Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Multiplayer Review in Progress – Beta Weekend 2
I like big maps and I cannot lie. During the second round of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer open beta this past weekend, I was blessed with the option to play on my PC, with a mouse and keyboard, and my K/D ratio couldn’t have been happier. The maps and modes from the PlayStation-exclusive beta returned, and I was even able to get into the Valderas Museum map in 6v6 mode and had a grand old time. But in addition to those, this time we got to try out the larger 32v32 maps and modes – specifically, Invasion and the return of Ground War. Those quickly became my favorite way to play and have me feeling more optimistic about Modern Warfare 2 ahead of its October 28 release date.
Battlefield-style modes with gigantic maps with dozens of players aren’t new to Call of Duty, but they didn’t make the cut for last year’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. I’ve played Ground War in the past, and while I’ve always appreciated the madcap ridiculousness of it all, it never really grabbed me. This year feels different already: it’s all I wanted to play. At a glance, it’s the same as in the past, with two teams vying to take control of objectives, and is really just Call of Duty’s version of Battlefield’s Domination. And it works. In the beta there are three maps for use in Ground War (and Invasion): Sa’id, Santa Seña, and Sariff Bay – and they are all fantastic. I’d say Santa Seña is my least favorite just because the terrain didn’t excite me – I prefer the rooftop shenanigans of Sariff Bay or the long corridors of Sa’id – but it’s still great. I just found it slightly less great than the other two.
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In past versions of Ground War I was put off because it always felt too disparate and chaotic – and the chaos wasn’t the good kind, either. It felt to me like the maps were designed one chunk at a time and then assembled without too much thought to the flow as a whole. Capturing objectives always felt like an afterthought as a result, and matches played out more like a big team deathmatch. But this year, because the layouts of the maps are so tight and smart, it’s just as much fun to defend an objective as it is to run around racking up kills.
By contrast, Invasion basically is 32v32 team deathmatch, with the addition of AI-controlled bots. Every so often, a new wave of bots will drop into the map and run into battle with a warcry that I absolutely loved. It always made me laugh, in some weird and evil kind of way, to hear the mindless bots fired up as they ran toward what was almost certain death. I was able to get a five-count killstreak because the opposing team’s bots decided to climb a ladder, one after another, presenting me with juicy sniping targets I couldn’t resist terminating. I’m not praising it for poor AI, mind you, but that was a silly memorable moment that, stupid or not, was fun for at least the first time it happened. We’ll have to see if bots remain entertaining to kill after a few more matches.
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Again, it’s the excellent maps that make what’s basically a very simple “kill everyone as much as possible” mode into a super-fun time. I loved jumping from rooftop to rooftop in Sariff Bay, picking off snipers and dodging their shots, then smash a door open and surprise an opponent with a quick melee or close-range attack.
And did I mention the vehicles? There are helicopters, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and more, and they’re all pretty fun to control. The ground vehicles seem a little too easy to destroy, but they’re capable of doling out enough damage to make up for it. My favorite is the helicopter, not because it’s fun to fly (which it is), but because it makes for a wonderful sniping platform. With the cargo bay door open you can lay prone, stick your rifle out the back, and just rain down despair on your foes – until they blow you out of the sky, at least.
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So even more so than I was a week ago, I’m really looking forward to Call of Duty’s multiplayer this year, and am counting the days until October 28 so I can spend the holiday season playing a shooter with my friends instead of spending it with my family like a casual. The return of Ground War, the raw, chaotic fun of Invasion, and a set of maps I’ve fallen in love with at first sight have reinvigorated my interest, and even though it’s still nothing outrageous or genre-bending, it appears to have been executed very well.
Posted September 22, 2022
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