Are We Being Too Harsh About Modern Warfare 2's Story?

[G-Force]

Ok so I'm not here to defend the storyline of Modern Warfare 2 by calling it a masterfully told tale that is emotionally riving but I do wonder sometimes if it gets way more flack then it should.

When critiqued the plot is summarized as a "stupid" and "filled with explosions" and I place myself in this crowd. However if you were to actually look at the plotline as a whole it does strive to be more intelligent that people give it credit for. For one they look at war and show it more as a shades of gray conflict and questioning the notions of patriotism, the use of war and the necessary evil ones must do for the greater good.

Take the "No Russian" mission where Shepard's last words to roach were "Your actions will save many lives" he wasn't referring to his bust on Makarov but was alluding to his death which would set into motion the war with Russia. Shepard lost his unit in the first game and saw the weakened state the US military was in because of the public's apathy toward the army. He really believed that by creating an enemy he would finally get the public to care and enlist and in doing so the United States would be safer as now it has people willing and able to defend it. People say this twist came out of nowhere but the game foreshadowed it subtuly with his in game speeches and a quote from an NPC remarking about Shepard not knowing about danger close which showed how little he thought of his fellow soldiers. On the flip side is Captain Price who is pretty much "the good guy" yet he's willing to detonate a nuke in space which probably killed many innocent people but allowed the US to turn the battle against Russia.

Again I'm not saying that Modern Warfare 2's story is art but it does make an effort to make a few statements about war and is not a big I LOVE AMERICA! fest that people bash it for.

 

[RuralGamer]

The problem with the plot are the holes in it, particularly surrounding the Airport massacre;
1) How do the Russians know Allen is an undercover US operative?
2) How do they not identify the two other bodies as being members of a Russian terrorist cell?
3) How can they not identify Makarov from the survallence footage, whilst Taskforce 141 can tell where Makarov's ammo came from?
4) Why doesn't Price get shot for being a bloody warcriminal; he would revert the USA back to the stone age with that EMP blast, yet somehow doesn't.

 

[MrJKapowey]

The problem with the plot are the holes in it, particularly surrounding the Airport massacre;
1) How do the Russians know Allen is an undercover US operative?
2) How do they not identify the two other bodies as being members of a Russian terrorist cell?
3) How can they not identify Makarov from the survallence footage, whilst Taskforce 141 can tell where Makarov's ammo came from?
4) Why doesn't Price get shot for being a bloody warcriminal; he would revert the USA back to the stone age with that EMP blast, yet somehow doesn't.

1) Fingerprints handily not removed from the systems by Sheperd when Allen was made CIA deep cover?
2) Maybe they assume that US is funding the group and had a mamber as a senior operative during the massacre.
3) See above. Also 141 has the most sophisicated systems in the world at their disposal (presumably)
4) Only part was hit. He stopped the invasion cold for a while and also ended up on the run after literally the next assignment. He was too good to shoot then and Shep probs guessed he would be 'KIA' before the week was out.

 

[DPeteD]

Yeah the plot does have many a plot hole but to be honest people over react, its story by videogame standard are ok (nothing more) but cod is the thing the cool kids hate.

 

[Zhukov]

Uhh... that would depend on the standards by which we are judging it.

By video game standards it's somewhere around average.

By the standards of other storytelling mediums it's utter tripe.

 

[Doclector]

Never mind the fact it's full o' holes, The plot is at incredible odds with the gameplay. That's what really bothered me. The campaign was an all out ridiculous action fest, the kind of thing that would've really benefitted from a deliberately cheesy over patriotic plot. Instead it tries to be serious. In a game where you jump a chasm on a snowmobile. A game including several extremely improbable jumps away from danger.

 

[Jacco]

Again I'm not saying that Modern Warfare 2's story is art but it does make an effort to make a few statements about war and is not a big I LOVE AMERICA! fest that people bash it for.

I agree that it gets too much flak- though as you state not entirely undeserved. The story itself isn't horrible. The problem came from the execution of the story. They left too many things out to facilitate the multiplayer aspect of the game. If you compare COD4 to MW2 you'll see the same basic structure to the plot. The difference is that there seemed to be pieces missing from MW2 and not COD4. 4 was a very linear "this happened, then this happened, then this happened" type of narrative. MW2 overlapped with other sections which made it feel disjointed and in parts seemed to have things missing completely.

Between the end of the Arcadia level and the beginning of the Washington DC level, pretty much 24 hours had gone by. I read somewhere that there was supposed to be an intervening level in that told how Ramirez and his team got to Washington, but it was scrapped to save room for the MP.

I think people would find the story made much more sense and was much more compelling (more akin to COD4) if they had not half assed the campaign for the MP. I'm hoping they have a decent story for MW3 but we'll see.

 

[robomonk]

Yes, we are.

It's a "get gun press button fire gun kill enemy reload gun repeat" game. Not a literary masterpiece. It's an FPS made by the makers of FPSes. It's not an RPG. It's not relying on it's story like mass effect. you should be grateful there even is a story other than "Kill enemies to win". Because that's what it could be, and i wouldn't complain.

 

[Freddyqaqualung]

I'm less harsh on the plot than some because I'm accepting that the plot takes a back seat to the gameplay in this case. Yes, the plot was full of all sorts of holes, but the set pieces were so freaking awesome that I don't care.

 

[Jacco]

Yes, we are.

