If you have sensitive housemates: steer clear. Modern Warfare 2 is, by all accounts, extremely violent; a fact
seemingly passed over in the stupendously idiotic decision to release it a day before Armistice Day. It’s also, however, one of the most exciting and visceral games you’ll play all year. Modern Warfare 2 trades primarily in shock, even if to a large extent its scares are more vanilla than the massive campaign moments of its predecessor.
However, one (soon to be infamous) mission early on in the game is genuinely horrifying to play and has, perhaps rightly, provoked a shitstorm of protest among angry MPs and other moral crusaders.
It’s not pleasant, but neither is it gratuitous or unnecessary; in fact it’s pivotal to the game’s complex, if often meandering, plot.
Speaking of which, the main pretext for all this childish bang-banging is the Russian invasion of God Bless America, a scenario which leads to plenty of iconic attacks on famous landmarks – the Washington monument, the White House, Burger King etc etc. It’s a shiny, daft and reasonably intelligent story that manages to propel the game along nicely.
Needless to say, Modern Warfare is huge fun. The campaign is pretty short, clocking in at about 6 hours total, but each level is so frantic and packed with cinematic detail that it’s largely irrelevant.
Multiplayer is, of course, a big factor. With the return of perks and an expanded map set, servers will undoubtedly be clogged for months, and the co-operative Spec Ops mode provides even more bang per buck. Emotionally draining it may be, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is ultimately an essential purchase.