Hi, so Modern Warfare 2 has broken the UK sales records, something around double that of GTA4 already and I'm curious, the reviews seem to portray it as a solid game but with only about 5 hours of single player campaign, obviously one of the bigger joys is the multiplayer but I'm keen to hear opinions. What do you think had the bigger impact on its sales. The sheer amount of publicity or the gameplay expectations?

i got bored of counter-strike style gameplay long ago. Without dedicated server hosting support MW2 can kiss my arse. For a pc gamer, i see no reason to jump on that band wagon. If i hear that the single player gives more freedom to the player I might pick it up 1/2 price on steam in the future (which will happen one day no doubt).

Quote: Original post by Dygash
What do you think had the bigger impact on its sales. The sheer amount of publicity or the gameplay expectations?

The quality of the first one; in my case I enjoyed the single player campaign and thus I'm hoping for an experiance to match that this time around.

I loved Modern Warfare 1's single player campaign. On the other hand, I don't care at all about playing online, haven't even tried MW1's multiplayer. For me it was all about the cinematic experience of "being" in a over-the-top action movie.

If I had any money I would go out and buy MW2 right now (for the PC), just to get the single player thrill ride again. However, a 5 hour campaign is starting to scrape the bottom of what I feel is good value for money, even if it is a very polished experience.

Quote: Original post by Promethium
However, a 5 hour campaign is starting to scrape the bottom of what I feel is good value for money, even if it is a very polished experience.

I'd feel the same if it cost around the region of 30 pounds but I believe MW2 is something like 54 pounds?! Personally I'd be looking for a lot more longevity in the single player campaign as I'm not a multiplayer gamer. That being said I understand there's a co-op campaign but I don't know if its the same story as single player.

Certain games somehow manage to elevate themselves beyond the typical "video game" status in the public eye. Back when I was in high school, gaming was considered a lame activity for losers yet everyone played and loved GTA. GTA just didn't count as a video game. It was just accepted, culturally, that everyone played it and that there was nothing wrong with that.

Sports games fall into that niche too. No one is going to give you shit for playing a Madden or NHL game. Why would they? You're just a sports fan!

Call of Duty is the latest title to get this treatment. Everyone knows it, everyone plays it, so it's not considered "lame" like other video games. It hit critical mass.

As for why it managed that, I don't know. The MW1 campaign is pretty amazing IMO. It's one long (well...) sequence of "Oh shit, that was totally crazy" moments. Everytime I see that game again I remember all the awesome parts, which is basically the entire thing. Most shooters have one or two moments which stand out while MW had them every 30 seconds. The multiplayer was much loved as well, even staying incredibly active after World at War came out.

We're also a ways into the console cycle with what, ~40-50 million 360/PS3's out there? That helps. GTAIV was a lot earlier in the cycle when many people didn't have the systems yet.

EDIT: I just say just way too much. I just really just have to just stop that.

Firstly, 5 hours for who? A good game-player who knows the sequel could be 10X faster than an average player.

Secondly, is it that expensive? £50 for 5 hours is £10/hr. How much does a cinema ticket cost - £5-10, for 1.5-2 hours of film?

Thirdly, when you finish it you can either play it again once or twice or sell it. Both bring your £/hr down significantly.

I loved MW's multiplayer (I'm not a big fan of most single player experiences), so here's my take:

Spec Ops is really fun. Been playing through those with my brother. Lots of variation in gameplay and three levels of stars to win on each "mission". They also support split screen which is nice for those who want it.

Multiplayer has the same great gameplay taken up a knotch. That said they did botch a few things:

1) (Xbox only) No party chat in multiplayer. [EDIT: I've been informed that this only applies to some modes. Still sucks, but apparently some modes allow it.] This is a big suck for me. I play video games with my little brother (who lives across the country) as a way to hang out. I just want to talk with him so we can either talk about the game or just have idle chat without bothering or being bothered by other people.

Now we have to plug in our XBL headsets, mute them, leave them on the floor (all so we don't hear the other people), and then use Skype with another headset to actually talk. Not sure why they cut this.

2) Have to level up to get new game modes. My favorites like capture the flag and search and destroy (objective based modes, in other words) require me to reach level 12-16 to unlock. So now I'm kind of stuck playing team deathmatch (a mode I really don't like) until I can level up enough to unlock a more fun mode.

3) Matchmaking sucks. Since guns are unlocked by level, one would hope the matchmaking would be good. Nope. I was playing a match the other day where I, level three, was in the same match against a guy who was level 22. He had more awesome guns and perks that I don't have access to. Not really fair at all.

But at the end of the day it's still a really fun game, so I recommend people getting it.

[Edited by - NickGravelyn on November 12, 2009 1:14:22 PM]

As an aside, if you're paying anything over £30 for it in the UK, you're crazy. It was (is?) £18 at Makro, £26 in Tesco and around £25 at plenty places.

Am I the only person who hasn't jumped on the Call of Duty bandwagon yet? I played the demo for CoD 4, and didn't really think of it as anything special. To me it seemed about the same as the CoD 2 demo, just with a modern setting and different guns. Maybe I missed something and should give the demo another shot, but my first impression was that of 'meh'.