While many titles following the attacks of 9/11 have leaned into the terrorists vs the free world trope, few titles have ventured to the depth that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) reached in the mission “No Russian” players assume control of an undercover American agent posing as a Russian terrorist and massacre civilians at an airport.
While Infinity War allows players to bypass this mission entirely, forbidden fruit is often the most desirable, and almost everyone had to try the disturbing mission at least once.
While I have no issue with terrorists being portrayed as bad guys and have a pretty high tolerance for fictional violence, there is something profoundly wrong about allowing people to gun down civilians, especially when you take into consideration there had already been dozens of high-profile shootings in American schools by the time it was released 2009, a number which has continued to increase ever since with almost 300 shooters in the 2010s alone.
According to current and former staff, the “No Russian” incident caused a lot of drama within Infinity Ward, with many staff feeling it was tasteless and needlessly controversial, a sentiment shared by most in the wider gaming community and seemingly ignored by the leadership at Infinity ward who would go on to reference the mission in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and include it in the 2020 remaster, despite calls to tone it down, or remove it entirely from many in the gaming community, who felt it was an embarrassing “relic of another time” that did not reflect the value of most gamers in 2020.
Image credit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - Published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward.
Controversy aside, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) is one of the few titles to receive both a remaster, and a remake, something which has proved confusing to players with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign remastered and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) both being sold at the time and utilising the same engine and separate narratives, with the 2020 remaster staying true to the plot of the original and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) continuing the new timeline first introduced in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019).
Image credit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - Published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) may not be much to look at compared to modern games, but considering its age and the limitations of 2009 hardware, it is a very nice-looking game.
If not for the lack of modern quality-of-life mechanics, such as the ability to slide, and controller support on PC, there is very little mechanical difference between it and a game released in 2023, at least as far as the campaign is concerned, where 120 fps and lightning fast reaction times are not necessary and cutting edge visuals are not required to fully enjoy the engrossing narrative, filled to the brim with engaging characters and well designed set pieces.
Image credit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - Published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) is not entirely dead on any of its three platforms; however, I would certainly not recommend purchasing it for multiplayer alone in 2023.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) maintains small but dedicated communities on all platforms, with thousands of players logging in each day on console and around 1500 daily players on Steam, which results in peaks of around 500 players each day.
Assuming other platforms enjoy similar activity levels, we are looking at daily peaks of 3-5k players on the PS3 and Xbox 360, which is pretty impressive considering its age.
Image credit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - Published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) does not support cross-platform multiplayer.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) supports:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) does not have an in-game store.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) is rated PEGI 18 and contains the following:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) is a fantastic game and well worth playing for the campaign alone, however with the visually and mechanically more impressive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered selling for close to the same price, I strongly recommend buying that instead.
