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Written by Jonathan Read
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Sunday, 29 November 2009 22:03 |
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After putting nearly 7 days of my life into ‘Call of Duty 4’’s multiplayer, as well as countless hours into replaying it’s campaign, there’s no way I can start this review with some sort of cool, calm and collected comment about the sequel. My expectations were astronomical: ‘Modern Warfare 2’ would have to be one of the best games I’d ever played, or it would be a huge disappointment.
So, rest easy. It is.
In almost every way, ‘Modern Warfare 2’ takes what made the first game great, and pumps it full of steroids. The multiplayer is bigger, the graphics are an improvement, there are more weapons… more, more, more. ‘Modern Warfare 2’ is a masterpiece, and it’s well worth your money.
Phew. Now that that’s out of the way, let me take a deep breath and say this… it’s not perfect.
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The “amp everything up” mentality doesn’t always work to the games advantage, and this is evident in one area: the campaign. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great campaign. It’s an absolute thrill ride, and my jaw hit the floor on multiple occasions. But, make no mistake, developer Infinity Ward has chosen to throw all their eggs in the Michael Bay style blockbuster basket. ‘Call of Duty 4’ – while not being exactly believable – had a little bit more subtlety. Missions like Ghillies in the Mist, where you played as a sniper, stuck in the brain long afterwards, more for their chilling intensity, and sense of loneliness. There is nothing like that in this game.
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Written by Jonathan Read
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Saturday, 28 November 2009 16:22 |
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You've got to give it to Ubisoft Montreal; they know how to make a sequel. That isn’t new, news if you’re a fan of the ‘Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy’, it is however reassuring that in today’s world of cheap knock offs and carbon copy’s that there are those out there that can take a great game and make a greater one.
The story follows on from the end of the first one, with Desmond trapped in his Cell at Abstergo Industries. From his time spent reliving his genetic memories as Altaïr a ‘bleeding effect’ has imbued him Eagle Vision and you begin with the sight of strange writings on the walls. Lucy Stillman, the assistant from the first game, arrives to break you out but not before putting you on the Animus to give you a new memory, the birth of Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
After a daring escape you meet two other members of the modern day Assassins guild and their enhanced version of the Animus, the Animus 2.0. Lucy explains that you are needed as an assassin and that they intend to harness the ‘bleeding effect’ to train Desmond. You follow the life of Ezio and his path to being an assassin, the catalyst for Ezio’s path comes when his family is betrayed and execution of his father and brothers fills him with the desire for vengeance.
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I think what makes the story work so well is that the Animus is to Desmond what you console is to you. By nesting the game inside a game it helps echo our reality and aids in the suspension of disbelief, involving you in to the story in much the same way as Desmond is involved with Ezio or Altaïr. Indeed one of my favourite parts in the game involves a character breaking the forth wall, which is risky at best and usually is left for comedy but this is so seamlessly executed that it made me sit up and pay attention. We have all been indoctrinated in philosophical argument of ‘prove your not a brain in a jar’ with movies like the ‘Matrix’, ‘eXistenZ’ and ‘The Thirteenth Floor’. Through clever story telling Ubisoft uses this not as a plot hook but as tool to help you humanise their characters and draw you in for more.
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Written by Jonathan Read
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009 20:15 |
This week’s weekly round up is brought to you by the letters Z, M & W. The Z stands for Zombies and of course, the M & W stands for Modern Warfare.
Infinity Ward announced, after making a squillion-bazillion dollars overnight with ‘Modern Warfare 2’ that they were going to produce a spin off game based around Sergeant Simon “Ghost” Riley. Ghost already has his own comic book series, and seeing that he is nothing like Casper the friendly ghost, it might make for an interesting game.
Of course, with all that money to spend, and a new franchise to get off the ground, Activision (IW’s parent company) are rumoured to be putting together another team of developers to produce said game. So does this mean we’ll be seeing three new ‘Call of Duty’ games every two years, with two of them being moaned about by the IW fanboys, and only one of them going on to break gaming records…?
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