Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2...Has No Guts. 

What's your favorite call of duty game?...also Happy Holidays.

They keep every character alive because killing off characters means they can't bring them back as a battle pass reward.

original MW2: Shepard betrays you and kills your friends in cold blood. New MW2: Shepard betrays you over a discord call

I'm sure someone mentioned it, but alot of respect for OG Ghost. After General Shepherd shot Roach, Ghost did not hesitate to raise his weapon up to shoot Shepherd

The fact that he was right about Graves not being dead proves the entire point of the video for me.

I got the feeling when I played the campaign that there were probably a dev team for each mission, and none of them knew what the others were making, so everyone thought "people liked that tactical breach and clear mission from 2019, so let's make one of those", and then every single mission ended up the same

Gotta say you're right. In the real MW2 the best missions were the missions where you play as a regular Army Ranger defending Virginia from the Russian invasion. The story felt like it had depth because of the betrayal of Shepard but also because the protagonists can die.

9:05 EXACTLY! the best cod campaigns had you fighting as different nations so it actually felt like a world war. New cod is so lazer focused on the spec ops tier 1 operator stuff that they've forgotten about how fun it was to just be an infantryman surrounded in chaos

As much as I love ghost, I think what made him so rememberable was how he was killed despite his selfishness actions towards you and Shepherd. This game mostly felt like nostalgia-bait for the fans from 2009

"Has no guts" I remember one of the interviews for mw2019 they said that they wanted it to be morally grey but it was pretty much almost as black and white as it can get. It's something I always hated and I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought this. Edit: They should've made Shepherd be a red herring as the antagonist because everyone knows he's going to be the bad guy. Have Kate do the betrayal, least it wouldn't be expected.

World at war will always be my favorite. the most brutal one by far, with great guns and perks. before everyone became a shotgun hopper with a smiley hologram sight. and the campaign was downright brilliant. the mission briefings alone beat the campaign cinematics of most other cod games.

The neat thing about Shepherd's "blank check," is that he only got it because of Price firing a nuke at the U.S., but it was never revoked after the nuke was detonated before it could hit D.C.

I think one thing older CODs nailed was exactly the point you make in "perspective problems". You were just some guy in a uniform along with other guys fighting a war that was bigger than you, bigger than your squad. You got to be there for a big moment or two (like the fall of the Reichstag or D Day) but otherwise you weren't an action hero. Where COD4 (2007) had managed to skirt the line with the SAS missions, it nailed the "you're just some guy" part with the Marines. World at War was still classic "just some guy" answering the call of duty. By Schwarzenegger. They were still fun to play, but it wasn't the same anymore. Battlefield nailed that "just some guy feeling" in multiplayer up until about BFV and definitely it was gone by BF2042... when everyone was a f**king specialist.

Ghost walking around with his Halloween mask is the most embarrassing part of this game lol. You'd be mocked and messed with so mercilessly if you tried that. Every soldier and marine's goal would be to steal that stupid skull when you weren't looking XD

the campaign in this game felt experimental (kinda), which is good, but ultimately fucked up the story completely in such a baffling way, like if they got the story actually decent this couldve been great, also I wish they brought back the old system where you switch between being a regular soldier and being the SAS elite bad ass. It’s also super weird how the bad guys are villainized for their war crimes, but the good guy war crimes are justified, like in the first mission you execute injured enemy soldiers, but then in another mission shadow company is executing corrupt cops and suddenly ghost has a problem executing enemies. They’re also very weird with how certain illegal acts are too far, but others are okay, like it’s bad to hold Hassan and send allied rebels missiles, but it’s okay to blow up entire towns with an AC-130

One thing that really bothered me (besides the body armor enemies) in the campaign were the factions I was fighting. They just made no sense to me and felt more like a checklist of groups the US doesn't like instead of factions who would all mutually benefit from cooperation. You have Russian's giving stolen American Shadow Company missiles to Iranians, whose deaths cause Al Qatala + Hassan to smuggle the weapons into the US through Mexico via cartels? The last thing a sensible cartel would want is more scrutiny from the US, even possibly an intervention. At the same time Shadow Company goes full "Geneva Suggestions" the second the protagonists are against them for no reason because PMC bad or something? I want at least some ideological and operational consistency with my villains please IW

"Watch for squirters" is a term used when enemy combatants are running away from a strike or raid, these are usually higher ranking individuals or Poi (Persons of Interest) which usually flee the scene and leave the rank and file to deal with the attack.

