Modern Warfare 2
I’ve been playing quite a lot of Modern Warfare 2 a lot since Christmas. As has been reported in the media, the game has smashed sales records – in part, due to its addictive multiplayer mode. However, after giving the online a good playthrough and reaching the first prestige, there are some glaring problems with this sequel:
First of all, the matchmaking system is abysmal. It is downright awful. Whereas in Halo or Gears of War, you would get paired with other gamers also looking for a match, MW2′s matchmaking servers just drop you into an existing game where there’s a spare slot. So lo and behold, not only do you get put in a match halfway through, most of the time you’re on the losing team because people tend to leave when things aren’t going their way.
Also a major problem with the matchmaking is the game connection distance. If IW’s community manager is to be believed, then the game automatically picks a session with the most ‘optimal’ connection. How then, is it possible that the only games I end up in are distant matches with USA players, when I’m pretty damn sure that many gamers in the UK are also playing MW2′s multiplayer…
The second big issue I have with the multiplayer is the weapons imbalance. The secondary weapons are just too powerful at short range. What happened to the good ol’ days with a pistol, not over-powered Akimbo Model 1887 shotguns (or for any dual-wielded shotguns for that matter). The amount of people who take to camping at the top of stairs with those buggers is unbelievable.
As a gamer who paid for the game on release day (despite the high prices), I think Infinity Ward/Activision have a moral right to sort out the botch job of a matchmaking system already there. Either overhaul it completely or give us some options for it – possibly the “Local Search” option featured in Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World at War.
As far as the over-powered weapons go, I can live with that, but it’s irritating when you feel cheated out of a few kills because someone is just sitting in the corner tapping both triggers when you run through a door. Having said all this, I still think MW2 is a good game, with an enthralling (but short) single player campaign and some extra sprinklings of co-op alongside. The multiplayer just needs a bit of work so that it can live up to its predecessor 