Modern Warfare 2: On the Knife's Edge (A Campaign Retrospective)
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- čas přidán 2. 04. 2024
- Modern Warfare 2 is a masterclass in capturing visceral emotion. But, it's more controversial than its predecessor. For some, Modern Warfare 2 is a bigger, better, badder game, taking all the elements of Modern Warfare and cranking them up to eleven. For others, Modern Warfare 2 represents jumping the shark. The Michael Bey-efying of a series that once felt grounded, turning it into something so high-octane that it loses impact.
I won't try to hide the ball; MW2 is my favorite campaign in the Call of Duty series. In this video game retrospective essay, let's dive into Modern Warfare 2, and see what makes it so great, but also what makes a follow-up game so hard to make.
#callofduty #callofdutymodernwarfare #modernwarfare2 #modernwarfare #retrogaming #gamingcommunity #callofdutywarzone #callofdutyvideos
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Thanks for watching everyone! I appreciate all of you.
Great video man.
I must've played this campaign more than any other.
GREAT review/retrospective! Could you please do the Medal of Honor Warfighter series? They are very underrated war stories and heavily influenced by real-world events.
@@LukeDwornikComedy same here! I have replayed mw2 so many times haha
@@X_Peak yes! It is on my list to get to eventually! I love MOH warfighter
What a game! I’m not really into modern classic shooters but even I know about some missions in this game. Thanks for all the knowledge and amazing video as always!
Thank you for watching! I am really glad you enjoyed it! :)
One thing you didn't mention is that the game never actually tells you 'Captain MacTavish' is Soap until you reunite with Price in the Gulag. It's common knowledge know, but to someone playing the game completely blind, this is a whole extra plot twist. Also in the original script for the game, it was revealed by Shepherd at the end that he and the USA started the Russian Civil War on purpose by supporting Zakhaev, until Zakhaev 'got to ambitious' so they switched to supporting the Loyalists. Shepherd started both the Russian Civil War and the War in the USA to weaken Russia to prepare them for a US Invasion. The HVI is also explained, as Shepherd wanted his Intel so he could sent it to Russia to provoke them into going Nuclear.
Ah, interesting! That makes sense, I suppose since I knew before playing the game that I didn’t know it was a plot twist! Thanks for sharing. Interesting about the original script as well
I love all of the big moments of the game: No Russian (the whole mission), Price nuking the US, taking back the White House, and killing Shepherd. The constant move between characters, jumping between different units in a cohesive story was a lot of fun, seeing the devastation going on through different eyes and in different parts of the world. I probably rate this over the first Modern Warfare due to the escalating stakes and the depths of despair we find ourselves in only to pull ourselves out as best as we're able.
I still love the shoot house type tutorial they give in this, like they did with the first Modern Warfare, and once again did it multiple times until I got the game to recommend veteran difficulty, going on to beat the game at it's hardest once again. Also, Sergeant Foley from the rangers was voiced by Keith David (who also voiced Captain Anderson in Mass Effect, the Aribter in Halo, and Julius and himself in the Saints Row games) and is someone you just want to follow into battle. Funnily enough, Shepherd's voice actor also voices Admiral Hacket in the Mass Effect series.
I agree, the big moments are all just so memorable! And that is a cool detail about Keith David, I didn’t know he voiced all those roles. Thanks for sharing!
Wanted to add that in the cut shepherd's dialogue, that still exists in the game files, he explains himself in a monologue after stabbing soap, that he was the one who created zakhaev in the first place by aiding him with money and weapons to start a civil war in Russia, but Zakhaev went loose shortly after. The intel on his relation to russian ultranationalists and Zakhaev was on the DSM.
Oh interesting, I didn’t know that! Thank you for sharing the extra context.
These videos make me really apprieciate what the cod campaigns used to be like, definitely gonna pick up the first book.
Makes me sad that we went from 30% spec ops sneaky missions to basically the whole game being that with the new releases.
Cod was at its best when you've got lots of AI fighting with and against you.
Thanks so much, I hope you enjoy the book!
