YMMV / Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Was Shepherd using Makarov to further his plans? Or was it Makarov using Shepherd to further his own? The games leave it open to the point that they were apparently trying to Out Gambit the other.
  • The remastered version of Modern Warfare 2 has a new animation during the betrayal scene. Roach grabs Shepherd's arm after being shot, only for Shepherd to pull away in disgust. Was Roach trying to grab the DSM back? Was it him being Defiant to the End? Or perhaps it was a "why are you doing this" gesture?
• Best Level Ever:
  • Cliffhanger is probably the most remembered level in the game if not the series, thanks to it being an incredibly fun and engaging stealth mission in a frozen Russian base with a ton of unique set pieces, from the climb at the beginning to the snow-mobile chase at the end.
  • The very next level, No Russian is an thematic, absolutely bloodcurdling example of a best level. Few games dared to put the player into the position to dish out outright massacre onto civvies. It's simply impossible not to feel shivers, because you know you're doing something very, very wrong. It's this exact moment Call of Duty transcended the generic military shooter roots and showed it could be art as well.
  • "The Gulag" likewise is very exciting and spectacular. You spend the mission fighting through different setpiece battles while storming the titular gulag, ranging from long-range sniping int he prison yards, an intense fight for the central prison tower, and a remake of the shower gunfight from The Rock.
• Catharsis Factor: Shepherd sending Allen to his death to start a war and murdering Roach and Ghost in cold blood was outright reprehensible and despicable. It's beyond satisfying to make the general pay by killing him.
• Common Knowledge: That Hans Zimmer composed the soundtrack for this game. In reality, he only composed one track, though admittedly it's the main theme. All other pieces of music in the game are done by Lorne Balfe.
• Complete Monster: See Makarov's entry here.
• Designated Hero: It initially looks like Price fired the nuke at Washington to wipe out the invading Russians, but instead he detonates it in the air, setting off an EMP which turns the tide for the Americans... albeit at the cost of their own electronics too. It also destroys the ISS and everybody on it. Plus all American aircraft, including at least one civilian airliner.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Sergeant Foley, for his cool-headedness in leading his squad through a war-torn Washington D.C., saving many civilians from the Russian invasion, and saving the White House from being bombed. Being voiced by Keith David is definitely a big plus.
• Game-Breaker: See the series page.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Foley's remarks about the Afghan National Army becomes this in light of what happens to them in 2021.
    • Sergeant Foley's criticism in the first level of the game of the poor marksmanship he witnessed among the Afghan troops he and Private Allen were coaching, hits harder in the wake of the eventual real life destruction of the Afghan National Army (ANA) along with it's parent government the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, at the hands of the Taliban in 2021. In real life the ANA was infamous for having corrupt leaders and poorly trained soldiers (who were also neglected to the point of not being fed properly).
    • In real life there were multiple occasions when American and other allied military trainers put Afghan troops through training courses modeled after the training they received in their own militaries. but with problems as serious as the "ghost soldiers" phenomenon, with was a type of embezzlement involving public officials collecting wages from the payrolls of fictional soldiers which artificially inflated the ANA's official membership statistics, as well as the recruiting of soldiers who had such poor preexisting education to the point that many were illiterate, ultimately this meant that the training courses they received failed to solve the institutional problems that made the ANA such a incompetent organization at its root causes.
    • Another major issue that made the training of Afghan troops futile was that there was poor recording keeping of Afghan soldiers' skill progression, which lead to a revolving cycle where Afghan soldiers after finishing one extremely basic course with one set of western trainers, would end up repeating the exact same training with another set of western trainers who weren't aware of the Afghan soldiers preexisting skills, resulting in them typically never progressing to more advanced skills.
  • In the Virginian missions, a Russian paratrooper is shown looting a refrigerator for food in a bombed-out mansion. During the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022, Russian soldiers were shown looting stores and homes for food.
  • The infamous No Russian scene, which depicts terrorists massacring Russian civilians, became more disturbing in 2024 following a mass shooting and bombing in a Moscow shopping center.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Thanks to the Russo-Ukrainian War, there is now a real-life commander of an elite black ops team known only as Ghost, who always wears a black-and-white skull balaclava and specializes in battling invading Russians. Practically the only difference is that he's Ukrainian instead of British.
