Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Don't believe the hype"

My friend had always been telling me about how great MW2 was, and how much I'd love it if I played it. So I tried it out. It sucks you in at first, trying to make you believe it's the best game you've ever played. Well, in fact, it isn't. The story follows multiple soldiers as they pit themselves up against South American weapons dealers and the henchmen of the Russian villain Makarov. The story is fairly interesting, but doesn't really affect the game that much. You can pay attention to the mission briefing dialogue, but it won't matter much if you flip to the next channel while the game is loading. The ending is actually pretty good, having the main character accomplish something while still leaving a decent cliffhanger. The weapons weren't varied that much, though. There were probably over ten machine guns in a game and one or two of everything else. The game fails once you beat it. It doesn't offer the fantastic replay value that a game like Halo Reach might have, and it leaves you wondering if the twenty to thirty bucks you spent on it was worth it. The levels are good a couple of times after you beat it, but after a few days it begins to get a little old.
Spec Ops is what you have left after you beat the story. It is a separate game mode that pits you up against various challenges that will test your skill in unique situations. Some of the missions are cool, such as having you sneak through a snowy forest while trying not to alert enemies, pitting you up against wave upon wave of enemies, and two player missions. One of the two player missions involves one player on the ground and the other manning the predator cannon in the air, pushing the two to use teamwork to accomplish their mission. This is fun, but it isn't something to raise the game rating by a couple of points.
Despite my bad comments about the game, Modern Warfare 2 is still an awesome adventure that will entertain you until the very end. With it's stunning action, amazing visuals, and varied level settings, MW2 rightfully deserves an 8 in my eyes. But coming from me, rent it first. See what you think of it before you go out and waste thirty bucks on it.