14 DAY TRIAL // As soon as I started Modern Warfare 2, I couldn't shake this familiar feeling I was having, that I was there before, that I did that somewhere else, a Matrix-like deja-vu. The game starts with the same test run of your abilities to set your difficulty level that the original Modern Warfare did, with the small add of civilians as part of the run and a different setting. This time, you do it with an American soldier, not a British SAS, so, OK, maybe the two are not that much alike, but that's enough to make Modern Warfare 2 look very familiar and somewhat of a cliche.
The next things that are very familiar are the graphics and the sounds. From textures to bullet impacts, sound effects and even voice actors, they're all the same. Gaz, who died in the first game, sounds just like Ghost, because they share the same voice actor. The problem is that you keep having flashbacks, and, if you played the first MW enough, you'll keep expecting to see Gaz somewhere around a corner every time Ghost says something.
The first level offers some variety, as opposed to the first game, but, as soon as you get into the claustrophobic alleys and start fighting the local militia, everything instantly reminds you of the first level of MW 1. The buildings have the same general colors and general shape, the enemies are very similar, and, all in all, it makes the game look more like an expansion than a proper sequel. Even the model animations are exactly the same. Either that, or Makaraov and Captain Price were taught how to enter a room by the exact same man, and both practiced the method down to the finest details.
But the game still has its merits. There are a lot of new weapons, and I do mean a lot of them. You now have the option to dual-wield one-handed weapons, so you'll be able to hold two mini-Uzzis, two M9 Berettas or even two showed-off double-barrel shotguns. Pretty much, all these dual weapons are incredibly useless, and, at the range at which they're effective, you're better off just knifing your opponent. The useful addition to the arsenal is definitely the shotgun attachment for some weapons, the Intervention sniper, a thermal-optic Scar, but, most of all, the FAL. There hasn't been a single game in which this weapon hasn't fulfilled my every need, it's the PS3 of weapons.
In spite of all the controversy that it saw, I really liked the airport massacre. What can I say, it's just my type of thing. It's a moral choice that is so black and so frowned upon, that I find it hard not to embrace it and hold it close to my bosom like a long-lost son that I've just met again. Fighting through the suburban environment was probably the most fun and interactive level so far. The idea of storming a fast-food restaurant with heavy machine guns blazing just seems like a very “Free Fall” type of thing to do.
I know that I've not advanced very far through the game yet, but, up to this point, this is definitely not a title that deserved to sell five million copies on the day of its release. It's just too much similar to the first, and, even if that would be a good thing, since I liked the first MW, the fact that it looks like a clone really kills the enthusiasm. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet, but with the dedicated server workaround, I might just give it a shot.