Review: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (09) - A Time When Stories Mattered?
Is the game overrated, or painfully ignored?
The Rundown
It’s highly unlikely you’re here and you don’t know what the game is about, but I’m introducing it, anyway. From Wikipedia: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. The game's campaign follows Task Force 141, a multinational special forces unit commanded by Captain Soap MacTavish as they hunt Vladimir Makarov, leader of the Russian Ultranationalist party, and United States Army Rangers from the 1st Ranger Battalion who are defending the Washington, D.C. area from a Russian invasion. The game's main playable characters are Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, of the 141, and Private James Ramirez, of the Army Rangers, with Captain MacTavish becoming playable later in the campaign.
The game was released during a pretty pivotal time in America’s history. The nation was tightly knit with comradery, compassion, etc, and I think it sort of showed in the game… People unite, and when we do, it’s a sight to see. Men and women were enlisting, deploying, and not everyone made it home — and that can be said for any timeframe in history when war is involved, of course, but the loyalty we saw back in 2009 and so could arguably be considered absent in today’s scape.
Modern Warfare 2 combines a raw storyline, believable plot (again, sort of keep in mind the state of the world at the time, especially), and a lot of action and engaging gameplay. Since playing MW2, I have actually played some other campaigns where I got a little bored, or I felt that the story lagged, or the gameplay was just overwhelming… but MW2 gets a great score from me.
The storyline is fast-paced, and there are actually a few moving pieces of the plot, which keeps things busy. The game is technically a party of a trilogy. Speaking as an author, trilogies can be a little tricky: the second installment, especially, can be hard to execute. You don’t want to give too much away, but you also can’t have too little plot. I think this is another reason why MW2 has done so well — it’s a fantastic installment, standing on its own, but also perfectly streamlining into MW3. Pacing and executing a complex, multiple-layered storyline is no easy feat, but the creators of Modern Warfare pulled it off.
Another great thing MW2 pulled off was the cast. You play a few different characters in MW2 — but at no time do they feel like a regular NPC, so to speak. You grow with the cast, you see the story from their eyes, but it is always immersive. I especially enjoyed playing as Roach, and the comradery with Taskforce 141 is yet another thing that makes this game so special. (I mean, let’s be real. MW2 immersed you into a story where loyalty, courage, and bonds meant something. A few other CoD games rely more heavily on themes of betrayal, you can’t trust anyone, etc. But I’ll dig into this deeper later.)
Now that the semi-professional overview of the game is completed, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Be warned, this review has a lot of spoilers, but I’m also 15 years late to the game, so you probably don’t care.
Loyalty Means Something… A Trope That’s Vanished?
I mentioned before that one thing that makes MW2 so unique, or at least, one reason it resonated so deeply with thousands of players… is the theme that loyalty means something. This was a pretty important theme in a lot of media at the time — stories of people banding together, fighting against all odds, and putting honor and loyalty above all. One could argue, “Well, that’s a little fairy-tail-esque, and you should ditch the rose-colored glasses.” But many more fans would argue back, “No.”
And here’s what I mean.
Humans are made for each other. We need bonds. We need friends. We need loyalty, honor, and courage, because those things are kind of what make us… us. “Right” and “wrong” do exist, and there’s nothing fairy-tail-esque about that reality. And I think, for example, 9/11 impacted many of us, so a lot of stories during that time period wanted to push the reminder that humans can be brave and strong, no matter what is stacked against them.
That’s what we see in MW2. We see Roach find his place in Taskforce 141. We see Ghost and Soap cover for him, and we/Roach cover for them. We see the team’s loyalty to Captain Price. We see the motto “never leave a man behind” occur in the game. And, to put it shortly, when Ghost and Roach are betrayed, Soap and Price stop at nothing to obtain justice.
Why? Because loyalty. Because the right thing to do can often cost you a lot, but it’s still the right thing to do.
Now, let’s be honest. These themes aren’t really ones you find in media anymore. Books, movies, TV shows, games, they seem to fall more and more into the, “Hope and fighting for what is right is for babies! You need to be morally gray and take care of yourself!” or even, “Justice is false. Forgiveness and healing means not harming another to break the cycle of pain.” Still, that’s the exact opposite of what the Modern Warfare storyline shows… But this game is over 15 years old, and has continued to be timeless. Why?
Because we all want that gritty, hellish hope, and we want people that will risk their own lives for us, and we want to risk our lives for them, and we want our brute humanity, as broken and messy as it is, to keep us human. And to be human is to also be brave and hopeful and to try, try, try.
