After Infinity Ward’s sublime Call of Duty: Modern Warfare astounded all with its representation of up-to-date combat, expectations have continuously soared for the always inevitable sequel. With predictions of multi-millions day one sales (which incidentally proved to be perfectly correct) a raised RRP, and a mass of gamers desperate to get their grubby mitts on the final game, these talented developers have had a lot to ponder.

The single player campaign unsurprisingly fails to deviate too far from the path trodden by its elder sibling. The campaign lasts a mere 6-8 hours; the breakneck speed that the majority of this time flashes past, due to the hectic action on screen, leaves it feeling much less than half that.

Once again you flit between two intertwined stories, one involving US Army privates fighting in their own backyard, with the other starring the group of British favourites you’ll remember from the last Modern Warfare. In terms of an overall story it’s certainly affecting and brutal. But it does force you to take a few liberties with what’s actually possible in the real world.

It plays from the same first person perspective as before, and retains the obsession with cover from the last game. The pace is almost universally set to absolutely frantic, and even on the Normal difficulty settings you’ll regularly find yourself in an area where you suddenly seem completely surrounded, the screen a horrible red blur (with what appears to be strawberry jam smeared on screen in an awful design decision) as you take hits, and achieving an untimely death in order to give it another try. If you tired of the previous game's addiction with urging you to learn enemy routines a few times before passing through with life intact, then you’ll suffer the same fate here.

Though things may not sound as stellar as we’d expected, they’re no better or worse than the original Modern Warfare. With the rose tinted specs removed, even the last game packed a certainly solid single player campaign with some stunning set pieces (which are multiplied tenfold in Modern Warfare 2) but didn’t offer enough to let that offering sell a game all on its own. That was left to the multiplayer component.

Safe to say that Modern Warfare 2 is an absolute joy online, at least on the Xbox 360. The PC version is, by all accounts, obliterated by the lack of dedicated server support, and the PS3 iteration is already approaching its third patch. But for Xbox 360 owners, we’ve had an absolute riot.

Not much has changed but instead multiplied to offer more depth, more customisation, and a whole new level of fun. A large number of your favourite perks from the last game remain, to be added to be a whole new fresh batch looking to spice up the battlefield. Kill Streaks remain with included new flavours, but new Death Streaks, allowing the frequently killed a chance to immediately bite back, really do add a lot to proceedings for both newcomers and rubbish gamers alike.

The 16 new maps are unsurprisingly a mixed bag, with early favourites already obvious with those who’ve already settled in for the long play. All, however, seem to pack much more in than the counterparts. Even for us, who have spent a quite unhealthy amount of time with the multiplayer component already, we still keep finding new nooks and crannies to hide, exploit, and be killed from.

One major new addition is the Spec Ops missions. Played in either single player or two player cooperative, well over 20 short missions are offered up to play through. These are all wildly different, ranging from holding a tower against waves of enemies, through to slowly and methodically sniping your way through great snowy landscapes, and award you stars after completion. This isn’t a last minute gimmick, as it could certainly keep a whole lot of people away from multiplayer for quite a while as they attempt to bag every last star.

As for the mission that’s been so heavily publicised in the mainstream press, we’ve little to add to the debate that hasn’t already been said. Playing through that particular 5 minutes did become a touch difficult, and it’s certainly not something you’ll come back to once you’ve had a go yourself. But the sheer fury levelled towards the game itself and its developers has been on such a ridiculous level, that you’d believe that violent games/films/music/books hadn’t ever existed before. More violent things have appeared in the past, and they will in the future.

Verdict:

While the multiplayer component does deserve a full score (on the Xbox 360 at the moment, anyway) the single player campaign is a step below that level.

It’s a rip-roaring ride while it lasts, but it’s a touch too short, too hectic, and overly reliant on forcing you to learn enemy routines in order to bag the best piece of cover right away. But the multiplayer is by far the best in the business, and it’ll keep you hooked until well into next year.

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Tags: Gaming Action Xbox 360 Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Xbox 360 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:24:09 +0000

Tony Hawk: RIDE is looking to break new ground when it launches next month, thanks to a newly developed controller. We were lucky enough to get our hands and feet on the new game at a recent preview event, and here is what we thought.

