I’m about halfway through this game, Modern Warfare 2.

I’m not a fan so much yet.

It seems every mission is either

a) Pure “Run n’ Gun”;
b) Run n’ Gun with a stupid gimmick (e.g., “tell the tank to actually shoot people instead of sitting there stupid”); or
c) Something Neat and Different that quickly turns into A or B.

I’m on some oil rig right now. The first part of the mission was the fucking bomb: SEAL stealth infiltration, killifying dudes, rescuing hostages. Then, suddenly, it turned into “Waves of Enemies that Keep Respawning until you Move Forward to an Arbitrary Checkpoint.” How there seem to be an infinite number of Russians on board a fucking oil rig I’ll never know.

So, does it get better?

To my mind, “modern warfare” isn’t so much Running and Gunning. It’s sitting far the fuck away and killifying dudes with predator drones (which you get to do, actually – but only for like, 3 seconds). Modern warfare is about killing as few people as possible.

It’s very pretty. But the story line is. . . actually pretty fucking laughable.

Seriously, guys? Red Dawn? That’s your plot?

There was a big deal made about a “controversial” mission in the game. Well, that mission was pure option C there. In the mission, you play an undercover CIA operative who has infiltrated some Russian terrorist group. And your terror cell waltzes into an airport and murders all the civilians. That’s the mission: kill civilians. And you have to do it. (Of course, it quickly turns into a Run n’ Gun, and is promptly followed by your character getting shot in the head and killed).

I can see why people call it controversial but it was supposed to be emotional or something like that. I didn’t feel anything of the sort; it was pretty much the third mission (and only the second playing that specific character), so I didn’t give a fuck about him, and, well, you know, I’ve played a lot of Grand Theft Auto. Mowing down civilians is a hobby in that game, so doing so in CoD:MW2 evoked the same response.

Anyways. Not seeing the hype so much. Maybe it gets better. I’ll definitely finish it but I’m kind of sad I blew the dosh on this.