Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized (Nintendo DS)

Look folks, I've been playing video games for over well over 20 years. So it doesn't take long for me to pick apart a game's strengths and weaknesses. This game took about 2 minutes.

Quick - check yourself - how many hands do you have? Two? Okay - then forget playing this game.

This game tries to use the face buttons, shoulder buttons, AND the touch screen all at once. The D-pad and YXAB buttons do the same thing - left and right positions strafe, and top/bottom positions walk forwards or backwards. The shoulder buttons shoot. The touch screen - used with the stylus of course - controls rotation and angle. Now, if you're right handed, this might feel a bit more natural - like using a mouse in an FPS game on a PC. Meanwhile your left hand - while holding the DS of course - is used to move/strafe/shoot. I'm left-handed, however, and this control scheme is unbearably awkward. In addition, you use the touchscreen to reload, change weapons (which requires a touch-drag-release maneuver instead of a simple button click) AND to "look down the sight" of your weapon. What THIS means is that in the heat of combat, you'll be removing your eyes from the top screen - which shows the action - to find your buttons on the bottom screen. The ONLY good feature is that when using the stylus to aim/turn/angle, it ignores the other buttons, allowing you the full width of the screen to control your character.

The graphics - like pretty much any other DS game - are terrible. Any NPC further away from you than (roughly) 15 yards is nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding scenery. The only thing that helps you know you're pointing at someone is your aiming sights changing color. Prefer to pick off targets from a distance? Forget it.

This game is unplayable. In fact, I've spent more time writing this review than I have playing the game - it's really that bad. Sometimes you just have to accept that some games don't work on a handheld console. Wonder why WoW isn't on DS? Maybe for the same reasons that Call of duty SHOULDN'T be...

MAN am I glad I rented this!!

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So...I've heard what people have said, and I've played it. Usually the multiplayer online isn't the BEST, but it gets the job done. I much prefer playing with friends and find the lag to be little to none. As for the graphics...good enough. I love the reload animations, guns and sounds which remind me of Modern Warfare 2.

The reason so many people complain, is that they forget something... ONE: BUY A GODFORSAKEN Thylus, or Ds Wrist Strap for six dollars. That way you aren't cramping up. They are under ten bucks and last a good while. And since this is a FPS, you need one. Even IGN points out that having a ds strap for ANY fps on the ds, helps it out infinitely.

I would reccomend this game to any Call of Duty fans, as long as they accomplish the above. As for the weapons and campaign...I loved them, and kind of was disappointed that you couldn't just unlock them during campaign. But all well. Better than no auto shotty's right?

Lol.

Any questions? Email me at wolfyudashi@yahoo.com

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Purchased as Christmas gifts for grandson. These were top two of ten on his list. Very interested in military. Preteen age had mastered game end of second week.

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