Modern Warfare: Then and Now
Submitted by Ben on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 11:18am
The excitement is in the air for a lot of us. We've all heard things that have excited us about the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from Infinity Ward. In an effort to make heads or tails of all the information that has been spewed forth, we decided a comparison chart is in order. Below are changes and improvements, along with a couple welcome "keeps" that Infinity Ward has made to make this experience all the more enjoyable than our last time around.
Modern Warfare |
Modern Warfare 2 |
| Modern Warfare used a proprietary engine (IW Engine) which was state of the art at the time. | Modern Warfare 2 used version 4.0 of Infinity Ward's proprietary engine (IW 4.0). They say it can accommodate even larger levels, give even more graphic detail, and make rendering more efficient. |
| No host migration. If the host of a game left, all the players were kicked out and had to find a new game. | Host migration was added. If the host of the match leaves the game, a new host will be chosen and the gameplay will resume. |
| Billy Murray provided the vocal chops of Captain Price. | Billy Murray confirmed that he will be back to reprise his role as Captain Price. |
| No co-op play with friends. | Special Ops Mode was added. Though you cannot play through all the missions together, it's the thought that counts. "Special" missions are now included for you and your friends to tackle with varying rewards. These include a snowmobile race, providing air support for your friend as he conducts a ground mission, and capturing enemy compounds with kill requirements. |
Modern Warfare |
Modern Warfare 2 |
| PC owners had fun creating mods and maps with their own dedicated servers. | Though the gaming community is doing its best by way of petition, Infinity Ward decided to implement IWNET which works by way of Steam. This of course means that dedicated servers are gone, which in turn means there will be no more community made mods or maps. |
| No Hollywood A-List vocal talent. | Barry Pepper signed on to lend his voice to the game. |
| No rewards above a seven kill streak. | Includes rewards for higher kill streaks. So far it was announced that you receive an air strike by an AC-130 gunship. It is also rumored to have a tactical nuke call in for a 25 kill streak. Customized kill streaks were also added. |
| Downloadable maps were too few and far between. | Activision announced that two downloadable map packs will be released for Modern Warfare 2. |
Modern Warfare |
Modern Warfare 2 |
| Though similar in concept, no actual Capture The Flag mode for multiplayer was added. | Capture The Flag was added. |
| Only the first person view was available to players. | Infinity Ward added a new third person mode which will be available to use in certain multiplayer game types. |
| Perks were standard issue. | There is now the ability to upgrade your perks to a more advanced version. Concern has risen over the advantages being given to the hardcore players. |
| As with all of the previous games in the Call of Duty series, enemies will continually respawn and behave in the exact same manner. | Infinity Ward has improved the enemy AI which they call "dynamic AI". This has replaced the respawn system and allows enemies to act more realistically. The same paths will not be followed by enemies and will "encourage" forward progress for the player. |
It really seems that Infinity Ward has taken the time to create a sequel that will blow Modern Warfare fans away. With the exception of the removal of the dedicated servers they really seem to understand where their last effort fell short. However popular and addictive the first Modern Warfare was, hats off to them for realizing there is always room for improvement.
(4 votes)
Modern Warfare: Then and Now
Hundreds of Thousands of Underage Gamers Petition Gaming Sites Across the Web
Dying to see how these changes play out
Glad to see all these changes. Hopefully they all work for the better. Call of Duty 4 is going to be hard to top, but reading this makes me think MW2 will blow the first one away.