[redalbatross]

I really did like CoD4 (the first MW) quite a bit. I will argue for that game's narrative worth at length.

Same here; CoD 4 was one of my favorite FPS games, and considering that I'm not terribly fond of the genre in general, that's saying a lot. But they just had to turn everything up to 11 in MW2. It's like Michael Bay took over the production or something. "Realism? Nah, just make more explosions, that'll distract 'em."

[Snail]

So true. MW2 was such Michael Bay game. Which is a real pity because the first one had a great storyline.

[IceFire]

I enjoyed the Michael Bayness of MW2. I admit I haven't played MW1 so I assumed that was how the first one was as well. I felt like I was playing in a big action movie like The Rock for example. Everything was definitely turned up to 11 and that seemed to be how it was supposed to be. It's also very cynical and kind of depressing at the same time... but I thought it was compelling for that sort of dark cinematic flair. I take it the first MW was a bit more realistic and less over the top?

Having come into Call of Duty very late on I can say that I really enjoyed MW2's single player and multiplayer but with Black Ops only the multiplayer aspect was compelling along with maybe the last 1/3rd of the single player. Prior to that I was more of a Rainbow Six: Raven Shield sort of FPS player. Battlefield 2 served me pretty well too. I like the spec ops tactical missions the best.

[mxlm]

All I remember from 4 is infinite enemy respawns. Ugh.

[IceFire]

All I remember from 4 is infinite enemy respawns. Ugh.

Black Ops suffers from this as well. It's obvious and lazy... I didn't see it in Modern Warfare 2. Thankfully. I'm a tactical player who spends his time pushing forward and clearing out a place. If the enemy just respawns it gets silly for me.

[redalbatross]

I enjoyed the Michael Bayness of MW2. I admit I haven't played MW1 so I assumed that was how the first one was as well. I felt like I was playing in a big action movie like The Rock for example. Everything was definitely turned up to 11 and that seemed to be how it was supposed to be. It's also very cynical and kind of depressing at the same time... but I thought it was compelling for that sort of dark cinematic flair. I take it the first MW was a bit more realistic and less over the top?

Having come into Call of Duty very late on I can say that I really enjoyed MW2's single player and multiplayer but with Black Ops only the multiplayer aspect was compelling along with maybe the last 1/3rd of the single player. Prior to that I was more of a Rainbow Six: Raven Shield sort of FPS player. Battlefield 2 served me pretty well too. I like the spec ops tactical missions the best.

For a bit of clarification, I really didn't hate MW2. Turning up the mayhem and just blowing everything up isn't always bad (speaking of Michael Bay, Armageddon anyone? I love that movie). But I liked the plausible story of CoD4. The realistic setting and seriousness of everything just meshed well.

[redsniper]

Yeah, CoD4 was kind of dark and ****ed up in all the right ways. MW2 was just... tacky.

[SpardaSon21]

I still have my MW1 disk and serial code.  You guys are seriously making me want to re-install it.

[redalbatross]

Yeah, CoD4 was kind of dark and ****ed up in all the right ways. MW2 was just... tacky.

The short "shock" missions are the best example, I think.

CoD4: Right after you save a downed chopper pilot and you're feeling awesome about your accomplishments, you get c**kslapped as a crazy terrorist detonates a nuke and you crawl around slowly dying of radiation poisoning.

MW2: Hey look, another nuke goes off...except now you're an astronaut...except you're not, because any rudimentary knowledge about how nukes work in space completely ruins it as you realize that the way things happen is complete crap. I can just imagine the dialogue:

Moronic Dev 1: Wait a minute...how do we top the mission in CoD4 after the nuke goes off?
Moronic Dev 2: Hmm...I KNOW! Put it in space.
Dev1: Space? But that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the game.
Dev2: Dude, who cares. Space is like bacon, it makes everything better!
Dev1: ...fine.

[Snail]

Yeah, and what's more the killing of the ISS crew was done by a supposedly good character in some totally retarded hair-brained scheme to save the United States, by nuking it. (!?!)


I actually suspect there was some massive rewriting and re-hashing of the storyline going on behind the scenes that led to MW2's trainwreck.

[Dilmah G]

I just felt that COD4's storyline was actually 'Modern Warfare', it was proper Spec Ops stuff. Beyond there I think Modern morphed into Quasi-futuristic and as a result everything else began to shatter.

[IceFire]

I guess the interesting thing to watch for now is ... will MW3 be a worthy successor to either of it's predecessors or will the drama and developer turnover that occurred at Infinity Ward damage this installment of Call of Duty. Not sure. Battlefield 3 is looking like a strong contender... I may get the one for PS3 and the other for my PC (Battlefield is just such a perfect example of how big a FPS can be on PC).

[MR_T3D]

Gah, that plot looks like it's just excuse after excuse to add random scenery changes.

Would anyone else prefer it if this installment focused on the conventional war between the U.S. and Russia?  That could be pretty *****in, done right.

battlefield 3

Pretty sure BF3 is doing NATO vs. China

MAYBE some Russia, but the fault line trailer's opponents are wearing gear very (deliberately, I bet) similar to current PLA.

[IceFire]

Battlefield 2 was USMC versus PLA (China) versus MEC (fictional middle eastern coalition army). Maybe they will go for something similar with Battlefield 3? The trailer is kind of ambiguous about who they are fighting there. It may just be a setup anyways for something more intense.

[General Battuta]

First trailer's up.

It was pretty much the definition of 

[Nuclear1]

Eh, if I'm going to be fighting Russians in New York, I'll play Freedom Fighters.

[StarSlayer]

Wait why is the SSGN on the surface?



Plus BF3's bass is much more ballsier.

[Snail]

Expansion pack to MW2. Looks like utter crap.


(London does look a lot like London though)

[PsychoLandlord]

Yes, let us park our whole damn fleet in the harbor of the city our enemy is invading, well within surface weapon range, what could possibly go wrong?

That just looks bad. The one part of this game I was even remotely interested in was the Abrams-related portion, and now I'm even burned out on that.

[Dilmah G]

It scores rather high for me on the coolness scale, I think I'm just about done caring about the story in COD games. Just give me some explosions and cool stuff to do, and I won't give a **** if it's fighting the Chinese in New Zealand with thermonuclear weapons powered by monkeys on bicycles.