Why I Hate MW2

TLDR: MW2 isn’t fun if you’re a noob.

I have not had a chance to play any online games (stupid satellite connection) until I arrived at college around a month ago. I noticed my roommate had a copy of MW2 and so I played through most of the campaign, then (in between Halo 3 marathons) set my sights on online play, and played enough games to reach level 8 or so.

At first, I liked the level-up system, which (a) uncovers the layers of complexity behind the game’s class/perk/weapon system gradually, so as not to overwhelm new players and (b) gives people an incentive to keep playing.

However, I also noticed the complete lack of any skill-based matchmaking system. I’m a level 8 or so, and I felt a little overwhelmed by the people I was being ranked up with. These people all had the best weapons, the best attachments, the best everything. These people had levels in the 40s and 50s and higher (the cap is 70), with nary a noob in sight. Or so I thought.

Then I found out what “prestiging” was. Prestiging, for those of you who don’t know, means that once you reach level 70, you have the option to dump all your unlocked items and start back at level 1, with your rank icon changing to represent the fact that you’ve prestiged. You can prestige up to ten times.

I can count on one hand the number of people I was playing with that hadn’t prestiged at least once. I was being matched up against people who had played the game ten to a hundred times more than me. And I was getting my a** handed to me. I believe that my KDR is 0.3, if that. I do not believe that I have ever finished in the positives. Laughable by the standards of the game’s community, where anyone with a KDR below 1 is shunned.

Which brings me to my next point: KDR is the only thing that matters in this game. There is no teamwork. There is no scrambling for the best weapons or vehicles like in Halo. It’s just kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. There are TDM (MW2-speak for Team Slayer) games that I’ve played where I can’t even tell you who won. And it doesn’t help that on the off chance you find someone with a mic, they’re some 12-year-old kid talking about something completely unrelated to the game. I may as well have been playing Lone Wolves. Even in objective games, it’s just kill, kill, kill. Nobody cares about silly things like flags or nodes; they’re just off trying to get the best KDR.

And it’s nigh impossible for me to keep up because this game is NOT noob-friendly. At least in Halo everyone has a chance; people actually work together and actually, you know, go for the flag, pile in the Warthog, try flanking tactics, etc. in team games, and in solo games, you actually have to know the map, pick up weapons, etc. In MW2, your weapons are entirely determined by how long (and well) you’ve been playing. There’s no element of strategy, no weapons to pick up. Every weapon (or at least every weapon anyone uses) is exactly the same, except the more experienced players’ weapons are better. And on the off chance you can last five kills without being jumped by someone who knows the maps like the back of their hand, you get a killstreak reward, which means more kills. And everything and everyone looks the same – at least in Halo you can find the enemy before they kill you.

I get killed. A lot. Since there’s no matchmaking system, I regularly get matched up with people who have played the game for almost a year, not counting the time they spent playing MW1, which is essentially the exact same game. I could get Black Ops when it comes out, in the hopes that maybe it’ll be a fresh start, but it’ll still be essentially the same game. And unlike Halo, where at least everyone starts on a level playing field and there are tactics other than “camp like crazy and shoot everything that moves”, in MW2 the deck is stacked towards the more experienced player. Not just because they most likely have more skill, but because it actually gives them better guns, one of only two things that matter in that game (the other being pinpoint-accurate reflexes.)

Some people might flame me because the crux of my argument is that I suck at MW2. They’re right. They’re exactly right. I suck at MW2 and am whining about it. But I’m whining about it because I suck so much, the game’s not fun. It’s not fun to die time after time and never even get a single kill. At least in Halo you can actually get a level playing field (just choose “Skill” in your Reach matchmaking settings) and everyone can get kills, and plus, there are fun parts other than trying for a high KDR. I’m not saying that multiplayer should be entirely non-skill-based (that would be just stupid) but what I’m saying is that, when you make multiplayer too stacked against the noob, it ceases to be fun.

EDIT: If you look at my Halo Reach Service Record you’ll see that I am by no means the best Halo player. But at least Reach is still fun if you suck. MW2 isn’t.