NIDZUMI+

I have always been the kind of person who likes to beat a game at least once before I even consider getting the players guide for that game. Which was the case with Modern Warfare 2, I had already beaten the game by the time that I was able to get my hands on the guide.

I’m a background information kind of guy, I love seeing that little extra touch in a guide that gives me some information on a character but I know that this is not why people buy guides. People usually buy guides if they absolutely cannot stand missing even one hidden object throughout the game or if a certain part of the game is ridiculously difficult to the point where that person needs assistance.

The campaign walkthrough is a true godsend for encounter-by-encounter analysis

The Modern Warfare 2 guide is in one word expansive. While I wasn’t able to get my hands on any background information of the various characters, I did find enough knowledge in the guide to easily be able to recommend it. Whether you’re new to the Modern Warfare series or not this guide is an absolute must have! Series rookies will find the guide’s campaign walkthrough to be a true godsend since you are supplied with a map for the level at the start of every mission and a encounter-by-encounter guide to every firefight in the game (they are numbered). I am a long time fan of the Call of Duty series and I enjoy the challenge that the game can provide on the highest difficulty. During hectic firefights the guide can quickly become an afterthought in your head since you are trying to stay alive and on veteran that is a very tricky thing to do. However even on veteran the guide does shell out some tips for the more fiendish encounters in the form of “Veteran Tips”. These are few and far between but they do show up at the hardest parts of the game.

I did have one serious issue with the Campaign walkthrough though, if you are a achievement junkie like I am you will want to collect every single piece of “enemy Intel” in the game. Collecting them all nets you a decent amount of gamer score/trophies depending on what system you are playing on. For the most part the guide is semi-helpful about letting you know where they all are, the game says that most of the Intels are “in plain sight”, this is not the case! Quite a few of the Intel are hidden and if you aren’t actively looking for them it becomes very easy to pass them up. The guide is helpful in telling you how many Intel items are on each map and at the very beginning of every single mission the guide gives you a map. However not all of the Intel locations are on every map. It will either be a square in the area that the intel item is on or it just wont be on the map at all. I have a serious problem with this as if I’m spending 20 bucks I would like to know where all the hidden things are and maybe even a screen shot as a sidebar would have been more than welcome. Yes the Intels are sizeable laptops but the game is filled with so many bullets that unless you know where to look it’s very easy to miss them.

In addition the player’s guide does have a section devoted to Spec-Ops, the co-op game type in Modern Warfare 2 which has its moments of “I want to break this disc!”. Luckily the guide supports the player with helpful walkthroughs that can easily push you through the majority of the game. However I noticed that some of the guide’s strategies don’t always pull through. For instance, in one of the final Spec-Ops missions the game tasks you with killing ten Juggernauts using only a knife and explosives. For those of you that don’t know what a Juggernaut is let me elaborate. On Veteran: picture a explosive resistant demon spewed forth from the gates of hell carrying a light machine gun and its only purpose in life is to: TAKE. YOU. DOWN! The game gives you a RPG and a grenade launchers called a thumper and says ‘have fun!’ Now if you have been paying attention the Juggernauts are wearing bomb suits that make them highly resistant to explosives. The guide says to run around the map in a big circle and kick out thumper grenades as the single minded Juggernauts chase you…Please insert buzzer sound here… following this strategy on the Veteran difficulty will result in you gaining a hail of machine gun fire right into your backside. Most of the strategies for Spec-Ops are terrific though.

After the Spec-Ops section the Modern Warfare 2 guide has a few pages devoted to clans. This struck me as odd since I have never seen a guide give you a guideline to starting and operating a clan but it was an interesting read for me and those who play competitively will find a great deal of tips regarding clans.

The clans section is where multiplayer aficionados will come to adore this guide

Following the clans section is where multiplayer aficionados will come to adore this guide. The multiplayer section is absolutely PACKED with information on how to start out (for rookies) and how to step up your game (for the people who prestige a billion times in COD 4). The multi player section is jam packed with detailed descriptions for every map along with strategies for every major game type (I.e. Team Deathmatch, Free For All, Search and Destroy and Headquarters) along with custom class load outs for those of you who want to just absolutely decimate during the game.

In addition to that, the guide also has a section devoted to giving extreme detail on the various game modes and even a chart with all of the perks, guns and challenges. Finally at the very back of the guide is a list of every achievement (Xbox 360) and trophy (PS3) that is in the game.

Overall this guide is a must have for the serious Modern Warfare 2 fan and to be honest I always have it close by when I jump onto the multiplayer for a bit of Hardcore Team Deathmatch!