There's really no reason to type out a full-fledged video game review here; just one up on Gamespot or IGN.

What I'm going to address here are a couple of key positives and negatives for the game. Everyone knows Amazon packages stuff well, so there's nothing to comment on there.

Positive:

Great game with 3 parts: Campaign (short but fantastic), Special Operations (brief missions for one or two players, much fun), and Multiplayer (similar class system as CoD4:MW, but with more and different guns and perks). Graphics looks good, but nothing too over the top such that only incredibly powerful computers can play it (*cough*crysis*cough*).

Negative:

For reasons probably relating to a desire to cut down on pirating, Infinity Ward decided their best bet for multiplayer would be to run it through Steam. Steam is great for buying games for cheaper than in stores, but for everything else, it falls flat on its face. For every game, it makes the start team slower because it has to go through Steam instead of directly through the game's .exe. In the case of MW2, Steam provides a mutliplayer experience that is in a lot of ways, a step back from MW. No dedicated servers are allowed, the average game size is around 8 and it takes a remarkably long time to actually get to a game through matchmaking, and if the computer chosen to host the match decides he has other things to do, then entire group has to wait for the game to find a new host among its remaining players (a 30 seconds interrupt while you're knifing someone is obnoxious). These things would all be fine and dandy for a console game; it'd be pretty standard fare. But the PC gaming community expects something better: big numbers of people playing in the game, the ability to host your own server and run whatever maps or game mode YOU want. This is all gone.

Final Thoughts:

Don't get me wrong, the single-player and spec ops (if you have Steam friends to play with) are wonderful fun. But if you're looking for the much-touted multiplayer, which should be bigger and better than its predecessor, you're not going to find it. You'll feel like you're playing on a game console, with all the limitations that come along with it. And no one wants that if they bought the game for PC.

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As a big fan of COD, I played COD2 and COD4, I got blown away by graphics and the gameplay. I am glad I didn't follow the advice of people giving it negative reviews and got the game. I had to upgrade my video card, though. It's not perfect, but overall is very enjoyable.

Pros: Lots of different weapons and terrains. Very realistic graphics. Special Ops mode is added. Lots of different maps for online playing. Online games are not overcrowded.

Cons: Solo play is kind of short, but Special Ops mode more than makes up for it. That's 23 additional very challenging levels. Terrains kept changing fast and often. The game kind of has a feel of those designed for consoles - you get points and special things no matter how you play.

Get the game and see for yourself.

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Well this game is by far the most hated pc game by children gamers. Nerds didnt get their dedicated servers so people boycotted a game, that so simply sold more copies in its first week then any other entertainment product, movie,cd,game has ever done.

The gameplay is simple amazing, its alot smoother then CoD4.

The sounds are even 100x better then in CoD4

Smaller maps with more "up room" then around room means more tactical gameplay.

The only downside so far is iwnet's matchmaking, I feel so bad when i get put in a room full of lower level guys. I have only got connected to maybe 3-4 laggy games in over 450 matches played.

Is this game worth 60$? NO, But it is fun to play and maybe when these kiddies get it for Christmas from their parents, they'll never show up on amazon posting fake reviews again.

my final verdict on this game is as follows.

PRO: Smaller Teams + Smaller Maps = More Fun

The Title/Emblem System to show off what you've done

CON: Poor Anti-Cheat Measures

No chatbox before a match starts

For the most part those are the best 2 pros and cons i could think of :/

What im saying is this, If you LOVED cod4 and cod5, go out and buy mw2.

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I LOVE THE GAME. i also like the first modern warfare a lot too. but this one has everything you could imagine, except they took out dedicated servers and raised the price ten bucks for pc..... :(but the addition of spec-ops fills in for the old arcade mode.) and the campaign is excellend with varying difficulties. there is still intel items you can collect, and the addition, of achievments for doing varying things in spec ops or campaign give you a feeling of accomplishment. the campaign and multiplayer will keep you playing for months.... there are ten prestiges and seventy levels to play through with many weapons and perks.

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The game interface is a pain and does not function well. Once you are in the game it is great

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The Call of Duty series has really stood out amongst its peers for its incredible single player campaigns; up until the first Modern Warfare, the multiplayer mode has definitely been a niche market, finding some success, but ultimately lagging significantly behind the Battlefield series and even older games (a la SoF 2).

MW 2 is clearly marketed at the MP segment, influenced by the online success of the first Modern Warfare. However, this has yielded mixed results, in both categories:

Single Player - This mode is significantly shorter than any previous CoD title (save World at War, which I did not play, and thus cannot offer a comparison). Additionally, the storyline jumps around and tries to throw so many twists and "Gotcha!" moments at you, it really loses its punch very, very quickly. Still, I found the SP campaign to be immensely enjoyable. The addition of Spec Ops missions (which can be done solo or co-op) also gives the game some extra SP play time; these are fun, and can be challenging. So, overall, the SP mode(s) is/are quite fun, but definitely way behind what I am used to from this series.

