About midway through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s campaign, returning character “Soap” MacTavish is forcibly interrogated for information pertaining to the Task Force 141 operative’s mission in Mexico. Soap is repeatedly told any wrong or conflicting information could lead to his execution, so he better respond correctly, and quickly.

Questions such as “who are you working for?” and “what’s the name of the American leading the operation?” can be answered from a set of four responses, and the correct ones may seem obvious when teetering on the knife-edge of a life-or-death outcome but, rather than an interrogation, it felt like homework. Homework that we had failed to study in the midst of Modern Warfare 2’s convoluted, world-charting backstory.

The 19th instalment in the franchise, Modern Warfare 2 follows on shortly after the events of the 2019 version of Modern Warfare, which itself was a soft reboot of the series from the 2008 version of the game and its 2009 sequel, which also happens to feature some of the same characters, including Captain Price, “Soap” and “Ghost”, but with a new story that differs from the originals. Simple, right?

But even after hitting the refresh button on its modern setting, Modern Warfare 2 happily plays out a compilation of its greatest hits, without improving on them or saying anything new.

For our full thoughts, keep on scrolling.

How we tested

Our time with Modern Warfare 2 is based on our playthrough of the game’s six-to-eight-hours single-player campaign on the Xbox series X/S version of the game. As Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer offering is being deployed (pun fully intended) on launch day, it will be reviewed – and subsequently scored – separately.

‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'

Release date: 28 October 2022

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Infinity Ward

Age rating: 18+

The latest game in the series follows the covert exploits of Task Force 141 and Mexican Special Forces, working in a joint operation against the (fictional) terrorist cell Al-Qatala, which has managed to come into possession of American-made missiles and is working with the (again, fictional) drug cartel Las Almas.

Throughout the campaign’s 18-or-so missions, the joint special forces teams conduct operations across various fictional and real-life locations, such as Amsterdam, Mexico and Spain, along with fictionalised regions peppered in for good measure, such as Urzikstan and the United Republic of Adal, if only to erect straw men, onto which Modern Warfare 2 can project its ideals.

Modern Warfare 2 does its best to make each of these excursions around the globe feel distinct enough, with a handful of standout moments where the tried-and-tested Call of Duty formula is given a chance to stretch its legs. Extended stealth sequences, where player characters have to find supplies to construct makeshift mines, flash grenades and weapons, feel like a far cry from the series’s usual penchant for the bombastic, but these are few and far between.

Where Modern Warfare 2’s campaign really strains is in its attempts to recapture lightning-in-a-bottle moments. One of the standout moments from 2019’s Modern Warfare was the mission “Clean House”, which saw an SAS team conduct a raid on a London townhouse occupied by a terrorist group.

It was a slow, methodical crawl that was of particular note for its subdued approach to “realistic” engagement, and that sentiment seems to have carried over to its sequel. Similarly conducted missions in the latest game feel less like an undercover operation and more like a slow-moving shooting gallery. Doors pop open and enemies pile out but that sense of tension is hard to maintain when it happens with great abundance.

One level in particular makes a concerted effort to recreate the “All Ghillied Up” level, which is often seen as one of the most notable highlights from the original Modern Warfare. But in doing so, it fails to recapture the same energy of crawling behind enemy lines within a few feet of enemy soldiers – instead creating an overly expansive map that fails to suitably punish players for getting caught in the act.

Similarly, taking over the controls of a gunship to clear out farms, “hacking” into security cameras to guide operators through patrolling guards and calling in drone strikes from a distance all bear a familiar resemblance to previous iterations, without improving on those moments. It’s like a “greatest hits” compilation, comprised of the series’s B-side tracklist.

While the series has deeply rooted itself in the collective conscience of gaming, for better or worse, its insistence on making reference to (arguably) its most controversial moment in the franchise as a Marvel-style sting for an expected sequel may leave those old enough to remember the original Modern Warfare 2 with a bitter taste in their mouths.

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The verdict: ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’

If Vanguard was seen as a disappointing misstep by fans (and even Activision’s own expectations), Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2’s attempts to bring the franchise away from its Second World War setting will likely be met with relief. But though it still continues to offer some decent first-person shooting, its campaign offers a lacklustre experience that is ultimately hard to shake.

Plenty of Call of Duty fans may well forgo the campaign in its entirety to focus on its multiplayer and Warzone 2 content, but don’t expect the single-player to be the sole worth of this instalment.

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