Interactive Terrorism: Fun for the Whole Family!

So, I've spent the last week of my life being completely obsessed with the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I played it on Xbox 360 with my roommate. It may look better on the PS3, but screw that, because I already own about ten 360 games and I'll be damned if I make the switch for one game. When I wasn't playing through the Special Ops mode with my roommate, I was blasting my way through the single-player campaign, or I was talking shit to people in the massive online mode.

Typically, the game is pretty social. Online mode requires SERIOUS communication and cooperation between teammates to coordinate assaults on the enemies, flags, VIP targets, etc. Even when just playing the single player, it's not nearly as fun without someone to sit there and revel in the "HOLY SHIT!" moments with you... one of which includes piloting snowmobiles through a snow-covered mountain while escaping from an onslaught of Russian infantry. The story in single player mode is typical military fare, though I did enjoy seeing AMERICA get invaded for a change. The plot twists throughout also kept me involved in the storyline, and the narrative being told through multiple playable characters at once was also awesome.

However, even after struggling through the single-player campaign on Veteran mode (which literally caused the most creative profanities ever to flow forth from my mouth), the only thing that keeps me coming back to the game is multiplayer. Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy... all sorts of game modes are there for your enjoyment. On top of that, getting more kills and doing better in matches means that you "level up" and get to use new weapons, new attachments (grenade launcher, etc), new camo, and it goes on and on. My favorite thing in the entire game is getting 25 kills in a row, then being able to flip open a nuclear warhead and turn the entire map into a desert to end the game. Freaking. Awesome.

I think Infinity Ward did a good job designing the game. The staged events in single player were beautiful and cinematic, and the challenges in multiplayer modes give both veteran players and newcomers alike little goals to keep the game interesting. It's not a very open-ended experience: you're pretty much confined to a certain linear path inside the game via conveniently-placed radio warnings such as "You're leaving the mission area! Turn back!", which kinda kills some of the realism... but I was so busy mowing down hordes of Russians to stop them from capturing the White House that I hardly noticed.

The one level of the game that made me drop my jaw was one called "No Russian", in which you are an undercover CIA agent, and in order to not blow your cover, you must aid a Russian ultranationalist as he opens fire in an airport and begins to slaughter hordes of innocent people. It's almost post-modern in the way you must choose to slaughter or to sit back and not fire a single shot. The implications of this level are huge: is murder of any sort okay if it's in the name of patriotism? how far is too far? Of course, nobody will consider the thought-provoking questions raised by the game and will instead freak-the-hell-out over how "violent" this is. Great... thanks, Infinity Ward, for just *handing* the anti-game politicians a cache of free ammunition.

However, with 1,000,000 players online at any given time, it is certainly a social experience. 4.7 MILLION copies were sold in its first day alone, smashing all sorts of records, including the record for highest grossing opening weekend for a film set by The Dark Knight last year. Modern Warfare 2 has proven, more than anything, that gaming is an industry that must be taken seriously. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to slay more Russians/Portuguese rebels/Traitorous Americans.