Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Beta Review

BY: ETHAN SUTTON

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the enormously hyped sequel to Modern Warfare 2019. Developed by Infinity Ward, it is the newest installment in the Call of Duty franchise. The recent beta gave fans a taste of what we can expect when the full game releases on October 28th. 

My critique starts with the new gunsmith, it is overly convoluted and confusing. Normally, you would upgrade a weapon to unlock attachments for said weapon; however, now you have to upgrade a completely different weapon for certain attachments. The devs have said the new gunsmith “takes away the grind of having to unlock every single attachment on each weapon every time you want to level up a weapon.” While there is a little less grind, the system is in no way an improvement, if they wanted less grind they could have just decreased the required XP to level up. There was no reason to make this change, and it makes unlocking new attachments more frustrating than fun. 

Along with the unnecessary change to the gunsmith comes an unnecessary change to the perk system that has remained largely unchanged for 15 years. Instead of three perks you now get four, which by itself could be a good thing, however now you can’t choose the combination you want but instead have to pick from presets. This is another change that did not need to happen and one that brings no new value to the game. 

The original Modern Warfare 2 was renowned for its powerful killstreaks, something the new Modern Warfare is seemingly lacking. Many pro players have voiced their dissatisfaction with the killstreaks, stating they feel underpowered and useless at times. 

While there is room for improvements, not everything is doom and gloom. 

The leveling is at a good spot, it doesn’t feel slow nor does it feel like a chore that is a bog to complete, I was able to reach max level (30) in one day of playtime. 

The maps are a pretty significant improvement over COD 2019. They have that distinct flow that you will only find in a COD game. They went with a smaller scope and less realistic feel making the maps more fun to play. 

There are two new modes to MW2, both pretty fun to play. 3rd person mode is something no COD has ever done before, and it seems to work. The camera is very smooth, and the gunplay seems to be on par with normal multiplayer. The other mode they added was invasion, a multiplayer game with AI. It’s basically just 20 v 20 with bots that might accidentally hit you once every game, other than that they aren’t really noticeable. 

Overall, MW2 is still a Call of Duty game through and through. It changes up the formula a little, but does not reinvent the wheel. Despite some unnecessary changes, if you liked its predecessors, you are also almost certain to like the newest installment to the franchise.