Multiplayer - Ahh, this is why we all bought the game...right? Well, maybe if you're playing on the 360 or PS3. I, on the other hand, purchased the game for the PC (it's a shooter, for one thing, and my PC is a much better machine than my 360). Gameplay-wise, there's nothing to be disappointed about; it's addictive, fun, and satisfying. But connection-wise? What the hell were they thinking?

Allow me to break it down.

For MW2, they decided to go with Steam, eliminating hosted servers along the way. Now, I've never been a big fan of Steam, and connecting through the MW2 lobby reinforces why I typically prefer virtually any other arrangement. Finding games - and friends - is more of a hassle than it should be. Joining games can be erratic at times, although normally wait times are reasonable. Map sizes are unreasonably limited.

Additionally, by eliminating hosted servers, a huge portion of the MP community is left out; namely, clans hosting and running their own servers (holding far more players than 8-to-freaking-12, by the way). Furthermore, and much more seriously, is that hacking runs rampant because of this.

Yes, already, hackers have destroyed a part of this game. Walling (or balling) and aimbotting are very much in evidence. That's ridiculous for a game this new and hyped, a game that focused almost exclusively on the MP mode (neglecting the length and story of the SP campaign in the process). And since there are no server admins, there is virtually nothing you can do, even when the hacker in question is doing nothing to hide his cheating.

Sure, you can submit the player ID to Steam, and imagine that may do something in the future. Of course, having a working PunkBuster, or - God forbid - player admins would resolve the problem with about a ten thousand percent improvement towards efficiency, but hey: they've already got our money. So why worry about whether or not we can enjoy the experience?

So, all in all, I really enjoy the game, and I DO recommend it, but that recommendation carries several qualifiers:

1 - SP campaign is disappointing.

2 - Lack of privately hosted servers, and the hacking that ensues, is nearly enough to ruin MP mode, as well (leaving, what, screensaver mode?).

3 - Online connectivity and utilization of Steam are less than optimal (but far less of a problem than nos. 1 and 2).

-Rog

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Let's start off with the nice $59.99 price tag. PC games are $49.99 tops. This game is $59.99. They knew it would suck, so they charge the fans of the series more. Hint hint.

As for gameplay, you'd better be off with COD4MW1 or CoD5WaW. Those are much better than this overpriced underpar substandard reiteration of CoD4MW1 they call a standalone game. An utter disgrace to the company. Will never in my life purchase a game in the CoD series, and will carefully scrutinize every single game released by Activision before buying. (Probably never)

And I thought VALVe was being lame with L4D2 a year after L4D1. This game makes L4D2 look like a great buy.

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After a stressful week, this is a pleasure to play. I dont play on line because I do not want to lose the flexibility of being able to take a lot of breaks and I dont want to worry about the quality of my playing versus other peoples'. So for me, I really enjoyed this game. the graphics are amazing and the new weapons are really fun. I like the wwII weapons better but these are still fun. I highly recommend this off line but havnt tried it on line.

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I'm sure you've already read the other reviews about this game. Its all true. Peer to Peer hosting sucks for many reasons, one I didnt see is if the host quits, in the middle of the game it searches for a new one so you're standing there for 10-15 seconds while this happens doing nothing. Once happened right when someone was standing in front of me.. so much for element of surprise.

Hacks were released within 12 hours of game release. I will say first hand that its rampant on the PC version. If i get a game with no hackers, i do good, but at one point last night there were at least 4 of them playing in the same game as me. Its not just a minor hack either, an entire package of hacks were released, Aimbot (auto aim), Wall Hack (see players through walls and objects), no recoil (gun doesnt bounce around when shot, even on full auto), speed leveling.. etc.

I've played many of the FPS type war games that come out on PC, I cant stand it on console for several reasons. This is a title that's been very successful and very good up until now. The game itself underneath the poor networking, cheating etc is good and fun, but the playability which is online multiplayer has been severely diminished.

This is the last Infinity Ward game I buy if this is the direction of where things are headed.. console. Guess what? They dont care either. Its a big middle finger to we the PC gamers.

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I only play the SP, so as not to get too much wasted time, so that's all I can judge.

Pros:

-Fast paced action in multiple locations

-Good vehicle integration into the play

-Music makes you amped up

-Wild Story keeps you guessing what's next.

-Awesome tech stuff(heartbeat meter, UAV use, guns, etc)

-Difficulty is about right, on Normal I didn't have a frustrating experience

-Interesting parts where you don't just shoot, like climb,run, etc.

-Less dogs than the first one, man I don't like those things!

Cons

-Too fast paced most of the time for me, this makes the already short SP campaign go by quickly.

-Price is insane for what you get, especially if you are SP only.

Compare this to other normally or even lower priced games, Borderlands, etc.

-I just don't feel like the graphics are that much above the first one. I was shocked at how good they were in COD41, not so here. About the same.

-This should have been an expansion pack, like COD used to do before they sold themselves to the console makers and got very greedy like Rockstar, etc.

-Steam should offer SP only buying option, isn't Steam supposed to give us more choice, not less?

-Due to Steam Resale is a real hassle, of course that's by design by greedy IW/Steam whatever they say about piracy.

