Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Remaster - Review

When Activision released the remaster of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, there were a lot of people that kept asking, when was the next remaster coming. Many rumours and ratings later, there was still no confirmed word that it was even happening, until one fateful morning when the game was just out. Does this almost legendary story have the same impact or is it one best left to live in our memories.

The thing to note, if you were not aware is that the remaster of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, is only the campaign of the game, the multiplayer modes that the game originally offered are not included at all and for me, this was perfect. Of course, given that the campaign was the only thing on offer, once you have completed it, there is nothing else to sample, though are able to replay missions in order to collect everything hidden around the maps. Before you start playing though, the game does provide you with the reminder, than there is content that some people might find disturbing and the games still presents you with the options to skip it, should you feel conflicted about the content. Now this is nothing new for those who played the game previously, but it is nice that the developers left the option in there, given the nature of the level.

If you have played the first Modern Warfare, or the Remaster from 2016, the story for MW2 picks up fives after those events, where the terrorist leader Imran Zakheav was killed. In the year between those events, a new player has used the death of Zakheav to forge a new powerbase and Makarov is not nice and calm, he is ruthless and will do whatever he needs to do, in order to achieve his objective. The game has you step into the boots of multiple people, in different roles and parts of the world, from a standard military soldier, to a fan favourite like Soap, each part builds helps weave a tale that is more epic the more you learn of it. That one mission is of course present, but the rest of the game is fine, and while skipping it does not mean you miss out on any story, which is a good thing.

The story being the same is can also be applied to the gameplay, because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as the saying goes and the core gameplay that was solid back when the game first release, is just solid today. Movement is fluid and feels like I recall it doing back then, running across an open space, collecting an already thrown grenade and lobbing it back, without stopping, well it just satisfying. Of course, as a remaster, the levels are the same, sadly they are the exact same, well at least as much as I can remember them being, even the intel is located in the same place. With the lack of multiplayer and spec ops being absent, some addition tweaks to the campaign would have gone down well, even a score attack mode or something. What is here is near perfect, one of the finest examples of the first-person shooter, I just wish there were a little more to it.

Now as a remaster, there are varying levels of how things are done, some developers take the original game, up-res the textures to meet the new maximums and call it a job well done, that is not the case here. Almost every aspect of the game appears to have been remade, from the character models, to the objects around the world and the parts that make up the world, like trees and such. The level of detail on everything is far too grand for it to be simply texture updates, but regardless of how they achieved the visuals, there is no denying that they are spectacular. The sound has also been given a wonderful touch, the games score is the same, though it sounds like there are some new mixes to enjoy. Much like the visuals, the sound effects are wonderfully recreated, guns sound louder, the ting of a thrown grenade as it bounces across the ground towards you, provides that sense of dread as you scramble to get away from it.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is a solid update, to what was an already classic title and while the lack of additional modes might detract from the expected inclusion, especially give the price, if you are a fan of the series it is worth your time. That being said, I would have liked to have seen a few tweaks or modes added to the campaign, to give players a reason to replay, outside of collecting things, but what is presented is amazing, now we just need to wait for the final chapter of the Modern Warfare saga to release, I just hope it does not take as long.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Activision

The Pros

+Visuals have been recreated with amazing attention to detail

+Gameplay is as solid now as it was back when the game first release

The Cons

+Missing modes will deter some players

+Campaign length is short, which means you will only get 6 or so hours from it