Hello all,

I’ve been away for a while and I am a rather lazy blogger it seems, I don’t blog as much as I’d like. Even my console blogs more than me :). But let’s move on.

While I feel that my opinion on games and other entertainment products might not be very important as I am not a known reviewer I might still talk from now and then about games that have left an impression on me. If nothing, I might read this years from now and remember the games I used to play :). So here goes nothing.

I usually get my game info from G4TV, I feel very partial to X-Play reviews. A while back I saw the review for a game I might have otherwise ignored – Modern Warfare 2. I played a few Call of Duty games and I was never a big fan of war games. War after all is a miserable human affliction that brings true life horror even in this enlightened day and age. Sure, I enjoy shooting Nazis and I think that was my main interest in the old Call of Duty games but I used to shy away from more realistic shooters. I completely ignored the first Modern Warfare when it came out. I don’t like Battlefield, Counter-Strike and other such games. Looking back, that game also had great reviews. I guess I don’t like games that are too rooted in reality, I like some fantasy in my games, that much is for sure. Plus I like the idea of the lone hero that saves the day which not many war games offer. But enough bashing, I’ll get to the point. I got Modern Warfare 2 for PC on a whim – I had seen the X-Play review and I was curious about the controversial scene which had to be removed for copies sold in Russia.

For the record, I will say this again: I am not a fan of war games but Modern Warfare 2 got to me. It’s like a really horrific movie that details something awful like the Holocaust (see “Schindler’s List”) and while your humanity might feel offended you can’t look away. This is what Modern Warfare 2 felt too me, especially the part that takes place in the US; it gives you some sense of what it might feel to be at war. Except that in a real war you only die once and there are no second chances. The single-player campaign offers an intense experience that might stay with you far a while that much I will say.  I will not go into the details of the story to avoid spoilers and because I am, well, too lazy anyway :P.

The graphics are indeed impressive and the game engine actually starts to wear down my system in 1920×1200 resolution but not more than Crysis did. They obviously are running a heavily optimized engine that performs great on Xbox 360 as well as all reviews indicate that Infinity Ward really pushed the envelope on what can be achieved in terms of graphics on the already old, in my opinion, Xbox 360 system. It’s nice to see such an effort on a console. I have to admit that after playing the first Gears of War on the PC, the graphics of Gears of War 2 on the Xbox 360 seemed somewhat lacking to me, but I thought this was due to system limitations after all the Xbox 360 came out way back in 2005. But, it seems developers can still get a lot of it 4 years later. I’ll say no more, I am impressed, graphics wise.

Now, the controversy that surrounded the game was caused by a mission, early in the game, It’s called “No Russian” and it’s about modern terrorism. I understand why this is seen as offensive but I am not easily offended. The games actually asks you in the beginning if you want to skip this mission – which might be a nice touch, giving you the freedom to self-censorship – a rather nonsensical concept if you ask me. Russians players are not given this option, probably because the terrorists that perpetrate the horrible deeds in the game are Russian. If you don’t mind spoilers and are not offended by gratuitous violence you can watch the scene on YouTube:

I understand why we must be sensitive to terrorism but this is fantasy, people!

So, if you are the kind of person who likes to push their sensitivity in a safe, virtual way, don’t be shy and pick up a copy of Modern Warfare 2.

Oh, yeah, the multi-player is also great.