Modern Warfare 2 Beta Review: Red Dots Scrapped But Gameplay is Second to None

Have you tried Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta yet? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

On the PS5 home screen, Modern Warfare 2’s beta declares, ‘This is the dawn of a new Call of Duty era.’ Is it really? Perhaps we’re about to see Call of Duty’s return to dominance, thanks to Warzone 2 being included with the primary game in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019. We might get a feel for whether this is the case from playing the demo.

The Infinity Ward team is hoping that Call of Duty: Ghosts will jump ahead like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 did three years ago. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a reboot three years ago, brings improved and bigger versions of the blockbuster FPS franchise. The franchise’s fluid movement system returns with new functions, as does the ability to mount your weapon to improve accuracy and control recoil. Many people skipped Call of Duty: Vanguard due to its poor reception, but we’re glad the feature is back.

Call of Duty’s return is equally as exciting to us as FIFA’s, and we’re delighted to see the series returning to form. While we’ve only been able to test a handful of maps and game modes during the beta, we haven’t had much cause to complain. The fanbase consistently criticizes and complains about alterations during betas, and we haven’t seen anything to complain about here.

It is crucial to remember that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta will not magically convert non-fans into fans, and this is still a Call of Duty game with fast-paced action that rewards those who charge in all guns blazing. From the outside looking in, purchasing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for $70 seems like another blizzard of new maps, guns, and mechanics. However, it will take some time to evaluate the alterations to the multiplayer formula correctly.

On every Call of Duty game before Modern Warfare 2, you would be spotted as a red dot on the mini-map whenever you fired your weapon without a silencer. We believe this is one of the most typical functions of the experience. It’s not even really a feature; it’s an expectation. It’s surprising that Modern Warfare 2 does away with it.

At this moment, what’s the point of silencer attachments? Your shots still sound loud to nearby enemies, so you will never be able to peek at the mini-map in Team Deathmatch to locate the action, or be alerted if someone is near. Will this change affect online matches positively or negatively? It’s hard to tell at this point. We’re still staring at the mini-map in the top-right corner for any trace of an enemy, which means we’re playing less defensively if it’s no longer necessary to look there as much.

It’s still early to say how this alteration will play out in the long run, and more testing is required to see how this alteration affects the game in general. Although you no longer need an attachment slot to equip a silencer, you will still be able to personalize your loadouts to a greater degree; the strangeness of not seeing any red dots on the mini-map will persist. We may have a definitive answer on the alteration in a few months.

The perk system will be more difficult to tweak, as you won’t have all those advantages at the beginning of the match. Instead, they’ll unlock gradually, and your final ‘ultimate perk’ will appear in the latter phases of an online match. Why? Infinity Ward can only speculate. Although all players should theoretically receive their last perk simultaneously, it does not seem like a bad shift. Many people think that this change was made mainly to show off a feature that actually impacts the gameplay flow. Just like eliminating the red dots on the mini-map, this change’s advantages are debatable. The jury is out on whether this makes the title better, but we can at least name a few things we like.

In Invasion, both teams are joined by AI to battle in a 20 v 20 faceoff. This mode is particularly frantic because while they aren’t as dangerous as a real-world opponent, they can take over regions and gang up on allies. This mode is a lot of fun, especially if you’re used to Battle Royale matches. You don’t have to worry much about dying in this mode, as it always respawns. Domination, Search and Destroy, and Hardpoint are also popular during friendly get-togethers.

While it’s difficult to tell how effective many of the updates in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are at this point, we’re hoping one gets thrown out immediately: the menus you must navigate before starting a match. From the main menu to customize loadouts, everything looks like Netflix. It’s a pain to navigate through all of the tiles. You must scroll through all of them to find the mode you want to play, and only a few of them take up the entire screen at a time, so you may have to button through for quite a while.

This method might be effective if you’re using a mouse and keyboard. On a controller, the tiles make getting from the menu to the gameplay take longer. They might also be quite perplexing: it took us about four tries before our custom loadout saved because it was not clear what the game expected us to do once we had locked in our choices. Since Infinity Ward is still in development, we’ll have to accept their menu system as is. That’s in addition to the disbanded lobbies and clunky party system, which we hate. Everything is terrible.

While we’re big fans of this game as a whole, this Hands On post might have come across as a little negative. It wasn’t our intention, but because what makes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 so excellent is already so familiar, we must focus on what is different. Shooting is once again accomplished nicely. The movement is quick, light, and responsive. The maps seem better this time, with some great shootouts and various flank routes to discover. The audio is excellent, and firing your weapon sounds terrific.

With a few weeks to go before Warzone 2 releases, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is looking to recapture the heights of Activision’s FPS heavyweight. Building on what made Call of Duty: Modern Warfare so excellent three years ago, the sequel is ready to seize us. We can’t wait to play it on October 28, 2022, and we wish it wouldn’t take us so long to get to the action.

Have you participated in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta testing? Please tell us everything about your experience in the comments section below.