Modern Warfare 2 got it right. They got it brilliantly right. That no matter the odds, even when everything goes to hell, you stay human, you choose the good, and you keep fighting. It’s still popular to this day because men and women know this, deep deep down, and get tired of the mainstream media shoving nihilism, or pacifism, or fearmongering, or pick whatever poison you want, down their throats.
The Plot Twist That Got Us All
Another cause for MW2’s steadfast admiration is the plot twist that shook us all.
Most players that played this when it released will share how insane the plot twist was, and how it shook them to their core. I played this game this year (2024), and since I already knew about the spoiler, I didn’t get the same experience…
But it was still an insane experience, and that goes to show how incredible the game is.
I knew what was coming, being 15 years behind and all… And my stomach was still in knots and I still felt. Ghost and Roach had grown to be like friends — once again, this game immersed you so deeply, and watching things fall apart, while being helpless, was such an insane position to be in. It made you, the gamer, feel something I don’t think many have ever felt while playing a game.
Putting my author hat back on, I have to say, that’s a great accomplishment. Storytellers want to make their audience feel. They want to break that audience into an individual, and meet that individual where they are, and make them feel something. Some people hate things. Some people love things. But making someone feel with a form of media is no easy feat…
And even more impressive might be to take a very realistic scenario and toss it into someone’s lap and say, “This is fiction. But it’s not always fiction. Remember that.” See, fiction reflects reality. And MW2 had us in such a grip because it shows the absolute shitty reality that we live in. A reality where men and women die. A reality where men and women get left behind. A world where KIAs and POWs are “forgotten” by most. A world that even if you survive and make it home, you’re not the same person, and nobody really seems to care. Or, in the most basic sense, a world where your friends, people you trust, will betray you.
MW2 reminded us of many realities — but I think the plot twist was one scene that truly moved so many into waking up, in whatever way they could, to the realities around us. Because fiction isn’t always escapism, it isn’t always “fake.” Good stories like MW2 show you pieces of reality in a fictitious format… And in this case, MW2 reminded us to keep going, no matter what.
Loose Ends
There are a few other things I wanted to ramble about… Because I loved this game and have to yap.
The cast for this game deserves more credit. They were genuinely incredible.
The soundtrack is by Hans Zimmer, and it was another hit.
I also read the Ghost comics from around the same period. The Ghost comics are a prequel to Simon Riley’s character and origin. One interesting thing to note is that canonically, Simon lost his family — all of them, except his father, burned in a housefire. It was then Shepherd that brought Simon in and got him onto Taskforce 141. Then, in the end… it was Shepherd that burned Ghost.
The final mission. 11/10 stars. Just cinema. (And the absolute AAHHHHH factor of Nikolai arriving — )
I mentioned already how immersive the game is… I mean that also quite literally. The animation, angles, fogginess, etc, the game legit feels like you’re standing in as a character. Whereas with some games, it feels/looks like you’re playing a game, from a distance, and not right there. This is a small detail, and I am probably not explaining it correctly, but if you get it, you get it. (Even in MW2 Remastered, some of this quality had been removed, and it felt a bit more like looking inside a game vs. standing in the game, so to speak.)
Roach, Ghost, Soap, and Price are considerably the coolest group in the game, but we always forget the incredible side characters, and Nikolai was a hero in this game, too. (If you feel there are more underdogs that deserve a mention, drop them in the comments below!)
Another iconic sequence of events involve the Colt 1911 between Captain Price and Soap. That was such a cool touch throughout the campaigns. (Still emo about it.)
A Gem Of The Era
In my recent review of Call of Duty: Ghosts, I wrote the following, “This was a part of a decade where writing was heartfelt. Modern Warfare 2, launched in 2009, was, and to this day, still is, one of the most heartfelt pieces of fiction created, but I notice a theme during that time period where most things had that gritty heart, and Ghosts is no different. Stories back then could have grit and hellfire and chaos and themes that reminded you of why you fight, why you get up every day, why loving people really matters.”
And yes, that basically sums up my overall thoughts on Modern Warfare 2.
I loved it.
Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts, too! Do you think MW2 deserves the hype, 15 years later? What are your thoughts on the campaign?
Also, please consider subscribing to my Substack — I’ll be posting more CoD reviews in the future. And if you love the OG CoD, and like to read / want to try to read more, give my books a shot. The Infidel Books are like CoD meets Red Dawn, of sorts. You can find them here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L656RT5
Stay frosty,
Angela