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Name: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has hit the shelves and very quickly left them again. It has been quite a sight, albeit an expected one, to see queues of people dominating game-selling establishments to purchase it. Estimates of first day sales total in the millions, and has grossed over twice as much as the highest-grossing film of all time. All this happened with a release date review embargo, so none of these people had any correspondence about the quality of the game, trusting solely in the brand and the developer. Was this faith misplaced?

The game picks up five years after the end of the first. With the death of Zakhaev, the would-be nuclear criminal from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, one of his subordinates, by the name of Makarov, forms a terrorist group. He becomes a worry for U.S. military forces, who send CIA agent Joseph Allen to infiltrate their ranks. During an attack on the Zakhaev International Airport in which he is forced to join, Joseph is killed and his body is left on the scene. His remains are identified, and being an American citizen, it is deemed an act of war by the Russian government, which launch a full-scale attack on the East Coast of the United States.

The single-player offering in Modern Warfare 2 is the shortest and weakest part of the package. In the past, Infinity Ward has packed its fantastic, scripted gameplay with a robust, thought-provoking storyline. While the former is present and accounted for in its highly refined stature, the plot that ties everything together is frayed and worn. Infinity Ward has said post-launch that the plot was not firmly ironed-out during development until factors such as voice acting had to be recorded and required the consistency of a final script. This may have lead to the poor pacing of the story, with a number of events that segue into each other clumsily. In the original Modern Warfare, much of the game was spent from the point of view of the S.A.S., and these scenarios were considered to be much more enjoyable than the U.S. Army missions due to the great characterisation and dialogue between the squad, as opposed to the frequent impersonal bellowing of "Hoorah!" to every passing grain of sand. With the focus now set glaring upon the United States, we get a lot more "Hoorah!"s, and much less conversation. Just like in the original, their is absolutely no attachment to the U.S. troops in Modern Warfare 2, and while no one likes to see any country become a burnt-out pockmark under Russian artillery, the story leaves you caring nothing about their plight and instead leaves you marvelling at the explosions.

It is fortunate that Task Force 141, a joint American and British operation, has past S.A.S. members abound to keep the game interesting, even if they do less than a stellar job of it this time around. In fact, through their eyes, we see them do a bit of globetrotting, popping onto both sides of the equator throughout the tale, leaving a wake of bodies, cynicism and cigar smoke. I was certainly surprised, after the dull, "Hooah!" fest of the first half of the game, to find a dynamic shift in its direction, going places I never imagined it would wander. It quickly became apparent, if it wasn't already, that Infinity Ward is running away with their fiction. While there was a thread of reality running through the series thus far, this latest instalment throws the world into a situation that will never leave the pages of a novel, movie script, or the not-ironed-out-until-late-into-development plot of a video game.

After all that bellyaching, the gameplay itself is actually very impressive and enjoyable. Infinity Ward have lifted everything from the original Modern Warfare, while greatly improving the responsiveness of the controls - although you may want to increase the sensitivity a notch from the options menu, just to make things smoother. Everything is highly scripted, with linear paths that contain multiple planes to travel across. It's a game that runs at a breathless speed where, from simply shooting some enemies, you move to control remote-control missiles or snowmobiles or speedboats, then to rappelling down cliff sides - and all before supper! While shooting carries with it an ease of use, it does have its problems. The game lends itself to cover-based gameplay, yet gives you no cover mechanic. While you can crouch and go prone behind obstacles to avoid fire, as soon as you venture from your little haven, you get your nose hair blown off by the multitude of enemies just waiting to lynch you. While this should be expected, as soon as you get hit, accuracy is a forgotten dream, and all you'll see is the inside of your scope bouncing up and down, shooting at anything but your relentless assailant. This is particularly a problem in the earlier missions, with a focus on large numbers of enemies attacking you at every possible turn, meaning that, if you want to take one guy down, three of his mates will make sure you only leave a nice pattern on the wall. Enemies can also be fairly hard to spot at times, and are pretty much impossible to when looking down the scope. You'll find you'll be searching for muzzle flare as opposed to the person firing it. When fighting the Russians for instance, it's hard to distinguish between your squad and the enemy, since all the equipment is so similar. Mostly, you're forced to fire on the guys that look like your guys but happen to be further away. More often than not you'll suffer from some cheap deaths by people you assume to be watching your back, only to find they're actually a troupe of foes flanking you. None of this is helped by the new blood-spattering effect that appears on the screen as you're injured, which does nothing but obscure your view and look revolting. I fail to understand why Infinity Ward needed to cover the entire screen with your lost plasma when the corner-reddening effect they had in the past was perfectly fine and didn't distract you from the slaughter at hand.