I agree about the missions in the new games… the MW reboot was well-made, but I didn’t feel like there was enough larger scale fights like the older games.
i can tell youre a cool person based off your pfp alone
As a Brazilian the tone shift between the Brazil missions and Ramirez were even bigger and the way that the Ramirez side of campaign made me feel is unique because in most fps and war story's usa is always in the upper foot winning seeing as the good guys and seeing the us losing was something so shocking because it was interesting
That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing your perspective and insight!
I binged most of your halo videos, I really enjoy these types of video essays on my favorite games. lowkey underrated channel keep up the good work bro!
Hey, thanks so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying the content!
Hey man. Love your content. Can’t wait to see you grow and improve with more time in the CZcams space
Hey, thanks so much, this was a super encouraging message to read! Thanks for watching my content.
The worst part about watching a good video that was just uploaded? Having to wait for the next part
Definitely get that haha! Thanks for watching, I’m glad you enjoyed the video!
The way the trilogy starting out relatively grounded before going off the rails makes me think of what happens with both Killzone and Resistance. The first game in each is similar to CE where the thing is relatively self contained and due to a combination of hardware limitations mixed with inexperience they weren’t able to have all the crazy set pieces that would come later or show the true scale of the conflicts. Then once they become familiar with the hardware and get more experience they’re able to really ramp things up. It’s really interesting seeing how a series will change with the available technology and experience of the devs. They’ll also be impacted by external forces and make changes based on that.
My favorite mission in the game was the one where you eventually highjack the snowmobile and fight your way down the mountain. That was the highlight of the campaign for me. My least favorite was No Russian. That one DEFINITELY did its job.
Something that’s interesting and also really unfortunate is that General Shepherd’s cynical worldview is how our world operates in real life where history is filled with liars and power struggles. That being said, you obviously DON’T want leadership or a society as a whole to operate like that because all kinds of horrific things can happen. You have to be on your guard for that kind of stuff. It’s much better to live life with a purpose and wanting to help others. I think that’s part of why I LOVE stories like Dune so much where the protagonist ISN’T the hero. He’s a tyrant who was able to highjack the Fremen’s religion and use it to obtain power. The Fremen’s belief that a savior from another world would lead them to victory was a fabrication meant to control them. I also LOVE how that story’s depiction of prophecy is a mashup of lies to control the masses and actual visions of the future, albeit incomplete ones that will have various details missing. It’s really too bad that Frank Herbert died before he could complete the series. It ends on a cliffhanger that’s akin to Empire Strikes Back’s ending. His son and this other guy made sequels, side stories, and prequels, but from what I’ve heard they aren’t good. FAVORITE character in Dune is Lato the Second.
Great video. I was wondering when you’d next upload. Good luck in the other game.
You bring up an interesting point about how the hardware familiarity leads to the bigger scale within the games! I hadn’t quite thought of it that way before. And Dune is great, its breakdown of a messiah character is so captivating!
I remember listening to Halo 2’s developer commentary and they were saying how after they got more familiar with the technology they were able to make the game more cinematic (cutscenes and scripted set pieces/sequences), and throw in more enemies with upgraded graphics. Someone else compared CE and 2’s first missions and he said that things like the windows that show the space battles, the outside section, and the increase in Covenant all make the game feel a lot larger than it actually is. If you have a mix of ai in the “foreground” and a bunch of things happening in the background it can make the game feel more alive. The Resistance and Killzone sequels both do that. I watched a play through of Resistance 1 and 2, and it was interesting. The second game had a noticeable graphical increase, the scripted sequences were cooler, the fact Nathan Hale actually talked throughout the game made him feel like a character even though he’s admittedly pretty basic, you see the Chimera ships hovering in the background, and there’s more ai in both sides to make battles feel larger. Gears of War also went through a similar thing where you didn’t have that many allies in the first game and it was also self contained. Then the sequel makes everything bigger with stuff like that big opening mission where you’re part of an army assaulting the Locusts. After someone points something out my brain will notice that in more places and draw a bunch of parallels between different things. It’s really interesting making all these comparisons. Also, the Ceph from Crysis and the Chimera have PLENTY of similarities. They’re both truly ancient aliens that came to earth around the time of the dinosaurs, they have a wide array of different forms, earth’s forces are only able to stand a chance by reverse engineering their technology, and make the earth much colder. I highly doubt that one ripped off the other because they also have various differences that set them apart.
