Quick Look: Modern Warfare 2

Maybe you're heard about this game, especially if you're one of the 4.7 million Americans who have bought this piece of digital testosterone on the first day of sale. They could seriously melt down the disc, bottle it, sell it as a energy drink, and nobody would be the wiser.

So is it the Video Game Masterpiece of 2009? Not quite. The single player is functionally good, but the story sucks. The ending is a huge cop-out, the controversial scene where you kill civilians is rather pointless, and the action lacks any ebb and flow.

And oh god, don't get me started on the fucking plot holes. Is this really the best you can do Infinity Ward? If Tom Clancy and Michael Bay both overdosed on LSD and had a bastardized child, it would be Modern Warfare 2's plot. Unlike the first game's story, which was compelling and exciting, it feels as if the writers were trying too hard to make something awesome happen all the time. The end result is a steaming pile of shit that is only saved by the game's superb gameplay sections.

There, rant over. Moving on, the changes that they added for multiplayer add a surprisingly pleasant amount of depth, and the co-op Spec-Ops levels a blast to play with a friend. Just for these reasons alone, it's well worth the hype. I can easily envision spending way too much time playing online, which the same can't be said for Halo 3: ODST.

There's a reason why this is the one of the two video games that I bought this year (the other being Forza 3). There's a lot of value behind the dirt-splattered box art, and if you can stand being stabbed repeatedly in your mind, the single player is somewhat fun.