-Come on, in a war like that there will be no half-axxed warring, measures like worrying about some Ruski oil worker hostages(who are on a Ruski SAM rig), get real IW! PolCor humane warfare only makes war longer, not shorter and increases suffering, despite what the hippie-sters blather on about. Too much experience with them here I suppose.

Good game, not worth the money. Why can't the Central Planners in Washington use some tax money to buy me a copy or bring the cost to me down like they seem to think they can do(won't happen with anything they try)? I didn't get anything from any of their other junk but a tax bill. Getting back to the game, I'd say to anyone who is sitting on the fence, wait for the price to come down and go for any of the other games coming out this fall. Not to say it's a waste but I don't see more than one more playthrough on campaign and then some single levels here and there. Remember this is for the SP only, read the other reviews for the MP part.

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I advise all to buy this game it is a very good game

for me I can pay 60$ or so to have fun playing the best action game ever

you guys will never find a better game than COD so enjoy it and stop Criticism..!

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It doesn't take more than a casual glance to see something odd about the reviews for MW:2, console users generally like it, PC users are rating it as low as possible. Are the versions of the same game really that different? Not really, but the marketing emphasis seems to be on the console ports. When I decided to buy the game one vendor only sold the PC version online, the other had a huge rack of Xbox 360 versions and one tiny shelf with maybe five units for the PC.

It's better to look at the single player and multi-player separately. I'd rate the singe player about a 7; after the huge success of Call of Duty 4 it'd be very hard to top it, and this one really doesn't. The game is very short, 4-5 hours, and the graphics are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Outdoor environments are larger and more detailed, and atmosphere effects look better. Characters and animation look about the same. The story is another matter, it seemed they were pulling out all the stops to top the original and the result is less plausible to the viewer. The so-disturbing-you-can-skip-it level is unsettling to play, but is both key to the plot and also so extreme you couldn't see any special ops person participating in it. What the character does is the sort of thing they're trained to prevent, not to stay deep undercover. The villains aren't sufficiently developed and there's a few too many scenes of good guys getting killed by sudden turncoats. The invasion is something that was barely plausible even during the Cold War, and hard to accept now. However, you do get to play with just about any exotic or unusual firearm made in the last twenty years.

The multiplayer is what is drawing all the scorn, and I'd rate it about a 5. The game requires Valve's (the people who do Half-Life) Steam client to install and play. To be honest neither Steam nor Punkbuster do much to stop cheaters, and now PC users can't select a dedicated server. So a good portion of what people liked in the game, such as having your own server for clans or custom fighting styles is now gone. I can see why people are mad, but also don't think I'll miss some server admin kicking me off because he arbitrarily decides the next match should be a knife fight only. The multiplayer has a more cartoony feel to it, and if anything reminds me of the multiplayer for FarCry2, which isn't topping anyone's popularity lists. I played several rounds and experienced lag which I expected considering the game's popularity, and the usual people who are impossible to kill while I would drop sometimes as quick as I would spawn.

The new "spec ops" mode lets you play single or with someone else through certain single player maps with challenges like time or number of hits, it's okay but gets old soon.

So in conclusion the makers misjudged sorely the PC market, and in general made a game that is what most sequels are, a somewhat weaker and more overwrought version of the original. However, I still found it fun to play.

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"Ha! Your brand new PC game looks and feels like a port the minute you hit the main menu. In case you can't take the hint, we've artificially raised the price from the normal $49 PC to the console $59. So why didn't you just buy the console version? Why don't you do yourself a favor and stop buying PC games so we can just work on games for consoles"

Yeah, it feels like they're trying to shut down the gamers that made the CoD franchise great in the first place.

Look, you've probably read it from a ton of negative reviews here and elsewhere. The campaign's great and all, but what isn't is the downgraded multiplayer experience when compared to the previous game. What I like is the ability to form a party before joining a server. What I don't like is the heavy-handed approach to what server you can or can't join. What I want back is a server browser, and one that works better than CoD:MW1's.

In short, Modern Warfare 2 is unnecessarily hamstrung by imposed limitations that PC gamers just aren't accustomed to. Is it a good PC game? Yes and no. If you like single player and two-player coop, yes. If you don't care about the downgrade to pvp multiplayer from the previous CoD's? I suppose. Otherwise, it's a good game, but not a 'keeper' (as if you have any choice once you open a PC game).

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, so I'll wrap it up. Is it worth $60 to play a game that should have been $50 that only has a $30 value? You decide. Buy it and support Infinity Ward's campaign against PC gamers, but get an awesome campaign and fun coop maps. Don't buy it and you'll be sure to send a message that will fall on deaf ears, but you'll be able to use the money for a better game, like Superman 64.

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I read other reviews and was surprised to see the negative feedback from other players of this game. The graphics and game play are exceptional (as long as you have the system to support it), and the multi player action is second to none. My only criticism of this game is regarding the campaign mode. The story line is good and fairly engaging, however I found the game play to be annoyingly task oriented and task specific. Honestly I have noticed this on every COD game since the first and I find it to be much less fun than the more open warfare of the original. That said, I would suggest this game to anyone who wants a solid modern combat FPS... especially if you are an online gamer.

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The thing I got to say is that steam has to go and just go buy a ps3 or an xbox 360!

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