Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC Review

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Review

So, IWnet is extremely restrictive, to what will be an infuriating degree for some. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that once you’re in a match then it’s immediately obvious that, when it comes to gameplay, then Infinity Ward knows exactly what it is doing. The same fluid, addictive combat that made the first Modern Warfare so amazingly popular is still very much in effect and everything feels tight and perfectly balanced, while still feeling uniquely different from the original.

How different, you ask? Well, if you pushed us, we’d say it feels a little chunkier than its predecessor – a little more “console-y”. It’s still awesomely fun and entertaining, with plenty of new additions and balance tweaks, but there’s something about the new interface design and feel of the default classes that speaks to the lowest common denominator.

Maps have been specifically designed to play well with the lower player count (peaking at 9 versus 9, but typically 6 versus 6 for public games) and are exceedingly well crafted. A few minutes of play and you’ll have an idea of general layouts, but there are dozens of details and sneaky spots which add detail over time. Some classic maps from Call of Duty 2 even make an appearance, with a re-imagined Brecourt a particular highlight thanks to the contrast of open ground and tight tunnel complexes.


The wickedly addictive perks and unlocks system returns too, with even more weapon mods, perks and guns making for an even deeper long-play experience that gives the series its unique attraction and feeling of progression that’s so often missing from multiplayer games. These have all been tweaked to remove unpopular perks like Martydom, with the new addition of death streaks instead offering a helping hand to players on the wrong end of a beating. There are dozens of new toys to play with too, from sticky grenades (hilarious when you get a direct hit and watch your victim flee in vain) to heartbeat sensors that mount on your weapons.

Kill streaks have also been altered for the better too, with the UAV, airstrike and the helicopter chaining of Modern Warfare all but removed. Instead, players can now customise their kill streaks as they level up, but still get access to the big guns through care packages; random killstreak drops available after 4 kills in a row that can contain anything from ammo, to a stealth bombing run. These care packages also help to make gameplay that bit more interesting, with mini-battles taking place over who claims their invaluable aid.


While we had many concerns about the impact of IWnet on the multiplayer experience in terms of ping and responsiveness, it’s only on exceedingly rare occasions that we’ve encountered these issues. For the overwhelming majority of the time we’ve spent with the game matches have been lag free and responsive, even when playing with gamers from as far away as Canada and Russia.

It’s rare-to-never that we’ve felt cheated of a kill by a connection issue and for the most part IWNet’s ability to choose the best host works great (thank you Scandinavian net connections) and even if you’re lumped with one with worse packet loss than Royal Mail, it’s quick enough to drop out and find another game.

What does jar though is the needless drops back to the lobby after every round, during which text chat is, bafflingly, disabled. Not only do these breaks interrupt the flow of the game unnecessarily, but the fact that players can still communicate through voice chat, but not with text is an intensely annoying oversight.

Nevertheless, we can’t help but love MW2’s multiplayer, for much the same reasons as we loved its predecessor. The feeling of progression and direction attached to the level and perk system is unrivalled, the levels are beautifully and creatively crafted, the gameplay is fluid, brutal and enormously entertaining.