  • On multiple maps, a video game console named the "GameStation 5" can be found. Years later, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, a game which consists of remastered versions of these maps, was released for the PlayStation 5.
• It Was His Sled:
  • No Russian caused such a media frenzy upon the game's release that it is literally impossible for any player to go into playing it without knowing exactly what is going to happen.
  • The reveal that General Shepherd is not to be trusted. Also doubles as a Late-Arrival Spoiler, as anyone who starts with the third game (which gives the twist away in the opening cutscene) and works their way back will not be surprised in the least.
• Magnificent Bastard: General Shepherd is the charismatic leader of Task Force 141, who—after losing 30,000 soldiers from a nuke detonated in the Middle East—vows to reinvigorate the U.S. military and remind the world of the cost of freedom. To this end, Shepherd gives up Private Allen's identity to Makarov, resulting in Allen's death during the airport massacre and kickstarting World War III. Receiving unlimited soldiers and resources to support his manhunt for Makarov, Shepherd uses his funding to form his own faction, Shadow Company, before betraying Task Force 141 and personally killing Ghost and Roach to tie up loose ends. When Price and Soap arrive at his base, he orders its self-destruction and leads them on a lengthy chase, skillfully using Shadow Company's full might to slow them down. After that fails, Shepherd brutally fights the two head-on, unafraid to die since he'll be remembered as a hero, while they will be branded fugitives.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "He has no rules. No boundaries. He doesn't flinch at torture, human trafficking, or genocide. He's not loyal to a flag or country or any set of ideals."^note The narration for "No Russian"'s intro, describing how deplorable Makarov is, has been repurposed to describe Jerkasses committing comparatively very minor slights or offenses.
  • Ramirez! Do Everything! ^note It's Up to You is in full effect in this game, meaning the main character ends up being tasked with things way, way, *way* past their paygrade.
• Misblamed: "No Russian" in Modern Warfare 2. The general consensus, before release, was puzzlement at an already wildly popular, M-rated game series going the Rated M for Money route, some even demanding that IW should remove it from the game. The game allows the player to choose to skip it right at the outset or during the mission, which does not count towards any Achievements/Trophies or towards the completion percentage, and no one would even think about making that demand of a book or a movie. The idea that they're doing it for the sake of the narrative barely seemed to cross anyone's mind. To quote Destructoid;
  Brad Rice argues that such a harrowing scene takes the will to fight out of him, that it makes him question if such a fight is worth the lives as stake. I can only see that as statement in favor of the game, rather than in condemnation of it. That a game could so powerfully affect Rice's state of mind, simply through watching it passively, is quite an amazing achievement if you ask me. Perhaps Infinity Ward hopes to raise and possibly answer the questions Brad throws up — is such sacrifice worth it? Should we fight such dirty battles for the greater good? How much loss of civilian life is acceptable in the name of American security?
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • The player character in the level "No Russian" of Modern Warfare 2. You can either cross it by shooting civilians^note like every beta tester who played that level, apparently or not cross it by just staying out of the terrorists' way. No matter what you do during the level, it ends with the Big Bad figuring out that you were a CIA agent and shooting you down as he gets away in an ambulance. It can be averted by skipping it whenever asked if you want to play this level or not, such as at the beginning of the game, and may be skipped during the level. The Japanese version fully averts this; shooting civilians earns players a Non-Standard Game Over.
  • Nothing compares to General Shepherd shooting Roach (who you are playing as) and Ghost, and then having his men dump kerosene on the two of you, and burning you alive. Regardless of his motivations, after that scene it's nearly impossible to have any empathy whatsoever for him. After tracking him down, he stabs you (as Soap) in the chest with your own knife and nearly kills Price in a fistfight. Thankfully, you rip the knife out of your chest and throw it right at his face, killing the bastard with an Eye Scream.
  • If Loose Ends didn't drive the point home how willing Shepherd is to sacrifice his men, in the attack on his base, he gives the order to have his base bombed, killing any of his men inside...just to get at two, count 'em, two men after him. In fairness, by then the base had been effectively cleared out anyway by the only two men aware of his treachery; with the possible exception of a particular guard, all of the Shadow Company troopers encountered indoors by Soap and Price were definitely killed; four of them had been preparing a detonation charge when their room was breached, possibly causing the process to start way earlier than planned. When it turns out that Price and Soap got out in time, Shepherd then orders an artillery strike. However, the smoke and dust clears to reveal multiple Shadow Company troopers, slumped against the terrain or crawling about in a daze, at the mercy of the unharmed Price and Soap...
