Infinity Ward's redemption arc: Why Modern Warfare 2 reboot is too big to fail

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most anticipated games of 2022. The hype is through the roof and players cannot wait for the game’s launch. After the massive success of 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot, Infinity Ward has set the bar too high this time around.

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 inching closer to launch, the developers have been actively dropping intel about the new game. Expectations from the upcoming release are high, and living up to it will be a major challenge for the developers.

Based on the intel received thus far, the game looks promising. The title appears to be bigger in scope than its prequel, and with fan-favorite characters such as Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley and John ‘Soap’ MacTavish returning to the series, the community cannot wait to get their hands on the game.

Note: This article is subjective and delivers the author's opinions.

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What makes Modern Warfare 2 so important?

Infinity Ward before Modern Warfare (2019)

Infinity Ward delivered what was one of the best trilogies in the history of games. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the game that brought the series to modern times from the World War 2 era, was a huge success. Later came Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), which was one of the best games in the entire series.

The campaign had characters that fans got attached to, and the multiplayer was insanely fun and addictive. Even today, Modern Warfare 2 (2009) is highly praised and is considered to be the face of the franchise. Modern Warfare 3 followed this and became the highest grossing game of the year in 2011.

Call of Duty: Ghosts was the next title in the series and Infinity Ward had big shoes to fill. Despite all the hype the game received prior to its launch, the release left the fans disappointed.

Fans were unhappy with the direction their favorite franchise took. Infinity Ward was accused of reusing assets from older titles in the series. The game had many bugs, ran poorly on PC, and the multiplayer map design choice was heavily criticized. The community was disappointed, and Infinity Ward was under a lot of pressure to deliver in their next game, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Infinite Warfare came out in 2016 and was the final nail in the coffin for Infinity Ward. One of the most beloved studios, which delivered the biggest gaming trilogy ever, failed to deliver what fans wanted.

The gameplay reveal trailer was one of the most disliked gameplay trailers on YouTube. The game’s multiplayer was hated by the players, and the movement was not 'Boots on the Ground' like fans have been asking for quite a while now. Additionally, the gameplay was buggy and net-code issues plagued the game.

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Infinity Ward and Modern Warfare (2019)

The Call of Duty series was on a downhill ever since Call of Duty: Ghosts. After facing a lot of backlash from the community, Infinity Ward decided to reboot the Modern Warfare series. This was it for the studio, a final chance at redemption.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot was launched in 2019 and took the community by storm. Veteran fans and players who were new to the franchise instantly fell in love with the new game.

The game played out exactly as the fans wanted. Critics’ and players’ responses were overwhelmingly positive. The series gained back its traction. Plenty of new players joined in and the older fans returned. With an amazing campaign followed by a realistic multiplayer delivering a pure Call of Duty experience, the studio regained the trust and love of the players.

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Modern Warfare 2 (2022)

As Activision is all geared up to launch Modern Warfare 2 this October, the developers are going big this time around with Modern Warfare 2. The prequel was a huge success and brought life back to the franchise. Activision knows the sheer importance this upcoming title will have and hence major Call of Duty studios - Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games - have been brought in to work on the game.

The game has been generating a lot of hype after the leading studio, Infinity Ward, claimed the upcoming title to be the “most advanced Call of Duty in history”. This seems to be evident based on the intel we have been receiving.

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New changes in Modern Warfare 2

This year around will witness a truly new cinematic Call of Duty experience. The developers are ensuring that they are not making any compromises on visuals.

The game’s new physically based material system allows for state-of-the-art photogrammetry, a new hybrid tile-based streaming system, a new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, and 4K HDR, as well as a new GPU geometry pipeline ensuring that the game looks and feels realistic.

The focus is on immersion and several enhancements have been made with regards to audio as well. All this to deliver an experience that Call of Duty has never seen before.

Player movements and weapons will also be receiving a massive overhaul. A recent intel drop by Call of Duty on Twitter suggests combat in Modern Warfare 2 while hanging on ziplines.

Based on information previously received from Zied Rieke, the game also features upside-down movements, where having an understanding of weapons and their physics will play a crucial part in the fights.

Apart from that, advanced AI has been introduced to the game. We will be seeing these mostly in the Campaign and Spec ops mode, where enemies and friendlies alike act tactically using combat and cover maneuvering techniques

When it comes to multiplayer, in addition to all the changes mentioned above, the game would be receiving a new game mode called ‘DMZ’. The featured mode is going to be an extraction type of game mode, similar to Escape from Tarkov and Battlefield's Hazard Zone.

With all these changes and additions coming to Modern Warfare 2, Activision is taking no chances with the game.

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The previous Modern Warfare 2 (2009) was what made Call of Duty mainstream. Fans not only love the game but are attached to it. Modern Warfare 2 was a part of our childhood where we spent countless hours in the multiplayer noob tubing enemies from the spawn and dropping those iconic nukes.

As Modern Warfare 2 (2009) is the face of the franchise, the developers cannot afford to disappoint the community with a reboot by serving players a mediocre experience. The community loves Modern Warfare 2 (2009), and this isn’t just another Call of Duty game, it is a tribute to those good times spent within the game.

The standards set by the original game are too high, and living up to it will be a major task for the developers. Modern Warfare 2 launches on October 28, 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.