Yeah, it’s definitely really interesting to think about (this contains spoilers for the other books to continue the conversation). That’s an example of a deconstruction done right. Sadly, most of those fall flat because the writers clearly have no idea what they’re doing (this happens in Disney Star Wars). I like how the second book takes this further by having Paul lament the fact that even though he controls the imperium he’s a slave to the theology he founded (or rather highjacked the Fremen’s beliefs and shaped them to fit him). It delves into how a prophet/god is as much defined by his followers/worships and he defines them. The two shape each other. He also had numerous priests who’d use their new positions of power to enrich themselves. He also had to deal with people trying to dethrone him and in the end when he lost his sight he became free of his immense burden. You can sympathize with him, while also knowing that he doesn’t really deserve pity because of the horrific things he and by extension his followers in his name did. I also liked how Lato’s prescience was foreshadowed by having other oracles like that dwarf and the Guild Navigator not show up, while also having Paul only be able to sense one of the two twins in Chani. Such an AMAZING story. Frank Herbert was a truly brilliant author. I liked how Lato’s vision about his “skin that was not his own” turned out to be the sand trout and his transformation took away his humanity, but since he is the columniation of his ancestors he’s also the most human character in the setting thanks to all those experiences. I really liked how since both physically (4th book) and mentally he’s so old that now most things bore him and he tries to avoid seeing into the future when it’s not necessary.
I don't know why this video was pushed in my feed, but thank god it did.
Great job my guy!
Hey, thanks so much for giving the video a chance! Glad you enjoyed it!
Great Video!
Thanks so much for watching!
youre one of my favourite youtubers rn keep up the godsent work.
This really means a lot, I appreciate the support!
I started with your MW3 video, as that was the first CZcams recommendation for me. Your videos are very well done. You are likely to go far in your CZcams career. Thanks for your content!
Thanks so much, this message made my day! Glad you are enjoying the videos!
@@calvinfishermedia You're very welcome! I look forward to seeing the growth! :)
Great assessment! I’m really loving this channel!
Thanks for watching and for the kind words!
Nice vid
Thanks for watching and leaving a kind comment!
MW2’s campaign it’s how you should do a call of duty campaign every time. This is one of the reasons why I dislike black ops 3 campaign as much as I do. Black ops 3 focused on making an overly convoluted story without the focus of developing characters. Modern warfare 2 did the opposite. It made a simple story but focused heavily on developing the characters. Heck I would go as far to say that the whole original three trilogy games in the modern warfare series did that. Same with the original two black ops games.
Super well said man! The characters of the original trilogy are just so iconic, and the same goes for black ops with Woods and Mason. I feel like the MW and Black Ops trilogy understood where to focus their attention, if that makes sense.
@@calvinfishermedia no I agree because usually if you can make a story compelling at the start or even before you play a game, then you’re already doing a good job so that that way when you’re playing it and the focus is on the characters who can excel the story then that makes it 10 times better. I’ll give you an example of a show I’m watching right now that does that and that is Shogun. So good!!
@@OrionInSpace I’m watching Shogun too! Such an amazing show!
@@calvinfishermedia agreed this is definitely gonna go down as one of the best limited series of all time by its end
@@OrionInSpace For sure, definitely agree! Such great characters and plot.
Just picked up the 1st and 2nd book in the series on audible. can't wait to check them out
Wow, thanks so much! I hope you enjoy them!
These videos have made me go back and play thru the old cod campaigns too.
Man we had it good back then.
Oh, and not sure of you mentioned it, but your books are on audible as well.
Perfect for people to can listen to something while at work
Definitely agree! The old games were just lightning in a bottle. And thanks for the shoutout on the audio books! I did forget to mention them!
I recently bought and played MW2 because I had the money and decided "Eh, why not?"
I'm really glad I got bored that day and decided to play it.
One of my favorite things are the perspectives. You go from TF 141 carrying out elite and covert operations that only the most elite carry out. After you get done feeling like a mean S.O.B, you switch to Ramirez and how..desperate the fight is. Russia invaded your home and you're fighting in your own neighborhood that's been destroyed. My second favorite part is how..disgraced the White House is. The seat of the most powerful man of the United States of America turned to a bloody, dirty, broken field to be ran through and shot up like it was just a pile of bricks.