    Price: Since when does Shepherd care about danger close?
• Narm: Although Lance Henriksen overall does a capable job as General Shepherd, his acting in the intro to "Contingency" sounds like he just took a bottle of sleeping pills before stepping into the recording booth. The Dull Surprise and lack of energy in his line delivery is especially jarring since Price is threatening his plans. If it was supposed to be a growl or to foreshadow he was a liar, it failed.
• Player Punch:
  • Modern Warfare 2 is even worse than its predecessor. The scene where Roach and Ghost are shot by Shepherd and set on fire (in Roach's case, while still alive) is like being kicked in the balls.
    Shepherd: Do you have the DSM?
    Ghost: We got it sir!
    Shepherd: Good. That's one less loose end. (Gunshot. Gunshot.)
  • Then there's the state of Washington D.C., which is played for irony since your squad mates were laughing and cracking jokes as the exact same thing happened to Afghanistan in "Team Player".
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: You can survive much more damage than in the first Modern Warfare game. This is balanced out somewhat by the Sequel Escalation that results in you often fighting more enemies at once, sometimes in open environments where it's very easy to get flanked from all sides. It also dispensed with the infinitely-respawning enemies, allowing players to approach the levels more conservatively. Your significantly increased health is possibly to compensate for the removal of the ability to lean around corners.
• Signature Scene: "No Russian", where the player, as an undercover CIA agent, follows a group of Russian terrorists as they commit a mass shooting at an airport, with the option to participate in the massacre yourself. The level caused a lot of controversy when the game was first released, making it by far the most memorable part of the game.
• Subbing Versus Dubbing: Japanese players found themselves in this debate, particularly in regards to a mistranslated line in "No Russian."
• That One Level:
  • The starting Rio levels are noted to be an utter pain in the ass to get through, mainly because the maps are meant as a showcase for multiplayer and are much bigger then most of the games levels. However it's one thing to play against human opponents, it's another when fighting against bots who pop up out of nowhere and fire at you from your blindspot. And just as you try to pinpoint where the attacker is, another enemy has you in their sights and shooting, leaving you to get pincered and quickly killed. Even moreso if the game decides to respawn you in a the middle of a line of fire where you'll instantly get shot before you even move.
  • The cabin level "Loose Ends", can likewise be a bit annoying for some players as well. For one it's a protecting mission where you have to keep a computer terminal safe as it downloads data, so naturally you'll want to be near it to beat back the enemies. Sure the game does give you some weapons to setup around the entrances before the fight and some places to bottleneck your opponents. But it becomes ruthless around the third wave where enemies are pouring in from every side and you can't keep track of all of them and the terminal, especially when they start using flashbangs which will likely hit you in the middle of the firefight. So expect more then a few frustrating losses and restarts.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Upon release, complaints include the shorter campaign, the Continuity Lockout, and the plot's resemblance to a Michael Bay film. Some even went so far as to complain about Sequelitis. Ironically, most of the changes that made the multiplayer unplayable were suggested by the fans themselves.
  • The 2020 remaster was criticized for only including the campaign without co-op or multiplayer, unlike the 2016 remaster for the first Modern Warfare.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Though the game is set in 2016, there are more than a few background details that clearly date it to the late 2000s. The 2020 remaster even includes a disclaimer noting that several things in the game were a product of their time:
  • The bomb strike on an enemy-controlled tower at the beginning of "Team Player" is a particularly noteworthy instance, as among all the other chatter one of the Rangers makes a reference to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the law barring openly-gay people from serving in the military that saw legislation to repeal it being enacted just a year later, and the fact that all of the Rangers recording the strike have flip phones - tellingly, the 2020 remaster had to replace those with smartphones, being the few things they've outright changed while keeping the remaster otherwise faithful.
  • There's also the complete lack of female soldiers, as women were barred from serving in any unit smaller than a brigade which was meant to actively engage enemy forces until 2013.
  • Lastly, there's the slightly more optimistic view of The War on Terror, which, while certainly unpopular by 2009, was still seen as at least having done some good. But after its end it's now more universally seen as a total failure^note particularly pronounced in how the US military announced a withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the capital fell to the Taliban before that withdrawal was even complete).

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