AS POSTED AT SFX-360.COM
Three weeks post the release of Modern Warfare 2, I challenge you to ponder the following: Is this the game we were expecting? Let me preface this by saying that I am huge fan of Infinity Ward and the quality titles they produce. I have logged some serious hours on their Call of Duty games (50 plus days on CoD4 and at least that much on CoD2). As sad as that fact may be, I feel comfortable offering critique and constructive criticism.
I love Modern Warfare 2. I really do. That said, I just cannot help but feeling a bit cheated by it. Faulty multiplayer lobbies, glitches, overpowered weapons. Wait a minute…is this really a title developed by Infinity Ward?
Call of Duty 2 was the pinnacle of beautiful, simplistic first person shooter. The only choices the player faced was weather to be a rifleman, sniper or machine gunner. Every player spawned with three grenades and a smoke. It was simple and it just worked. Modern Warfare came along and expanded beautifully on the tried and true formula used by Call of Duty 2. Modern Warfare expanded player options and added some minor role playing elements called perks. This would allow for differing styles of play. If the player wanted to camp and snipe, they could. If another player wanted to go silent and infiltrate, they could. Infinity Ware took these minor role playing elements and beautifully expanded on the Call of Duty experience. The result was a AAA title that easily held up for the two years until the release of Modern Warfare 2.
Ah yes, Modern Warfare 2. I cannot recall being more excited for a game than I was for Modern Warfare 2. I fulfilled my nerd obligation and ordered the Prestige Edition. I wanted in the cold for a midnight launch. I took time off work. I played on launch day until I could hardly see. This game blew my socks off.
All was well until about a week after launch. Regular play started to reveal some disturbing and frustrating trends:
1. The Lobby System: A highly touted and anticipated game to ship with a borked lobby system is a no-no. Joining lobbies regularly turns into games of "Who did we lose?" and "Back out, we dropped so-and-so". This is inexcusable when there are countless games that have fully functioning multiplayer lobbies. See Bungie/Halo 3.
2. Overpowered Weapons: I am sure I do not even have to expand on this point, but I will anyway. Akimbo Shotguns. Shotguns should not have the range of an assault rifle. For some reason, the Akimbo 1887s do. Not sure why...they just do. Even the great Penny Arcade made reference with the recent comic strip, "Witchblades". These little doozys need to be seriously nerfed with the first title update.
3. Glitches: The Javelin glitch anyone? Is this glitch ruining the multiplayer experience for anyone else? Headquarters and Domination are virtually unplayable thanks to this oversight. Infinity Ward Community Manager, Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) announced via Twitter this week that a patch was in test and would be pushed through Microsoft certification as soon as it was done. It is disappointing that the game was even released with this in the first place. More glitches seem to be popping up daily. I refuse to mention them here as I do not wish to promote their already inevitable spread.
I cannot help but think that Modern Warfare would have greatly benefited from the public beta that its predecessor was afforded. Having millions of hardcore Call of Duty fans beat on the game prior to its release to the general public likely would have solved the problems that are marring the multiplayer experience. Public testers are the best kind of testers. I wish Infinity Ward would have utilized us better.
No matter how mad I get at this game, I still love it. It is kind of like a kid that crashes the family station wagon. Sure you are mad, but you still love them. I have no doubt in my mind that Infinity Ward will make things right with the first update. I am just a little disappointed that I have to wait an extended period of time to enjoy the game the way it was meant to be played.
