Review

Review

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is a very combat game

the majority of time spent playing involves either killing or being killed in horrendous ways

Modern Warfare II opens with a lightly fictionalized version of the real-life assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani.

this plot is a modern paranoiac’s dreams come to life, Zyani collaborating with Russian allies and a fictional Mexican cartel to plan a missile strike on the continental United States.

Instead of delving into the political murkiness that the Modern Warfare subseries is well positioned to examine,

what follows is a disappointingly cynical and aimless exercise in storytelling.  

Players assume the viewpoints of characters attempting to thwart Zyani, embarking on a whirlwind globe tour that throws away the larger implications of the story's conflict in favor of more immediate

Players turn distant enemies into puffs of red while sniping during stealthy infiltration missions, run and gun

and blow stuff up in all-out firefights, and control or call in air support to blast distant targets into dark smears

Modern Warfare II is determined not to bore the player by constantly tweaking Call of Duty’s fast-paced, first-person gunfights as it tells this story from mission to mission.

Aside from the few levels that validate Modern Warfare II’s emphasis on variety, the traditionally designed firefights make the campaign exciting.

For Modern Warfare II, the good time offered by its multiplayer and in glimpses within its campaign may be enough.