Playing CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 CAMPAIGN REMASTERED for the First Time
I’ll be very upfront, I am not and have never been a big Call of Duty kind of gamer. Why use an AK-47 to fight people in dirty alleys when I can shoot lasers, teleport, use magic, or fight aliens? Well, after playing this campaign, I see the appeal. I have played Call Of Duty in various iterations from the Playstation 2 era until now, but very much. I vividly remember my friends sitting me down to play the Modern Warfare 2 Campaign campaign, with them waiting for me to experience “No Russian” with them on their Xbox 360s years ago. I found it to be crazy and hyper violent for no real reason. However, I can really understand the depth of this campaign, and why it is worth it to return to this story and set of missions.
Let’s take a step back and look at this campaign as a standalone piece. A pretty good sized campaign that takes players all over the world, different areas, and unique scenarios all make the experience really great. These missions are wonderfully designed, putting players into situations like being chased down a snowy mountain, fighting a small army on top of a fake Burger King, chasing people through Brazilian favelas and much more. The visuals match Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) which is just fine and helps drive the more intense and emotional scenes and situations. Gunplay, weapons, and combat in general all feel like Modern Warfare (2019) too, allowing players to come from Warzone right into the Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered without missing a beat.
Having a standalone campaign for only $20 felt like an almost perfect price point. I would have really appreciated a little more to do in the campaign in general or at least a bigger multiplayer addition for Modern Warfare or Warzone. But I am really happy that this came out as a standalone experience instead of being a full priced game with another new multiplayer system that all COD fans would have to move to in order to have good game lobbies. It does feel short for a $20 experience, but just about every moment of the campaign was very exhilarating and exciting, so no real room to complain.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a conversation about this specific campaign without talking about “No Russian.” I understood much better the reason for the mission to occur in the game playing it this time around. But, to not be too political and to voice MY PERSONAL OPINION, I felt that the mission is somewhat more inappropriate now with the massive spike in shootings that occur in the world. There are settings in the game to skip certain scenes or sections that might be triggering or too graphic for people, but still allowing another generation to walk through an airport gunning down hundreds of cowering men and women seems like a bit much. I think a cutscene, offscreen briefing, or something might have been more appropriate this time through it, but we also live in an age where we know that violent video games don’t have any real effect on players, so why not have it? Either way, it is something to consider and recognize as being very violent and pretty disturbing to play through.
Overall, the Campaign Remastered is probably the best way to play this campaign, with updated visuals, A.I., and great pacing, this is one experience that first person shoot fans shouldn’t miss.