Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Review

Initial Release Date: October 20, 2022 (Digital Pre-Order)

Engine: IW

Mode: Single Player and Multiplayer

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Publisher: Activision

Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows

Developers: Demonware, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Toys for Bob

Introduction: 2022 brings us yet another Call of Duty videogame but this time I got to play and beat the campaign a week early via the digital pre-order bonus this year. I know I know pre-order wrong! You wrong Jason! I know I know I suck.

Anyways, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is Infinity Ward’s new envisioned Modern Warfare II that continues off of Modern Warfare’s story from 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. A direct continuation in Call of Duty’s campaign is unheard of. However, I was excited going into Modern Warfare II to see how the story pans out more than anything.

Presentation: To be frank and to the point I thought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s campaign was terrible and amazing depending on the mission. Modern Warfare II’s campaign had great ideas throughout but lack of execution marred my overall experience. Not many times have I had to restart an entire chapter because of a glitch in any Call of Duty campaign. This one I did.

In Mission 13 “Prison Break” you are tasked with rescuing Alejandro Vargas. I experienced a bug where you couldn’t open his cell. It was because Ghost disappeared magically. You see, Ghost opens Alejandro’s cell in game while you played as Soap. So, I had to replay this mission repeating the entire CCTV Ghost guide sequence all over again.

There are other bugs and glitches throughout Modern Warfare II’s campaign. I rarely ever experienced game breaking bugs or glitches in any Call of Duty campaigns. Just saying. Maybe it has to do with being a week early or the tech, or both. But eww. This campaign had some ugly technical pace breaking moments no doubt.

Story: The story is about tracking down stolen American missiles that a high ranking CIA let get loose into the wild via his partnership with a private military company. Much of the game has you tracking down a terrorist leader named Hassan who knows where the last (third) missile is located.

The thing I like about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s story is it’s continuation from 2019’s Call of Duty. Returning Task Force 141 characters such as Captain Price, Simon “Ghost” Riley. You play as Soap, Gaz and newcomer Rodolfo.

One character I really enjoyed was Alejandro Vargas’s arc in the story. Story has some backstabbing and betrayal via a private military company leader that culminates into stupid ass tank bossfight near the end of game. Story had a predictable outcome in my opinion.

Gameplay: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is a first person shooter filled with creative action set-piece sequences, driving, swimming and forced stealth sequences that were bullshit. Yes, let’s start with the stealth sections. In a Mission titled “Alone” Soap is thrown into a mission that starts off with him barely able to walk.

You are then forced to scrounge around a city while avoiding PMCs for supplies and craft on the fly while on comms with Ghost. Ghost is cool, I like him. But what got to me is the PMC’s enemy AI. I played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on normal difficulty. How in the fuck does the enemy see, converge and shoot you within seconds no matter it’s distance?

I understand this game isn’t designed around stealth like Metal Gear Solid. It was ridiculous playing through “Alone” in my opinion. Granted, stealth did work a tiny bit on occasion and I actually enjoyed the crafting aspects in “Alone”. I hated the final crafting sequence in Mission “Countdown” where you had to avoid two enemies and stop a bomb from going off.

That was horseshit! As for shooting and “feel” I left all controls on default on my Playstation 5 DualSense. Controls felt a tad bit floaty. I did like how you can mount any weapon on any doorway or surface. In Mission 9 “Violence and Timing” Gaz does his Nathan Drake Uncharted 4 impression.

Violence and Timing is a action set-piece convoy mission that has Gaz jumping vehicle to vehicle avoiding explosions. He hangs upside down from a rope to a flying helicopter all the while shooting upside down in first person. I admit this might’ve been the craziest Call of Duty action set-piece sequence mission I played.

My favorite mission however was “Dark Water” which is a balance of action, gameplay, intrigue and suspense. You actually fight on the deck of a giant tanker ship in a storm where the crates move left to right. You move in rhythm with the crates using them for cover while shooting at enemies.

You could also get crushed to death by the moving crates. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II I loved when it’s gameplay flowed and hated parts of it’s forced stealth sequences. Like I said above I experienced bugs and glitches that pissed me off royally. Kinda surprised at how unpolished this campaign was honestly.

Visuals/Graphics: I loved the visuals for most of the time. The game featured great water, sparks, lighting effects and texture work for most of the game. Character models were great in CGI and decent in-game. I’m waiting to see a full fledged current gen Call of Duty game. Just saying.

Sound/Music: Sound and music were good that fit the whole military espionage vibe of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Music did set the tone and voice acting was really good with certain characters like Alejandro and Soap.

Final Verdict: Really good continuation of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s story and characters while adding new characters to the mix. Great action set-piece gameplay sequences along with “Dark Water” as the stand out mission. Gameplay was tarnished like in Elden Ring due to unrealistic enemy AI in certain forced stealth sequences. PS. If you want to view gameplay go to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Video Playlist.