E3 2009: Modern Warfare 2 impressions

by: John - posted: 6/4/2009 1:27:00 AM

After many teasers and the trailer that debuted during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, I finally got an up close and personal look at Modern Warfare 2.

You take part in the character from Modern Warfare 1, Soap MacTavish’s unit in the demo that was shown. The demo in Activision’s behind closed doors showing was longer than what was shown at Microsoft’s Press Conference. The demo starts off where you are on the side of a snowy mountain and follow your squad mate up the side of an icy wall.

Some of the neat things I saw right off the bat were many small details that made the scene more realistic. Bits of snow clung onto the eyebrows and mustache of your squad mate. I saw snow blowing horizontally with different size flakes. On the ground, there were drifts of snow blowing in the wind that looked pretty realistic.

Character animation seemed pretty impressive as well. One sequence showed your squad mate tackle an enemy against a wall of lockers before he takes him down and takes a knife to him. The entire sequence looked smooth and very realistic. Another example is seeing your buddy run up to a barrier and slide into it. All the enemies looked really well done in the animation department and definitely looked realistic.

The scripted sequences made famous in the previous Infinity Ward games were on display as well. These events sometimes add some great tension to the scene such as when you slip trying to climb up an icy mountain wall and catching yourself near the edge right before you fall. These scripted events are what make Infinity Ward games a lot of fun to play in single player mode and from what I saw at the demo it won’t disappoint.

I asked what improvements were done to the engine for Modern Warfare 2 after the demo completed. One of the major additions is the ability to stream high res textures as you go through the environment. The streaming technology allows for better detail on things. Also all the weapons that make their return from Modern Warfare have been reskinned to take advantage of the higher textures. Other items added to the engine have also been added such as HDR and more accurate dynamic lighting. While it’s not a brand new engine, the improvements make Modern Warfare 2 a very visually appealing game.

As with Modern Warfare, you’ll go through the single player campaign in the eyes of various characters. The game is a true sequel to Modern Warfare and takes place after the events of the first game. From what I saw, I don’t think Infinity Ward will disappoint. They teased the awesomeness of the multiplayer features but we’ll have to wait a little while longer before we get the details. I was excited about Modern Warfare 2 before the demonstration and I’m more excited now that I’ve seen it. 11-10-09 can’t get here soon enough.