Was Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 from 2009 really that 'good'?

[Smokey]

A lot of people when asked what their favorite Call of Duty game is, will say the original Modern Warfare 2 from 2009. That being said, it got me thinking, is it really that good of a game? It was released during a time when the original infinity ward was being split away from Activision due to lawsuits and half the studio left to form Respawn Entertainment under EA. The game had a lot of problems such as One Many Army Noobtubes, danger close, etc. Looking at the games in the series we get today, was the original Modern Warfare 2 really that good of a game? I don't think so. I think a lot of people are looking through rose colored glasses personally. I enjoyed my time w/ the game back in the day but if I had to go back and play it today, I don't think i'd enjoy it nearly as much without some QOL improvements.

[Shortie]

Back when it was first released and when we didn't know anything like we do now for the games it was a game that I really did enjoy a lot and I remember playing it for hours with friends and had a lot of fun. I feel that if it was to be released at a time such as now, knowing what they are capable of for their games now, to me it wouldn't have been the greatest of games. Back then it was all new to use what they were doing with Modern Warfare 2 so back then it felt like a really good game. 

[Shagger]

Perhaps it's the fact that they made a memorable game amidst that calamity that made it successful. Of course COD's gameplay mechanics have been updated and improved since then, it's been over a decade, but with the possible exception of Black Ops III, Modern Warfare 2 was the last COD to have any sense of indigenous identity. Nobody talks about other COD games the same way because there's nothing to say. I agree that there has been better COD games since then in a way can be measured, but none have had such an impact. The IP's monetization has become more predatory whilst the improvements in the gamely only fulfilled the "expected" category, rather than the "revolutionary" status COD enjoyed in it's earlier years.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Shagger

[Smokey]

On 12/16/2022 at 4:38 AM, Shortie said:

Back when it was first released and when we didn't know anything like we do now for the games it was a game that I really did enjoy a lot and I remember playing it for hours with friends and had a lot of fun. I feel that if it was to be released at a time such as now, knowing what they are capable of for their games now, to me it wouldn't have been the greatest of games. Back then it was all new to use what they were doing with Modern Warfare 2 so back then it felt like a really good game. 

Yeah, I agree. It was also far from perfect even in 2009. Robert Bowling aka FourZeroTwo had a patch in the works to fix a l ot of the broken mechanics and otherwise 'annoying' parts of the game such as the one-man-army noobtube spam among a few other things, unfortunately, such a patch never saw the light of day due to the original Infinity Ward team breaking up to form Respawn. 😞 I always wondered what 'could've been' if that patch saw the light of day, would we also have gotten more DLC packs?

[killamch89]

As others here have said, Modern Warfare 2 had its issues but the single-player story of this game has to be one of the best in the franchise. I can't recall another COD single-player campaign that had a story that was as immersive and full of plot twists as this. The multiplayer was pretty good from what I remember.

[Tonberry]

2 hours ago, killamch89 said:

As others here have said, Modern Warfare 2 had its issues but the single-player story of this game has to be one of the best in the franchise. I can't recall another COD single-player campaign that had a story that was as immersive and full of plot twists as this. The multiplayer was pretty good from what I remember.

Yeah the story mode was genuinely great. I also adored the multiplayer because it felt SO big and varied with all those crazy traits and customization options. Haven’t played any CoD since Black Ops 1 unfortunately so I can’t speak about whether or not the newer ones are better.

[killamch89]

4 minutes ago, Tonberry said:

Yeah the story mode was genuinely great. I also adored the multiplayer because it felt SO big and varied with all those crazy traits and customization options. Haven’t played any CoD since Black Ops 1 unfortunately so I can’t speak about whether or not the newer ones are better.

From what I remember of Black Ops and Black Ops 2, they were pretty good to be fair but what I missed from old COD was the trash talk online. You can't even call someone a wimp online nowadays and not get temporarily banned.

[Kane99]

I want to say I loved MW2 back when it originally came out, and the first few months I did. But then at some point the game became overun by hackers and modders. It was like COD 4 all over again. It got to a point where I stopped playing MW2 because of it, the dev team wasn't fixing or addressing the issues and so I peaced out. It kinda soured my interest in COD for a while, but that didn't last long as Black Ops reassured me, with it becoming one of my favorites in the whole series. 

Oh and I even enjoyed MW3 a lot. I honestly prefer the MP of MW3 over MW2, but that campaign for 2 is far better. 

[Empire]

Man I miss the MW2 days good times back when they actually cared about the community put out a good product and had passion put into the games they made now all they care about is making the most money off of u and selling u stuff in the store etc etc

[killamch89]

14 hours ago, Empire said:

Man I miss the MW2 days good times back when they actually cared about the community put out a good product and had passion put into the games they made now all they care about is making the most money off of u and selling u stuff in the store etc etc

So true - COD games back then were made with so many interesting and new features and dozens of events for the community to compete in. COD these days just feels like the same game for the past decade with slight graphical improvements every year.