Dang anyways ima play it later on with the homeys

The new campaign suffered with tone. MW1 2019 tried to go pretty dark and it worked for the most part. But then Price and Gaz, the two I associate with being the grim serious characters are fannying around for the most part in MW2. I found anytime price and Gaz were on screen it felt like another seperate campaign, jumping from Cars and dangling from helicopters like a glorified Warzone tutorial. Which is a shame because MW2s real highlight imo was the "Sicario" style story happening with the fantastic four; ghost, soap, Alejandro and Rodolfo. They honestly should've been the focus. Four guys, who have had their countries turn on them. The victims of a cover-up. And now having to amend their own mistakes by taking down Shepard Idk there was potential but it's a pretty messy clusterfuck

Just here to point out one thing: Hanz Zimmer actually only composed the main MW2 Theme and some of the other OSTs. Most of the themes (especially the ones with action) were composed by Lorne Balfe, who is kinda Zimmer sidekick. Nonetheless, they both have done a great job.

That last bit about the OST actually upsets me, because I love all of Schachner's work. I especially loved it in MW2019, so to see them mistreat her and her work like that, to the point where she distanced herself from the project is unbelievable.

MW2 2009 score was composed by Lorne Balfe, and the team of composers at Remote Control Productions. Hans Zimmer did only the main theme.

Honestly i feel like the biggest problem in new modern warfare's is that story from campaign is "expanded" in warzone, it feels like they are afraid to do any significant in main campaign so they can "expand" it in next season, it's exactly because of this mw1(2019) and mw2(2022) feel so disconnected, i mean for real, killing one of the biggest villains od OG MW1 in a cutscene of some God knows which season of warzone, some of u reading this probably doesn't even know who I'm talking about xd

ghost and soap what a great duo bonding together not in a sexual way just bro to bro chilling hopefully cod doesn’t screw this up in MW3 right?

I wrote a bit about the “no Russian” mission for one of my courses, and what makes that mission so incredible is that you don’t have to shoot a single civilian. You could just shoot over their heads. But the game does not reward or punish the player for committing to the bit, it just suggests that you can shoot the crowd, and the overwhelming majority of campaign players did. No Russian feels like a watershed moment for game analysis and theory, and I feel like the narrative that arose from the controversy of the mission really branded the series for both outsiders looking in and for the developers and publishers, that they needed to have a “controversial” moment in each campaign that instead of providing as a sort of litmus test that challenges the relationship between the player and game designer, instead just provides b-roll footage for a Fox News smear campaign.

my problem with mw2 2022’s campaign was that it simultaneously seemed to want to say that for good to prosper good guys need to have absolutely no oversight but then the twist gave me whiplash by making the bad guys good guys with no oversight who passed the totally subjective idea of too far also it was way too fucking short lol

World at War is my favorite COD game, the campaign is just so good and the game themes showing how war can be absolute hell and destructive for all sides. The mission briefing cut scenes blending real life footage with in game graphics makes it more grounded as well.

I'm so glad someone else had these thoughts. While playing the campaign I felt like I was being gaslighted by the entire internet because everyone kept going on about how "FUCKING BRILIANT" it was, but I found it really really boring and frustrating. Specifically everyone raved about the mission in Amsterdam, where you get to play undercover for like 2 minutes like it was the pinnacle of game design, even though if you walk anywhere but the one place you're supposed to be, your squad mates whine in your ear about "iN pOsITiOn" until you stand on your mark. A COD campaign gives the players 2 minutes of watered down Hitman gameplay, and suddenly their player base thinks it's good, just because it's something different than shooting people in a corridor, it really seems like COD fanboys have not been exposed to all that much good game design, if this is what they consider a great campaign. That, and any time you try to have an independent thought the game spits in your face. In one of the first missions where you're running towards a crashed helicopter, your entire squad pauses at the top of the hill to cinematically look at the crash site. Me, wanting to play the video game, kept running ahead, but if you don't wait for your squad to finish chatting, you just insta die. You have to just sit there and wait until you're allowed to play the video game. Like the one hundred times you can't go through a door because you have to wait for an AI to catch up to you so they can open it for you, or the many times you're going through a building desperately pushing against Ghost's ass waiting for him to allow to to do literally anything, because the AI teammates decide the pace of the game at all times. I'll play through the MW2 2009 campaign in a single sitting any day of the week, but I didn't even bother finishing the campaign of MW2 2022, I can't fathom how so many people deluded themselves into thinking it's some sort of masterpiece.

