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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review
There are those out there whose ire at Infinity Ward over Modern
Warfare 2's lack of dedicated server support blinds them to everything
else about the game. Too bad for them. Not because their gripes aren't
legitimate – after all, they can't play MW2 the way they'd prefer to – but because the game is outstanding regardless.
As expected, PC Modern Warfare 2 is nearly identical to its console
brothers. The action is brilliant, the presentation is unmatched, and the
content is extensive. There is no reason to consider this an inferior
port, nor is it better than the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions except in the
delightful precision of mouse aiming.
I hate to break it to the angry hordes, but my experience with
multiplayer via IWnet's console-like matchmaking was smooth and
lag-free. Host migration ensures that a dropped connection doesn't end
the round for everyone, and I had no trouble finding solid games for
any playlist. I never felt like latency was an issue; having a matches
be player-hosted rather than a dedicated server machine didn't cause
any noticeable problems.
Established clans are undoubtedly annoyed at not being able to run
their own servers the way they'd like, but I encountered plenty of clan
teams that had no problems owning the hell out of the matches they
jumped into. On the other hand, for a player without a regular group,
being able to jump into matchmaking and get a reasonably balanced game
going with no hassles is awfully nice.
In an ideal world, Infinity Ward would patch in some kind of dedicated
server support so that everyone can have what they want. I have a hard
time complaining about a game as outstanding as Modern Warfare 2,
though, even if its online implementation doesn't please all of its
enormous fanbase.
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