Lawrence.com

So after two years of work by developer Infinity Ward, an investment of tens of millions of dollars by publisher Activision, and a nearly year long advertising campaign, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has arrived.

And this time it brings some baggage with it, including the weight of millions of fans' expectations, a bit of pre-release controversy involving enraged PC gamers, slightly annoyed Xbox 360 players, and a potential political hot potato of a story mission.

Party chat

Let's start with the lesser of the three potential problems, the gimping of party chat on Xbox Live — yes, it has been restricted to certain modes in MW2. But as it turns out, it was implemented in a very smart way. You can still party up with your friends and stay with them even if the playlist you're in doesn't support party chat, you just have to switch to the game chat channel until you leave that playlist. All of the playlists that support party chat are denoted by an asterisk so you don't have to guess at which ones support parties and which don't.

All in all it seems to be a thoughtfully implemented restriction that serves to curb cheating in multiplayer, and that's a good thing.

The PC problem

Now as to the enraged PC gamers, who feel their platform has been marginalized with this release — enough so that a boycott is being staged. The effect of the boycott won't be known for a long while — if ever — since Steam sales (to the best of my knowledge) aren't tracked by the NPD group like Direct 2 Drive and retail releases are. CORRECTION: Steam sales are in fact tracked, just not by individual units sold.

Another common barometer to gauge a games success would be to look at server population, but since the removal of dedicated servers are what got PC games up in arms in the first place.... no luck there. Why the anger over the removal of dedicated servers? Without them PC gamers cannot have user made mods or clans, something that has become common place on PC. This also allows Activision to tout the amazing success of MW2 regardless of how the PC version does, and there's no way to call them out on it if it turns out the PC version did poorly.

The mission plot [SPOILERS AHEAD]

From here on in I will be going into some detail about plot elements, if you plan on playing MW2 wait until you're past the third mission before reading any further. You have been warned.

I know why you're here, you're here for the same reason you slow down as you pass a car wreck, you just have to know how bad it is.

Maybe you saw my previous post and you're concerned that this particular mission will scar you for life. Maybe you googled "Modern Warfare 2 Controversy" and it got you here. It doesn't matter, all that you need to know is that you are given the option to skip the mission if you want, and if you do choose to play it you will find yourself going, "Yeah that's pretty messed up, but I've seen way worse, like in that movie Total Recall."

(Climbs up on soapbox...)

Do take note of the rating on the box, it's M for Mature, or in other words it's the equivalent of an R rated movie. It is not a game that was designed with children in mind, and if you are a parent you should take the time to familiarize yourself with the ESRB rating system of EC to AO, just as you did with the MPAA system of G to NC-17. Games are a growing medium that encompasses more than just children's games, and you need to be aware of that so that you can act as a filter just as you would for movies, books and music.

(....climbs down, thanks for listening!)

The scene in question happens in the game's third mission. You are playing as an undercover CIA operative that has been inserted into a Russian terrorist cell trying to gain the trust of the cell's leader by doing this horrible thing. The scene opens with you playing as the undercover CIA operative as the group of terrorists exits an elevator into a busy airport in Russia and they kill — in cold blood — everyone in the airport. And you are there, right along side of them, killing innocent civilians and police officers.

And that's only the first half...let's just say that things do not end well for you. Having played this part of the game myself I found it to be mildly shocking, but I also found this scene to have merit. In terms of the overall narrative, it serves as the spark that lights the fire of war and sets the stage for the rest of the game. It works for me on that level because starting a war requires an act so egregious as to have no other response than to fight back.

The metaphorical value of the scene happening in an airport should not be lost on American players because after everyone is killed, it is revealed that the whole point is to make it appear that CIA was behind the attack, thus justifying the invasion of America by angry Russians. Like what happened on 9/11, only in reverse. And then you get to spend the majority of the rest of the game defending America from communists, so Conservatives should be placated somewhat.

What doesn't work however is the emotional impact I think they intended. I didn't feel much of anything for anyone because you aren't given anything to relate to. You never even see what the agent looks like, I can't even remember his name. Another reason for the lack of any emotional connection is that the story is kinda disjointed in general. You spend so much time jumping from person to person and place to place that it becomes hard to keep it all straight, much less form any sort of emotional attachment to any of the characters.

But that's my opinion, and you might have a different one.

I am thoroughly enjoying MW2, and I recommend that you do the same. Until next time, stay frosty.