It's a "get gun press button fire gun kill enemy reload gun repeat" game. Not a literary masterpiece. It's an FPS made by the makers of FPSes. It's not an RPG. It's not relying on it's story like mass effect. you should be grateful there even is a story other than "Kill enemies to win". Because that's what it could be, and i wouldn't complain.

After making COD4 they should be ashamed of themselves for making MW2 the way they did.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

I just got done playing that new Deus Ex, and to be honest I liked Modern Warfare's story better.

 

[Avatar Roku]

The problem with the plot are the holes in it, particularly surrounding the Airport massacre;
1) How do the Russians know Allen is an undercover US operative?
2) How do they not identify the two other bodies as being members of a Russian terrorist cell?
3) How can they not identify Makarov from the survallence footage, whilst Taskforce 141 can tell where Makarov's ammo came from?
4) Why doesn't Price get shot for being a bloody warcriminal; he would revert the USA back to the stone age with that EMP blast, yet somehow doesn't.

1)Shepherd either told them directly, or let them find out on purpose.
2)It's possible for them not to die. Also, the whole thing was just an excuse to go to war. Remember those Ultranationalists from CoD4? They're in charge of Russia by this game (hence Zakhaev International Airport) and were chomping at the bit to go to war.
3)See above. They very well may have identified him, they just don't care
4)Two responses:
a)All of the remainder of 141 IS on the lam by this point, probably to be tried as war criminals
b)It could be argued it was necessary to halt the Russians' momentum

 

[vrbtny]

Modern Warfare 2 had a story? I didn't even know there was a campaign. /sarcasm

 

[Dense_Electric]

Whatever it was, it was a step up from CoD4's story. At least MW2 wasn't GRRRRRRR REAAALLLLISSSMMM AND TERRORISTS AND NUKES AND RRRAAARRGGGHHH the whole time. Sure, it had that stuff, but at least it wasn't so damn generic about everything.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I think it gets more flak that it deserves simply because it's a Call of Duty game. It's not like the plotlines of other shooters are winning awards constantly. Or make as much sense.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I think it gets more flak that it deserves simply because it's a Call of Duty game. It's not like the plotlines of other shooters are winning awards constantly. Or make as much sense.

Not only that, but the plotholes in MW2 honestly do disappear (for the most part) if you just give them a little thought, but no one seems to want to give it that kind of chance.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I think it gets more flak that it deserves simply because it's a Call of Duty game. It's not like the plotlines of other shooters are winning awards constantly. Or make as much sense.

Not only that, but the plotholes in MW2 honestly do disappear (for the most part) if you just give them a little thought, but no one seems to want to give it that kind of chance.

See, my original post was going to be a lot longer explaining that there are plenty of fan theories out there that fill in the holes nicely for me--and that the game itself gives you hints--but I didn't want to come off as a jerk. I'm glad someone else agrees with me.

 

[Zhukov]

I think it gets more flak that it deserves simply because it's a Call of Duty game. It's not like the plotlines of other shooters are winning awards constantly. Or make as much sense.

I think you are partly correct. A lot of the flak occurs because of how much attention, both positive and negative, the series gets.

However, being surrounded by crap does not make something any less crap. It just means it's conforming to a very low average. And when it comes to stories in video games, that average is phenomenally low.

 

[spartandude]

The problem with the plot are the holes in it, particularly surrounding the Airport massacre;
1) How do the Russians know Allen is an undercover US operative?
2) How do they not identify the two other bodies as being members of a Russian terrorist cell?
3) How can they not identify Makarov from the survallence footage, whilst Taskforce 141 can tell where Makarov's ammo came from?
4) Why doesn't Price get shot for being a bloody warcriminal; he would revert the USA back to the stone age with that EMP blast, yet somehow doesn't.

1) Fingerprints handily not removed from the systems by Sheperd when Allen was made CIA deep cover?
2) Maybe they assume that US is funding the group and had a mamber as a senior operative during the massacre.
3) See above. Also 141 has the most sophisicated systems in the world at their disposal (presumably)
4) Only part was hit. He stopped the invasion cold for a while and also ended up on the run after literally the next assignment. He was too good to shoot then and Shep probs guessed he would be 'KIA' before the week was out.

1.But why would russia have access to America's finger prints?
2.But the US and UK helped put down this movement in CoD 4
3.That still doesnt explain how the Russians werent able to recognise Makarov, remember the entirty of russian authority would inspect this.
4.Il agree with you on the one.

points of my own.
1. why not just kill makarov in the elevator, would certainly save alot of lives.
2. while i know American satelites were down, doesnt explain why no other country noticed a massive russian fleet moving past Scandanavia, past the UK, Greenland, Iceland and through the entire atlantic, youd think people would be on alert of that terrorist attack.
3. How does causing massive casaulties, damage and possible economic failiure for the US help shepard make a stronger US army?
4.no reason why shepard decided to kill everyone at the end.

 

[robomonk]

Yes, we are.

It's a "get gun press button fire gun kill enemy reload gun repeat" game. Not a literary masterpiece. It's an FPS made by the makers of FPSes. It's not an RPG. It's not relying on it's story like mass effect. you should be grateful there even is a story other than "Kill enemies to win". Because that's what it could be, and i wouldn't complain.

After making COD4 they should be ashamed of themselves for making MW2 the way they did.

For deciding that really, all the story was unnecessary seeing as the storyless multiplayer was the best bit?