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.