Disclaimer: This is an overview of the game’s story campaign.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is the sequel to the reboot of the most successful Call of Duty sub-series. And no matter what you get confused, we decided to make the reboot numbering in Roman numerals. It’s much easier to separate them now, thanks to Activision (sarcasm). But it’s okay to complain about the name, how did Call of Duty come out?

Genre : FPS

Platforms : PC / PS 4 / PS 5 / Xbox One / Series X|S

Developer : Infinity Ward

Publisher : Activision

Price : Steam/BattleNet – 2339₴, PlayStation Store – 2399₴

Game site

What a serious game

The first part of Modern Warfare (reboot) tried to be grounded and get rid of the often senseless but cinematic destruction of famous monuments that Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich would envy. However, with Modern Warfare II, the developers overdid it a bit.

Military plots in games are rarely curious. As a rule, terrorists, stolen weapons and traitors are involved. Well, bad Russians. A special detachment is sent to confront this viper and resolve all issues. It is assembled by a seasoned soldier who is only called upon in extreme cases.

I just described the plot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and to be honest, almost all games in the series in modern networking and this is not a compliment. The disclosure of the main reptile of the series in the epilogue is furnished with such pathos that Captain Barbosa himself from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest would envy.

The presence of Russians is generally sewn with white threads, only that the appearance of an antagonist in the next part would not raise unnecessary questions. But still, the beginning of the game will be pleasant for every Ukrainian. For those who are interested, this Modern Warfare II does not have its own mission “No Russian”, but … there are no spoilers here.

This time, the writers paid more attention to the characters. At some point, the main characters cease to be just cool warriors in a Panama hat or Mohawk. They have become personalities that are sometimes even interesting to watch, and their features, like the same Ghost mask, are now not just a cool feature, but a story is felt behind it.

Of the new characters, the Mexican commando Alejandro Vargas (Alejandro Vargas), very similar to Rafael Colantonio (Raphaël Colantonio, founder of Arkane Studios), and his former partner and antagonist of the game, Valeria Garza, turned out to be interesting. In general, how charismatic a character can be determined by his appearance. If it matches the acting actor, then that character is more likely to be a person rather than a bag filled with templates.

Get inspired, don’t copy

In Mexico, there are generally interesting levels, one of which refers to the fourth episode of the first season of True Detective. Alejandro and his partner make their way through plywood houses and narrow courtyards, chasing the bad guy and shooting back from his mercenaries. The race is really dynamic, but they didn’t finish it a bit and the episode is not as intense as in the series.

Another borrowing is the mission with the pursuit and jumping from one car to another, which is very reminiscent of Uncharted 4. It starts with shooting from a helicopter, then a forced, but abruptly staged landing on an enemy vehicle, followed by its capture.

At that moment, I really felt like I was playing Call of Duty and I even said “WOW!” in a casual voice. But the developers also didn’t cope with this episode to the end, and at some point I was just tired and I wanted this level to end as soon as possible.

And so with many episodes, somewhere they didn’t finish it, somewhere they dragged it out without measure, which is very strange for a series, because, as a rule, such moments are studied very meticulously in focus groups. At some point, I even thought that I was playing a stealth shooter, because the levels in which it’s better not to make noise once again, in this case, are almost a third.

But one is memorable in which we play as Soap and have to scour every corner for resources to craft explosives or a smoke grenade, which makes the game almost a survival game. And yes, there is crafting in the game, but in separate missions, and in terms of gameplay, this episode is similar to another Naughty Dog game – The Last of Us. On the positive side, during the mission, the characters of Soap and Ghost are better revealed and it’s just nice to watch.

In general, the game performs the minimum program with sniper missions, shelling from an aircraft and a boss tank at a good level, but I would like a little more from the most expensive blockbuster in the industry.

Landscape painter’s dream

Separately, I would like to note the visual component. Call of Duty has not lagged behind in terms of graphics for a long time, and sometimes pre-rendered videos can’t be distinguished from reality at all and their computer-like quality is given out, perhaps by not completely realistic people in the frame.

This time I want to praise the environment artists, on some levels I stopped just to watch the windmills in the valleys of Spain or the narrow lanes of the Mexican border town. And I’m sure you’ve already heard about the mission in Amsterdam. The resemblance is truly striking. It’s a pity that they don’t add a photo mode to the game, there really is something to take pictures here.

Is it interesting to play?

The gameplay of the game has not become worse than other parts of the series in modern networking. It’s still a corridor shooter, but sometimes we get thrown into mini-sandboxes where we can have some fun. It’s nice to shoot, the weapon is different and can have several shooting modes, and I already mentioned crafting.

Also, sometimes you come across a small mini-game with the correct keystroke, and the dialog menu that was in Cold War returned, it has no effect on the plot, but it’s nice to talk with the authorities while crawling on your belly on wet and cold Spanish soil, hiding in the tall grass from heavily armored mercenaries.

In addition to the multiplayer and the plot, a cooperative was also brought in, but this time the zombies are on vacation. The passage took me 8 hours on normal difficulty, which is not enough within the series, I mastered Call of Duty: Vanguard in 6 hours.

Another difference from Vanguard is working with DualSense. In the previous part, it is implemented a little better, but this is more a merit of the historical period, and not the exceptional work of the development team. Raising the rifle or aiming directly with the gamepad, you will feel the heaviness of the weapon, in Modern Warfare II there is no such feedback, but the standard set of resistance to triggers and vibration depending on the type of weapon in the game is, which is good.

Nothing to add about multiplayer, I’m not a big fan of online battles, but the opinions of the fans are divided. Some MPs of the new part like it more than their predecessor, others less, and only time and a dozen balance patches will show whether Modern Warfare II’s multiplayer mode will fall into the pantheon of the best in the series. Rating mode should be enabled as early as next year.

Activision has already reported that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II has made the most successful launch in the history of the series, and the game has also broken several records on the PS Store, and it is not surprising that Sony has seized the series so much and does not want to let it go into the hands of Microsoft.

For the series, the game does not make important qualitative leaps, but tries to develop the ideas embodied in the 2019 restart. Unfortunately, the game has lost what the series was loved for, and has not yet had time to build new, more realistic muscles and is stuck in a self-identifying limbo.

Despite all the problems, this is still Call of Duty – an expensive blockbuster that will entertain you with a fast-paced story for several evenings, and just as quickly fade from memory in a few days.