The latest installment of the annual Call of Duty franchise is upon us, and for those that have preordered Modern Warfare 2 on their chosen platform, the campaign is available to play through a full week before release.

Back in 2019 Activision made the smart decision to revitalise the franchise by playing on fan’s nostalgia glasses and bringing out Modern Warfare. Using the same characters and name from arguably the biggest and most-loved entry had the desired effect, and Modern Warfare was lauded with awards and positive reviews.

The campaign alone was considered one of the best for years, and with the reintroduction of fan favourites Captain Price, albeit a new version, as well as introducing us to the likes of Gaz and Alex, it’s no surprise.

That brings us to the next chapter of the rebooted franchise, Modern Warfare 2. Set after the events of the first, the game opens with another character brought back from the dead in the gruff-voiced, prickly Ghost. As seen in the announcement trailers, you’ll walk through a rocky ravine, before orchestrating an attack on an encampment with a missile. It’s a brief introduction to a game that lets you know what you’re letting yourself in for.

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Throughout the six or so hours you’ll be playing the campaign, as per normal youll travel to a variety of different cities and countries including Mexico and the frankly fantastically recreated Amsterdam. Whilst it’s only a tiny snapshot of the famous city, you’d be remiss to think you weren’t actually there when walking through the city centre, across the instantly recognizable bridge and towards a High Value Target. This is in large what Modern Warfare 2 does best; the environments and graphics are varied throughout the campaign, enough to keep you fresh and engaged.

Modern Warfare 2 – A Gun Game

As well as how outstanding the game looks and feels as you’re playing, the series has hit a new high for gunplay, with the game taking full advantage of the PS5’s adaptive triggers. Each gun has a different feel, recoil, and generally a different manner of handling them when shooting.

Whilst the campaign gets so much right, it drops the ball a little where the story is concerned. Whilst it’s certainly true that very few players buy the game for the campaign, it is still something the developers have focused on to varying degrees of success over the years. For the highs, take a look at the aforementioned Modern Warfare (2019), Modern Warfare (2007) or World at War (2008), and for the worst, look no further than Ghosts, Advanced Warfare or Black Ops 4.

This entry is closer to the better end of the spectrum for sure, but it’s unfortunately not as good as many of us were expecting, especially as a sequel to the previous story involving Price and Co. As I was playing I found myself continually waiting for the big, explosive set pieces the franchise is known for, the balls-to-the-wall shooting for your life and the constant worry that one or more of your cohorts may be fatally injured. Instead I just kept plodding along, mission after mission expecting just a little bit more.

The story does enough to sate your hunger for a bit of standard Call of Duty fare, but considering the game was touted by the developers as ‘the most ambitious, beautiful, bombastic, melt your face off game Infinity Ward has ever created’ it doesn’t do enough to justify that lofty title; maybe the soon-to-be released Spec-Ops, Multiplayer and Warzone modes will be where the face melting is.

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In short, the gunplay is fun and engaging, the environments and graphics are jaw-dropping at times, and the game never seems to drop in frame rates or performance, but the story is a little lacklustre, with some frankly odd-paced missions at times, and ultimately not the follow up to the 2019 entry many of us were expecting.

Be sure to keep an eye out for our reviews of the other Modern Warfare 2 modes soon!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was reviewed with a code supplied by Activision.

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