Let's start with the controller, after all, that's the novel aspect. Designed to look and feel like a skateboard, the controller is wireless, giving you complete freedom of movement, and packed out with sensors so it knows what you are doing.

The first concern about any controller you stand on would be build quality: it is going to support a fully grown man wobbling around on it? Most certainly yes: it didn't complain or creak underfoot when we started playing, although it has a max load of 21 stone, which hopefully won't be a problem for most.

It isn't just the size and shape of the controller that resembles a skateboard, it has also been finished with grip tape, so it feels like a skateboard too. The bottom has been sculpted to give you the motions you'd expect, with a central ridge allowing left and right tilting of the board like you'd get out of the trucks on a skateboard. You also get raised ends, so moving onto the nose or tail is possible, with the tail playing a fairly large part in proceedings here.

Down the left-hand side of the controller you find your conventional Xbox controller buttons (although stretched out in a line) with the most significant being the large Start button which will reside under the heel of your right foot (if regular) and can easily be kicked with your toes when you want to start a game.

In our session we didn't use the other controls at all, so at this point it isn't clear exactly what they'll be used for, however, some might want them to navigate menus without having to use the regular controller, or the menu motion controls.

That's right, you can navigate the menus using the skateboard too, moving it left and right to move up and down menus, and an "ollie" to select (stepping back onto the tail to raise the board up). It can be a little fiddly at first, but you can easily hop off and do it with one foot, rather than whilst standing on it.

We played through a couple of levels which saw us riding down an LA storm sewer and another through a trick park. There are various game modes available (not all were available for us to play), with the time trial, challenges, free ride and so on. There are also various difficulty settings which makes it much easier to pick-up and play. Some game modes are very much on-rails, with your movements making very little difference to the route you take. In these modes you have to concentrate on tricks and timing.

We found the first few times we played through a level it felt a little unnatural, but you soon get a feel for it and can begin to explore the range of possibilities on offer. Balance stops being an issue pretty quickly, but your physical involvement in the game can see you moving around a fair but - we started off in front of the screen, but over the course of a level drifted off as we moved across the floor.

The controller is equipped with two accelerometers which can detect pitch, roll and yaw, so it knows how you are moving the deck around. This is accompanied by IR sensors on both sides and the top of the nose and the tail.

These IR sensors detect movements around the controller and will detect when you swipe your foot past to push off or gain speed once moving. It will also detect your hands when you move them into range, which is how it knows you want to perform various grabs. Obviously, you can't just stick your arm out, you have to crouch and get your hand into the right place. It feels a little weird, but saves you having to actually grab the deck.

Performing tricks does take some practise and longer than we in our play. One thing is clear though, and that's that you have to be positive in your actions. You will look a little stupid, but once you see the results on-screen no one will be mocking you any more.

Ollies and grinds are easy, especially on the casual skater mode, with a simple lift of the nose of the controller popping you into an ollie. There were plenty of edges to grind around the course we were riding too, so even as a novice you can dive right into some basic tricks. Kick flips are pretty simple too to mix up some of the jumps and dismounts along the way.

There is a fair amount of branding in the game which some like and some dislike, but many of the main controls take place in a T-Mobile Sidekick frame, a decision that might be regretted considering the recent data loss.

Verdict:

It is a real blast and hugely addictive. If you like existing skate games with a handheld controller then Tony Hawk: RIDE takes things to a new level. Yes, you do have to get off the sofa. Yes, there is more to the game than carefully timed button presses. But it makes it completely different to games in the past.

But being different doesn't always mean better. Of course there is a premium to pay for this controller, and at ?99 it is double or nearly three times what you might pay for a rival title. It might also price some gamers out, especially when the future of the controller is an unknown. Will there be future titles for the controller? Will it branch into snowboarding too? We have asked Activision these questions and will update if we find anything out.

Is it like skateboarding? No, it isn't. You don't actually have to perform the tricks you start pulling off on-screen, but no doubt there will be some who will try to. The learning curve seemed to be just about right to, with the free ride offering the chance to just skate around and try stuff out. We liked the game during our preview session, but we'll reserve final judgement until we've lived with it for a while.

PHOTOS: Tony Hawk: RIDE skateboard controller

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Tony Hawk Tony Hawk Ride Activision Sports Fitness

Tony Hawk: RIDE - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0100