As a sidenote: I find it deeply hilarious that people now look back at MW2 (2009) with fond nostalgia, when everyone i knew back then mocked it to no end at a time when the Modern Military Shooter-Genre had just started to lose some steam. Wasn't quite gone yet, that particular watershed moment was MW3 (2011), which was mocked and parodied even harder. It was a bit the Twilight of FPS's, they were mediocre to bad games that brought people into picking up better games afterwards. Sure happened to me.

I understand your pain. My first campaign playthrough was on veteran and I was on the verge of breaking everything in my room as the AI were so bad that you had to clear 99% of an room for them to start moving, making everything rely on you without any help (even though there should be).

I was hoping the shadow company flashback in II was going to be the boots on the ground "you're a faceless grunt" mission to scratch the itch. Dun lost it

My only real issue with MWII is that in the second half of the campaign the lighting bugged so all lights were always visible and near blinding

Most modern Military FPS from AAA studios that have story’s seem to hold back because the devs are scared of starting controversy and backlash, which old games didn’t really seem to avoid a lot of the older FPS were quite violent and didn’t really hold back At least in my opinion

Shepards betrayal didn’t even need to kill anyone to carry more depth, it could’ve had the survival mission afterwards be you playing as ghost trying to find soap before he bleeds out with a timer to determine whether or not he bleeds out or you just get his dog tags, and if you get there in time, then he will be out until the last mission and if you don’t get there in time then have a side character from the first game such as Griggs appear in his place and you play as gaz instead

I've noticed that a lot of Triple-A games have started to listen to their communites, but they are listening TOO much. They hear what the community loves, and think that they should base the entire game on that. People loved the realistic, slow missions of MW19 and thought they should go all out on MW22. They dont realise that in order to make a memorable campaign, they need to balance all of it in a way that really shows the story from multiple perspectives, and gives multiple play-styles that fit to most people.

Worst part is this game had some of the highest end technology you could get in video games. Many, many models, even characters, were photographed from all angles and turned into 3D models, even the texture and color from them. And it all goes into this game it doesn't deserve.

There is one scene in the first mission that people skip where ghost walks into a room and sees two aq fighters stumbling around hurt and in pain not trying to fight and almost looking like they are in a state of surrender and he just ices them

Actually, on the topic of music. I played the campaign with friends watchin'. They all commented on how a lot of scenes could've used some music - Best example is the car sequence 'cause I replayed with some music they chose and it felt far far more CoD-like.

I think the 2019 Modern Warfare still have a bit of guts left which is the reason it blew up. however the moment I saw they saved Rudolfo I know damn well that the game will not kill any of the protagonists so they can sell skins for them in multiplayer. I have an hour rant in discord with my friends because of this and your video capture the 2 am rant amazingly.

I can’t wait for there to be a cod where getting shot means something. Like, imagine this. You and price are dealing with the guy with the bomb vest, you shoot price in the leg because Gaz is a demolitionist he is able to stop the explosion. But price has to wear a leg brace or is put out of combat. That would be cool, but that takes effort. So, something like that is never going to happen.

Bro bro bro your edits have a way of just catching me off guard, cracking up laughing at that “why was the strawberry crying”😂😂

The only CoD campaign I've played was BO2's although I've seen a lot from the original trilogy. From what I remember BO2 was fast paced, the mission where you fly around a city piloting a jet, shooting everything down was insanely awesome. The machete segment and beating a dude to death with your hands was awesome. You're absolutely right about MWII having no guts, it's somewhat reminiscent of some Marvel capeshit. Let a dude commit some warcrimes or something man.

I feel like everyone forgot that MW2 was a rated M game and not rated E

I am super glad to see this video. People where raving about the new MW2 about it being the best CoD campaign in years and I just knew it wasnt, something was off and this video does a great job explaining why.

