Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered Review – A Throwback To Action

It’s been a very long time since any Call of Duty games have been any good. Especially when we are speaking on campaigns. In fact, Call of Duty ran out of any good ideas way back with the first two Black Ops games, and have since reverted to remaking their best series in the franchise. The original Modern Warfare games were classics in every sense of the term however. While the first one received a full remaster some time ago, the original Modern Warfare 2 only received a campaign remaster. Let’s fire it up and see if its even worth a damn to own a remastered title just for a campaign run!

Intro: Revisit the 2009 Icon

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was 2009‘s follow up to its original PlayStation 3 masterpiece Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007). Highly anticipated, and even more highly received, the title became an instant legend. In fact, it is still revered as one of the best in the entirety of Call of Duty’s franchise. A sequel to the original campaign sees the player take over the roles of soldiers in both the United States and United Kingdom’s respective militaries. All with a similar end goal of seeing a madman brought to justice before he brings about World War 3.

Story: Worth The Play

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is literally nothing but a story. Seeing as you can only play the campaign there’s really nothing else to do. However that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad game, just means that it’s small. Ultimately, there isn’t much to do in the game.

With that being said if you were there back in ’09 to play the sequel to one of the best COD’s ever, then you know how good the story is. Following immediately after COD 4’s story, you embark on a campaign to defend America from Russian invasion, and hunt down a mass-murderer/terrorist. You do this by taking up arms as a Private-ranked US Army Ranger, or as the rookie in Captain Mactavish’s British special unit. Neither task is easy, and as the game progresses, the possibilities of war become very real. Though, that is strictly in a virtual sense.

The story is absolutely action-packed, and loads of fun. Although it’s not very long it can suck you in for hours. The dual storyline aspect brings lots of diversity. The intensity of the game on any difficulty can be enjoyed by people of all gaming levels. Call of Duty game that gets a campaign only remaster has to be great… right? (The answer is “obviously”.)

Gameplay: Smooth As Ever

Call of Duty has mastered its control system. There is simply no argument to that. Couple the already great system with enhanced mobility and remastered gameplay, and you got yourself one heck of a game. I’ve played through this campaign remaster probably five or six times and have never experienced a single flaw.

The original Modern Warfare 2 was not without its issues, but those pretty much strictly lied within the online game mode. Eliminate that mode and you’re left with a flawless story driven game. Even if that game is not very long.

Graphics and Sound: Simply Phenomenal

Modern Warefare already featured great graphics back in the early 2000s. There’s not much more to be said. They took an already top tier presentation and made it better. The graphics and sounds found within Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered are simply phenomenal.

It’s worth noting that the generational gap between the games original and remastered versions play a huge role in how good it looks as well. Originally released in 2009 for the PS3, graphics advanced greatly from then until its remastered release in 2022 for the PlayStation 4 and 5. The game is beautiful, period.

Replay Value: Worth A Trophy Run

I won’t lie and act like this game has some super high replay value. Modern Warfare 2 was a great story, but that’s about all this version is. Without the competition of online play there’s really nothing to do once you run through the campaign.

I’ll admit, I’m not a big platinum hunter. This game made me want to try and get all the trophies though. Maybe it was because there wasn’t anything left to do, maybe it was the nostalgia. All I know is I definitely cranked the difficulty and took on the challenge. Trophy hunting is probably the only reason to replay this remastered classic.

Conclusion: Nice Little Throwback

I was totally enthralled my first time revisiting Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I had a lot of fun replaying the campaign and reliving the teenage memories of rescuing Captain Price. As far as the gameplay aspect, I would give this game a perfect 10 out of 10. With it missing the online play, the bread and butter of Call of Duty, I can’t give it a perfect score.

The fact that I have fond memories of this game and series can’t hold back the fact that you really have to pay $20 for a game that you can sit down and beat in an hour or two if you really wanted. That takes away from the score a bit for me, and although I enjoyed myself, I think this game should be more around the $10 mark. All things considered my overall score of this remastered classic falls at an solid 8. It was fun, it was mostly worth it, and I’ll definitely visit it a few more times now that I own it.