:: Modern Warfare 2 ::

Recently, I *acquired* the popular game Modern Warfare 2. It's the 5^th game in the Call of Duty series. Like its predecessor, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 has a, well, modern setting, making it different from the previous 3 Call of Duty games, which are set in World War 2. Modern Warfare 2 tells the story of a war in the near future between the USA and an extremist Russian state, through the eyes of four people who are a part of that war and are all on the American side.

At the start, a Marine, Private Joseph Allen, captures a city in Afghanistan and attracts the attention of General Shepherd, who recruits Allen into Task Force 141, an elite special operations unit. Then, Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson and Captain "Soap" MacTavish raid an airbase in Kazakhstan to retrieve an ACS Module from a crashed satellite. Then, Allen is sent as an undercover agent into the organisation of a man known only as "Makarov", a killer. They attack a Russian airport, slaughtering civilians and police, then Makarov kills Allen, saying that he had known his true identity all along. When the Russian police find Allen's body, they naturally assume America had been responsible for the attack and war breaks out.

Russia unleashes a massive surprise attack on America, causing widespread chaos. Amidst the action, a Ranger, Private James Ramirez, fights his way to Washington D.C., where American forces fight desperately to defend the country's capital. While this goes on, the remaining members of Task Force 141 heads to Brazil to try and prove that Makarov was responsible for the massacre at the airport. They rescue a veteran of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Captain Price, and help him launch a nuclear missile from a submarine at Washington D.C.. The missile cripples all the electronic equipment in the area, allowing Ramirez and other American forces to fight back the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Task Force 141 continues to chase down Makarov. "Roach" and another operative, "Ghost" find vital intelligence but are betrayed by General Shepherd, who takes the credit of the discovery. Angered, MacTavish and Price hunt down and kill Shepherd, but MacTavish is gravely wounded in the process.

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Enough of the plot, now onto what I think of this game. I feel that Modern Warfare 2 is an accurate representation of warfare, as far as a game involving keyboards and mice can go. Unlike many other games, the player in Modern Warfare 2 is encouraged to be accurate and use a weapon's sights whenever possible, instead of firing from the hip, which "sprays bullets all over the place" and "makes you look like an *ss", as an instructor says. The aim in the missions range from evading enemies in an area to acquire some items, to simply killing them. "Rushing" is not recommended, as the player will be killed very quickly if he just runs into a place and fires randomly. Skill is highly important. Also, Modern Warfare 2 involves the completion of specific tasks, unlike some other games which just require people to kill everyone else.

Games like Modern Warfare 2 can be beneficial, as they can improve reflexes (to a certain degree) and help a person's ability to think on his feet, so to speak. In addition, they can make a person more careful, as they often have to check every alley and corner in the game to prevent being ambushed. However, as with all things, moderation must be practiced. Spending too much time on a game can cause regress in one's studies and may lead to addiction. Thus, Modern Warfare 2 is a good game, which can improve your speed in many things. While it may be good for us in a way, we must be careful not to waste too much time on it, as too much of something can still, regardless of how good it is, be bad for us.