Now that the initial hype died down, I'm happy people are finally reaching this conclusion and sharing this feedback. I hope the story dlc pack that they will release next year they will correct on their mistakes.

This man inspired me to play the old mw campaigns, thank you doktor skipper

32:06 thats the call of duty stuff i wanna see. The drama of getting betrayed outta nowhere with a real buddy who cares, with an insane awesome music. In black ops 2, they got something similar with mason but this scene here is the ultimate feeling of modern warfare. It hurts still today, so many years after the first play through. Honorable mention Medal of Honor 2010 RIP Rabbit!

I'm looking forward to part 2! DMZ has been one of my favorite ganenodes so far so I hope you can get in depth about it

You've put my jumbled thoughts on MWII into an eloquent video format. Thank you. Masterful stuff.

Love the algorithm for putting me here bc I feel the same. Biggest gripe is story telling, I miss the dynamic of scalpel missions (141) and ground pounder missions (rangers marines etc) to give a contrast to the narrative

I’ve been saying it since the game was released. Could you imagine if they would’ve rewrote the story and made Captain Price the antagonist? Not only would that subvert expectations of Shepards betrayal but it would hit just as hard if not MORE.

Thanks for verbalizing what I felt about the MW 👁️ 👁️ campaign. My friends say they like it but don’t feel they are gonna come down from that high soon

I'm actually hope they go big with the next game so they have a healthy balance of high paced action and slower paced moments. With the introduction to makerov and possibly an actual large scale conflict, there is so many unique set pieces and missions for them to experiment with

The plot line reminds me of something that i would of made up as a kid with my GI Joe's.

High production value, good points, and funny editing? Man this guy is underrated

You just stressed every f-ing pain point I've had since this new one came out, freaking cheers dude

Alejandro’s my new favorite character, I really wish they had done more with him and the Mexican special forces. What I mean is, more missions with just Alejandro and his vaqueros

This video sums up perfectly how I feel about the new MWII vs the classic MW2. Today's revisit is a tech demo that shows off how good a game can look and has the least minimal impact it can get away with. Only good thing it has is character building between your main players but even then it is shallow and comes at the cost of the overall story. As you said: Played way too safe. This vid is absolutely worth subbing for. Defs good shit.

"you are not actually an terrorist you are an undercover CIA agent" what's the difference ?

Great video. I was honestly offended by how middling the MW2 campaign was because I wamted it to go harder than MW2019 which was my first cod game. It's amazing how both games say absolutely nothing, and I've written off any future cod games thanks to MW2 for sure.

I wouldn’t say it being soft is the biggest problem, rather it adds an absurd amount of plot armor, and convenience to the story, which removes a lot of the tension. Cool video.

Skipper I love your videos so god damn much. The commentary, the edits, the topics, I just love it so much. You're one of the few favorite RU-vidrs I'm subscribed to with a duck like creature as their profile pic. Pls make a 9 hour long video like this, I'll watch it all

And they brought back Graves because we need Battle Pass reward.

I just miss the buildup of getting close with a new character and having the risk of losing them. I miss being able to care about the characters that I'm playing alongside, like E3N. IW was my first COD, and Ethan quickly became my favorite character, losing him made me feel sad. The campaigns are stories more than just a place to introduce the mp characters, its the storyline that's made to immerse your players into the story of the game so that they keep buying it more.

Thank you for the time you put into this. Amazing video. Completely agree. Let's hope the storywriters/Devs watch this and grow some balls. Here's to next game, fingers crossed.

I really appreciate watching a mw2 video from someone who is clearly a BH fan!! Instantly subbed

This video is so awesome, great ideas, great editing and perfect timing. Really good and pretty funny

Absolute fire... Keep it up man I cant wait for part 2! Hope you had a good vacay :D

I like it when you explain everything in the two campaigns in a such detailed way

Man... idk who you are... but the editing of this video is absolutely... unbelievable. So many clips mashed into mere seconds, to bombard you with 'the point' and make jokes about it too... The music and sound FX follow suit... You picked so many tracks for so many moments, and so many of them underground (like when mentioning the sky scraper Ghosts callback, you used the Ghosts Singleplayer trailer song). Amazing, amazing work! You've got yourself a sub. Well deserved!

I'm so glad just how well you understood the reasoning behind the 2009 Modern Warfare 2's plot.