The new Spec Ops mode is completely realised, and is highly addictive to boot. Here, there are 23 separate missions, all of which can be unlocked by winning Stars by accomplishing earlier missions. There are three Stars available for each, awarded for completing increasingly difficult challenge goals or surviving on a higher difficulty mode. There is a wide variety of mission types available, to taking out waves of enemies, completing time trials on vehicles, to stealth missions where you must persevere and reach a goal while passing enemy patrols. The areas are taken straight from Modern Warfare 2's campaign, but there are also a number of areas taken from Call of Duty 4. One example would be the stealth map, "Hidden", based on the ghillie suit sneaking level in Chernobyl. Rather than repetitively putting you through the same path again, you actually go backwards through it, while facing sniper fire from fellow camouflaged snipers. Also, this mode is playable with up to two players, online and off. In fact, some missions require it, such as the incomparable experience where one player travels along the ground and the other controls the airborne AC-130 gunship, defending your single allied white silhouette from the massing numbers of others. All these levels pack quite a challenge, ensuring it will take much sweat and (likely) tears to get all three Stars in each mission.

The Competitive mode has certainly seen some changes since its last iteration, yet much remains the same. You still equip Primary and Secondary weapons, two different grenade slots and three perks, where more unlock as you level up. Perks now level up as you use them, increasing the effectiveness of your favourites. There are also Deathstreaks, which automatically cut in to assist players who die several times in a row without netting a kill. This includes the Copycat perk, which allows you to copy your killer's equipment loadout to see why it's so effective for them. Rather than equip Rocket Launchers to a Perk position, you can now carry them as Secondary weapons alongside shotguns, riot shields and machine guns. Rather than three set killstreaks, they are now customisable and you can choose from a list of fifteen. Some are additions from the single-player, such as the Predator missiles, yet you can call in bombing runs and Counter UAVs and EMP detonators. The most interesting is the Care Package, which airdrops a container that may resupply your ammo, or deliver a more powerful Killstreak for you to use. Be warned that enemies can pick up your Care Package too! You can also choose to customise your own personal character card as well, choosing from unlocked Titles or Emblems that you obtain for completing Challenges or other unmentioned requirements, These are essentially identical to Street Fighter IV's system, and can be viewed by other players as you kill them or capture objectives. While the 8 vs 8 gameplay may be smaller than a lot of other games out there, it's perfectly suited to Modern Warfare 2's style of online multiplayer - particularly because you'll die very fast, very frequently. Weapon damage will eviscerate you in no time at all, and grenade launchers or frag grenades will leave you dead before you've even realised what happened. All of this can be tempered and tamed as you level up and gain access to new equipment and perks, which can help you to survive longer or kill enemies faster. Nonetheless, camping pays dividends, and you can't blame many players from trying their best at it, even if it's contrary to your own success.

Modern Warfare returns as an amazing first-person shooter, extremely competent and confident in its own strengths. The gunplay is quick and snappy, and the multiplayer and Spec Ops modes will suck away hours of your time almost casually. While there are many gripes to be had with the single-player mode and with some design decisions, they only demote an extraordinary game to a great one. Millions of people will continue to play this online until Infinity Ward tease out another title in the series, just like millions continued to play Modern Warfare for the past two years. And why not? It's even more solid, complete and content-rich than its predecessor, and will likewise stand the test of time.