Last week, we told you about the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (MWII) that it lived up to our expectations. But what makes or breaks a call of duty (COD) is its multiplayer, and this year, we are entitled to variety and an excellent gameplay worthy of a franchise classic.
At its launch, MWII features nine 6v6 game modes, including the classics like Team Deathmatch, Domination, or Kill Confirmed. Several can also be played in third-person perspective.
Among these, two novelties require more strategy. In Prisoner Liberation, one team must bring two prisoners back to an extraction point, while the other tries to stop them. In knockout mode, both teams fight for possession of a bag of money, and whoever has it at the end of a round wins. Both modes are respawn-free, but players can revive fallen teammates. We suggest playing it with a group of friends, to coordinate well.
Added to this is the popular Ground War mode, where two teams of 32 players compete for five control points. Armored vehicle battles, air support and even submarine clashes are on the agenda. Invasion is another big mode, new this one. It’s a 20 vs. 20 Team Deathmatch type experience, plus AI soldiers who are mostly there to add atmosphere so they don’t retaliate. A good mode for new players who want to get started with the mechanics of the game.
As for the cards, in our opinion, none are total failures, but none should go down in history either. However, each COD has its map that is not unanimous, and this version is no exception with Santa Seña Border Crossing. Designed as a long stretch of highway packed with stationary vehicles, it looks like a scene from the movie Sicario. Many of these vehicles can explode from damage, making them a real minefield. Our favorite map, Crown Raceway, takes place at night in the paddocks of a Formula 1 circuit. It’s simple, fluid and pretty on the eye.
MWII has some flaws, however. Its new perk system, in which you acquire certain perks during the game, is in our opinion a useless innovation. Also, its user interface, which seems modeled on that of a streaming service, is unintuitive, even incomprehensible at times.
The most irritating change, however, is the torturous path we have to travel to unlock and upgrade our weapons. Previously, to unlock a weapon, you simply had to level up. Then, to unlock accessories for it, we had to level it up by using it. This time, you have to use particular weapons and level them up to unlock others associated with the same “platform”. Some attachments are also locked behind a level on a weapon that one would never want to use otherwise. It’s a system that pushes players towards greater variety, but at the cost of some freedom. The fact remains that in our opinion it is worth trying them all, since the vast majority of them offer a gunplay satisfying.