As someone who personally enjoyed the campaign mainly for its gameplay than its story, many good points were brought up here. Great video, man.

11:31 I'm so goddamn happy you decided to mention E3N/Ethan from IW, honestly one of my favorite modern campaigns

I really hope every game dev company creates a position solely dedicated to watching long form video essays on the quality of their story writing or that the vast majority of the popular RU-vidrs that specialize in those kinds of videos get jobs as writers/level designers in game companies because they seem to have a much better understanding of writing and what makes a good game then any writer who’s worked on a game in the last 5 to 7 years

MWII is the most at odds with itself out of the three. The 2019 reboot clearly wanted the franchise to pivot into being a gritty tactical shooter. Warzone YYers and slide canceling shattered that idea and MWII needed to be bigger and more bombastic. So you have campaign missions that mostly revolve around clearing buildings, the thing that players really remember about the previous game. But there are also Uncharted style setpieces that make 141 look like Avengers.

Spec Ops: The Line did everything both of these games failed to do and SO MUCH better. That is a perfect example of how you write a gritty, morally ambiguous story. Not to mention that it also had a great twist with an incredibly strong ending.

You probably won’t see this but I think you hit it on the head. I had to look at the chapters but after understanding it I know why the games feel so different. Good video and hope you make more

Not the video we deserve, but the video we needed. And the Truth at that. ALSO I did not expect this to be so amazingly entertaining. Watched a bunch more, all 100%. Beautiful, man. p.s. phrases like "cash grabs" and "passionate developers" better stick in the minds of all of you.

i don't know much about COD or MW, but i really enjoyed the video! it's funny and well made, i lioe the pacing and music choices

I feel like this new Price doesn't even come up to the little toe in terms of intimidation and respect that the old one had and that's pretty much the equivalent of almost every character in comparison.

Damn bro, this editing deserves a bonus check🔥🔥🔥💯

I love your commentary that revolves around games! The editing and passion within these videos always make me feel like Im generally there listening Hell, I enjoy the campaign despite the flaws Amazing video! Enjoy your Christmas Doktor uwu

You remind me alot of Shammy. Great video and its nice to see someone mention high way of death You got your self a loyal subscriber

literally 2:30 into this and i subbed the content is pure quality

Holy shit that tank monologue fighting Graves was BRUTAL on veteran. I must've heard his stupid speech and shit talk a few dozens times, while repeating a garbage boss fight with a terrible mechanism. Also just found your content, very entertaining. Keep it up!

I played the OG MW1 and MW2 when I was teenager and I love them. I haven't actually played in MW game since, so MWII was my first introduction to any MW game since. while MWII didn't feel like a bad game, stuff you have to say really makes sense to me. because the entirety of MWII felt like it was missing something. actually a lot of things

The music choices for this video are absolutely on point

This is completely unrelated but you got a goated music taste

Great, as always Skipper! ❤

Great video. You could also attribute the drop in quality of the campaign narrative due to the recent trends in gaming. During the 360 era, companies prioritized a good narrative with shock value because thats how you market your game. The life cycles of games were much shorter too. People basically bought COD for the campaign, with the multiplayer modes being a bonus. This eventually shifted over time. Today, the game has gone a live-service route with their main money maker being WZ which means that less priority is given to the campaign. I feel like the campaign only exists for the game to have a mascot.

3:13 had me crying my humor is broken, you got my subscription.

I've just discovered your channel love it man

Great video but it sucks to see people still giving Hans Zimmer all the credit for the soundtrack when he only did the main theme to set a style and then Lorne Balfe did the rest. My boy needs to get the respect he deserves 😤

I knew right from the get-go that MW2 2022 wouldn't be the same as MW2

It’s my second time watching this and I really want you to make a video purposing how you would write the 2022 modern warfare story

Great job , please continue creating ‘cause you are pretty good at it.

Sadly it can't capture the magic the original MW2 had. COD will never be the same again.

I’m so happy you didn’t cut out the entire no Russian segment. So many clown RU-vidrs will beat around the bush but I like how you actually dug into it. Kudos to you Chief

Good review, everything well said and I like your humor

Really well done man. You can tell you put a lot of time into this video and I’m very impressed. I’m subscribing for sure! Have a good one man!