(Favorite part was the nuke in space but that ain't here nor there.*
Anyways, good video and keep it up, my man👍
Definitely agree with you on the perspective shifting! I feel like the contrast between the ranger missions and 141 really works well. Thanks for watching!
great video, it's definitely the best campaign of all MW, I remember it to this day when it came out and I played it, wow the mission in Russian and saving the price were incredible at the time, as well as the plot twist of Sheppard killing the ghost, wow It was crazy at the time!!! I've already finished it several times and the ending is simply too satisfying hahaha this incredible story, here comes Actvision making a horrible remake, changing the characters' personalities and telling a simply idiotic story, wow, it shows how they could even resort to torture at work , so that in the new one they will be fresh kkkkkkkkk sorry for the text, I can't wait for the next one
Thanks for watching! I agree, Modern Warfare 2 just did so much so well! I am disappointed with where they went with the reboot trilogy, hopefully it gets better in the next installment.
MW2 is def my favorite CoD, right next to WaW, BO1 and BO2. I was genuinely shocked when my boyfriend said he didnt fw it lmao
as for my favorite FPS campaign, its without a doubt Halo 3. other than Twilight Princess, its my favorite game of all time
Great taste! Those are all great campaigns. Halo 3 is awesome too, so much fun to replay! Thanks for checking out the video.
@@calvinfishermediamy pleasure! your content is amazing and you deserve way more subs :3
If I remember correctly, you actually do have to help Makarov slaughter the innocent, I tried going through the mission once without shooting anyone, and his team just turned against me as if I had shot one of them
Oh interesting! I was able to make it through this playthrough without harming civilians. You do have to fight back against the police officers on the street though. Maybe there is some additional fail-state I missed though! Thanks for watching
@@calvinfishermedia I could be misremembering as it was a while back, so I'm uncertain whether it was before or after the police, but yeah, they turn on you
@@alextunneyware was this during the mission or was it the part where you were getting into the ambulance?
@@CursedAnqxl during the mission
One thing I dont think made sense in the story (unless I missed something) there were cameras in the airport? Wouldnt they check them
Good point! My only potential counter would be that the ultranationalists in Russia had a lot of power at this point in the story. The CIA plant may have just been a pretense for them to invade, and they didn’t necessarily care about the truth.
Did you prefer the remastered version or the OG.
I think probably the remaster! It is so well done. I played the original for consistency with the series, since MW3 doesn’t have a remaster.
cant believe you just put a 12 ga into Meat :( Meat is down! Meat is down!
I know!! Definitely not my finest moment 😭😭! RIP
'Promo SM'
No offense if you actually did write this, but this script sounds like it came out of Chat GPT and you're reading it for the first time
Why do you say it came out of chat gpt? No, I wrote it. My script reading isn’t the best, but I am working on improving that :)
@@calvinfishermedia There are certain (admittedly small and inconsequential) moments that come across as unnatural or not indicative of the skill I would expect from an award-winning author. Perhaps it's in the delivery, I'm not sure. Regardless, script writing is a different skill from creative writing, and I'm sure you'll improve with practice. Please don't let my comment discourage you! I'm just some dude on the internet, after all lol
@@wondonsilver fair enough! Thanks for checking out the video and sharing your thoughts!
@@wondonsilver something you have to keep in mind that us small CZcams creators when we started our CZcams doing commentary videos we sounded like garbage lol. I having been on the platform for almost 4 years now have vastly improved. These are just things everybody goes through so definitely leave him alone.
Do you think you’ll ever cover train wrecks like Aliens Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever? Or are you mostly just covering things you actually like? I don’t blame you if you don’t want to slog through games that aren’t good.
I went into Aliens Colonial Marines with low expectations and died laughing at the TERRIBLE story/dialogue. Some sections were actually pretty fun, but a good chunk of the game is a slog. Whenever someone asks if the game is that bad my answer will be yes and no. There’s a mod that fixes up the game’s graphics, bugs, ai (the same guy who discovered the typo with tether made the mod), and gunplay to make it good or at least just not bad. It’s a game that I can ONLY recommend if you get it through a Steam sale, have low expectations, and download the mod. If any of those three isn’t present don’t buy it.
