straight forward story and i made a small edit cause i actually prefer the action portions over the slow, tedious and poorly done stealth sections.
 
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FingerBang

Member
Got a late review code for this, but damn, is it the worst reviewing mainline COD ever? The previous one (Modern Warfare 2019) wasn't bad at all.
 

akimbo009

Gold Member
Looking a little meh, but won't lie - feeling some hype. I shouldn't cause I don't really play COD but it looks pretty damn good. Can't feel samey if you never played it I guess.
 
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FingerBang

Member
Not the worst but it's on the lower end of review scores for the series
Yeah, I'm shocked. The press tend to shower these games with praise and here we have a game scoring in the mid 70s.

Well, I'll see for myself once I start playing it.

EDIT: What's weird is how different the opinions on the campaign are. Gamespot praises it, giving an 8, IGN says it's crap and gives it a 6. That isn't a small difference, really wonder why
 
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anthony2690

Member
I'm genuinely surprised at the low reviews, everyone I know who has played the campaign loved it 🤷‍♂️

I thought it was one off the best ones too.
 

clarky

Gold Member
Surely these reviews are just for the campaign? If so then fucking useless, gonna need a good few hours on the MP before i can form an opinion.

Edit. Thought the campaign was half decent myself, solid 7/10. But thats not what i buy these games for.
 
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splattered

Member
I'm genuinely surprised at the low reviews, everyone I know who has played the campaign loved it 🤷‍♂️

I thought it was one off the best ones too.

Yeah it's really strange, reading all the comments on youtube IGN video for example people are saying IGN is crazy and the campaign is great... seems to be polarizing between critics and users? I'm halfway through but hope to finish it out today, so far there have been some frustrating things but overall i dig it. It's dumb fun popcorn type stuff. I didn't buy this thinking it would be anything different. As long as the multiplayer is as good or better than the beta i'll be happy.
 

Orpheum

Member
The campaign starts off nice but gets progressively worse and ends with an absolute piece of trash mission. Modern warfare 2019 was much better in my honest opinion.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
Yeah it's really strange, reading all the comments on youtube IGN video for example people are saying IGN is crazy and the campaign is great... seems to be polarizing between critics and users? I'm halfway through but hope to finish it out today, so far there have been some frustrating things but overall i dig it. It's dumb fun popcorn type stuff. I didn't buy this thinking it would be anything different. As long as the multiplayer is as good or better than the beta i'll be happy.

For reference, the same IGN reviewer gave Deathloop 10/10..
 

anthony2690

Member
Yeah it's really strange, reading all the comments on youtube IGN video for example people are saying IGN is crazy and the campaign is great... seems to be polarizing between critics and users? I'm halfway through but hope to finish it out today, so far there have been some frustrating things but overall i dig it. It's dumb fun popcorn type stuff. I didn't buy this thinking it would be anything different. As long as the multiplayer is as good or better than the beta i'll be happy.
I'm really surprised.

Loved the beta.

Loved the campaign, it was what I expected, went through it on veteran and had a blast, a couple frustrating moments.

But I honestly expected this to be reviewed
really highly, from what I have seen from people I on know in real life and like you mentioned others users they seem to really enjoy it.

I wonder if the critics still hate Activision due to past scandals?

Then again, maybe it just shows how little we should pay attention to paid reviewers and should always form our own opinions.
 
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anthony2690

Member
For reference, the same IGN reviewer gave Deathloop 10/10..
I loved deathloop, didn't like it at first.

And I stuck at it and then it gripped me & I loved it.

Hell, I enjoyed it so much on game pass, I picked up a series X copy for £19.99 brand new at Game today for my shelf :)
 
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Actually enjoying it so far and its off to a much better start than Vanguard

They really dumbed down the camo challenges so maybe casuals like myself might actually get some cool looking camos as I have already seen a couple of people with a gold gun
 
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Flutta

Banned
Yup, COD seems to be in a decline trajectory. I mean no one stays on top forever. From crazy MP competiton to veteran devs leaving activision in droves starting their own studios, you could see this coming from far away.

Now the only question is how hard of a fall COD will have. Remains to be seen.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
The first couple of missions felt like a step up from MW19...but the whole game quickly falls apart after that, disappointed considering how impactful the original MW2 campaign felt.

Agreed. First batch of missions were among the best CoD campaigns. But then they start to throw gimmicks at you, idk why. You're crafting shivs, doing stealth against a barely functioning AI.

I buy these games for MP though, I can safely delete the campaign. MP based on beta felt better than MW2019 to me, better maps at least.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Campaign was real fun. Will play some MP to kill time til God of GOTY drops
 
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Knightime_X

Member
There is COD and then there's Call of Duty.
I think this one will be good.
I absolutely LOVED the beta. Modes I hated in earlier cods were actually pretty damn fun in MW II.
 

Isa

Member
So people are already writing it off over Campaign reviews? Of course its going to be divided, something people will enjoy based on preference and expectations. I don't see why any outlet would publish a review without first playing the whole package. I know some people only want to play the story and sell, but that's hardly the majority. The main selling point is of course MP for many and that should be factored in as well, not to mention the co-op mode. Here's our 1/3rd or 1/4th(if you add Warzone 2.0) review, stay tuned for more. But its disingenuous as it leads people to think the whole game is aggregated into that overall score. Ah well, c'est la vie.
 
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