As for DNF I haven’t played it so I can’t speak on it. From everything I’ve seen it made me laugh for the same reasons, and also lament the fact that it could’ve been great. Gearbox deserves everything they got for ACM, but DNF is one area where they get too much flack. George Broussard is 90% of what went wrong with the game since he kept forcing the devs to change engines, cram in trendy mechanics, and keeping the game in development hell for as long as it was in. That being said Gearbox should’ve never released the game in the state it was in. Also, the 2001/e3 build leaked and from what I’ve seen it actually looks really good. The thing gives me Half-Life vibes, while simultaneously having its own identity and building on what came before. A restoration team are modding the leaked builds and giving us the original vision for the game. Haven’t played it, but I most likely will once it’s done.
That is a question I’ve been going back and forth on. I made a somewhat negative Destiny video and it just didn’t feel quite right to me, even though I stand by my points. I guess I just like staying positive. I would still consider making a more negative video if I had a compelling reason to do so.
I watched part of your Destiny video and noped out shortly after because I got bored (most Destiny stuff doesn’t interest me. IHE’s videos talking about the TERRIBLE dialogue the game uses to have were pure gold. Destiny 1’s story was so bad that “they didn’t have time to explain why they didn’t have time to explain”😂, and in one of 2’s expansions this guy said “I didn’t think someone with the Traveler’s gift could die. Until they did”🤣). I remember you saying how the background lore is really good and greatly enhances the setting, but they’ve completely failed to express the lore/story through the actual game. You have to go to out of game sources to understand what’s going on. You and numerous others have also said that due to the ever changing mature of it being a live service game they’ll add and remove content that makes it basically impossible for newer players to get up to speed on what’s happening if they just go by what’s available in the game. I’m really glad that super grindy live service games don’t really appeal to me so there’s no way I’ll be sucked into that time/money sink. The game would need some MASSIVE revisions that turn it into a completely different game for me to want to play it. I’m also not a fan of the art style how the fantasy and sci-fi elements don’t look like they mesh super well. It just looks off to me. I’m glad that others are able to get a kick out of it, but some things just aren’t for me.
I can understand not wanting to make a bunch of videos bashing games. I’m also able to criticize a lot of the things I like and have been looking at various ways they could’ve been better in terms of story and gameplay. Personally, I LOVE that kind of content because I grew up watching reviews for bad games and movies. Bashing bad media is one of my FAVORITE past times😂. As far as movies go Sony is one of my favorite punching bags because their output has been so awful. If you look up any bad movie list you’re bound to see a couple of Sony movies be on the list. Things like the Emoji Movie, Morbius (cannot get over the fact that since their social media/marketing team are run by out of touch incompetent Boomers who don’t understand the Internet they were somehow gaslit into thinking that Morbius was super popular, despite the fact there was ZERO correlation between online discussion of the film and ticket sales. They rereleased the movie into theaters where it bombed a second time🤣), Madame Web (even the lead actress is trashing it. Apparently, the part of the trailer where all the girls are suited up and fight the villain never happens, or it was just a potential vision that never became a reality. I just die laughing when I saw people saying the bad guy gets crushed by one of the letters from a Pepsi sign), and a Slenderman movie made however many years after that creepypasta was no longer relevant. From what I’ve heard Bungie got bought out by Sony so they could get shows/movies of their IPs made, and based on the track record of both I think it’s safe to say any adaptations would suck. Also, Take2 owns both Oni and Myth (haven’t done anything with either IP), and Microsoft owns Halo. Pathways into Darkness and Marathon both have an interesting premise, but they haven’t mattered since Mac gaming was a thing and what we’ve seen/heard from the new Marathon game doesn’t look promising. Most people don’t know Destiny has lore, and the way the story is presented is beyond atrocious. Also, their other games are on par with your average Flash game (not meant as a dunk of Flash games. Those were a big part of my childhood) and were ONLY relevant on the Mac. Sony MASSIVELY overpaid for a studio that’s long past its prime as evidenced by the fact they’ve laid off a bunch of the staff and are thinking about clearing out the leadership.