The latest installment in the "CoD" series, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II," is reviewed!　Starting with the tense campaign mode over the whereabouts of the missiles, 64-player matches and 3rd-person multiplayer.

Campaign mode depicts the battle of "Task Force 141" in pursuit of ballistic missiles.

Task Force 141 assassinated General Ghorbrani, a target in the area of operations. They were able to bomb the entire deal site and prevent Russian-made weapons from falling into Iranian hands. Later, based on information that the leader of the terrorist organization, Hassan, was planning to retaliate for the general's murder, the unit went to Al-Mazra in the Middle East, where Hassan was hiding out. There, they found no Hassan himself, but instead a container containing a U.S.-made ballistic missile.

Why were American weapons leaked to a terrorist organization, how many missiles were taken, and where were they deployed? In order to find out more information about the situation, Task Force 141 traveled around the world in search of Hassan. As the operation progresses, the involvement of a Mexican drug cartel is soon discovered, and the situation becomes even more complicated. This is the synopsis of the campaign mode (solo play mode).

Task Force 141, formed in the previous game, includes familiar faces to fans of the series, such as Thorpe and Ghost.

As was the case with the previous "Modern Warfare," the realism of the graphics and textures has been further refined in this title. Every element is finely rendered, including the characters' skin and hair, buildings reflecting on the surface of the water, and sites reflecting the light of lighting. In particular, the night battle scenes are outstanding, and the soldiers whose shadows emerge from the light amplified through the night vision device and the angle of the light are very convincing. If it were not for the game-like elements such as the subtitles that appear along with the characters' lines and the icons that show the number of bullets in the guns they are carrying, it would be hard to tell that this was a live-action film.

In game terms, the film mainly depicts behind-the-scenes operations in which special forces are active. Rather than large-scale, flashy battles such as infiltrating enemy territory or clearing out indoor areas, many of the missions are quiet and tense. Nevertheless, the missions themselves are rich in variety, such as taking enemy units by surprise under cover of night, covering Task Force 141 as gunners on gunships patrolling the skies above, and taking out enemies with sniping from long range. The theme or play style of each mission is clear, so it is fresh every time I play, and I never got bored until the very end.

Personally, I was impressed by the mission to challenge long-range snipers. The mission consists of Captain Price and Gaz infiltrating enemy territory in search of the location of ballistic missiles, reducing the number of enemies around them when they reach the sniping point, and then obtaining information from the facility.

In the infiltration part, the player uses a ghillie suit to blend in with the surrounding vegetation and a weapon with a suppressor to suppress the sound of gunfire to minimize combat as they advance deeper into the area. Even though you know you won't be noticed because of the ghillie suit, the tension is considerable when enemies pass right by you. Price and Gaz are in the middle of enemy territory, so if they are discovered, they will be dead. It is not that they will die instantly if they are discovered, but the number of enemies attacking them is so large that it is almost instantaneous. Because of this risk, we felt exhausted when we reached the enemy base.

In the sniping part after arriving at the base, I worked with Captain Price to take out enemies in the distance. We used sniper rifles that we had brought with us in advance, but even nearby enemies were at least 300 meters away. Since bullets gradually fall off according to the distance they fly, you have to take their trajectory into account when aiming at the enemy. The distance to the target, which is displayed on the scope you are looking through, and the crosshairs and "notches" assigned to the crosshairs are used to figure out how far the bullet's trajectory will drop.

As far as I could tell, the notches are basically engraved every 100 meters, so if you are aiming at a distance of about 200 meters, you would use two notches, and at 300 meters, you would use three notches. You have to aim carefully because the enemy will notice you if you don't kill them with a single blow, but in most cases, Captain Price will tell you the best notch for your intended target. However, there are times when he doesn't tell you anything, and in those cases you have to adjust your sights based on the distance and the notch, assuming the ballistic trajectory of the target.

Captain Price will tell you "two and a half notches" or "three notches," and you adjust your sights accordingly to eliminate the enemy, a truly professional approach. The word "notch" is suddenly used during the mission, which surprised me at first, but once I got used to it, I felt a sense of realism. In my opinion, this mission strongly reflects the characteristics of this title, which allows players to experience a realistic battlefield.

It took about 7 hours to complete the campaign mode. There are a total of five difficulty levels, including Rookie, which is suitable for beginners, and Regular, which offers a good balance between story and combat, so if you want to play around with the game, it will be quite a lot of fun. You can choose Rookie and kick the crap out of your enemies, or you can go for Realism, the highest difficulty, to simulate the harsh real-life combat experience. Each mission also offers rewards that can be used in multiplayer, so that will be a motivating factor as well.

Multiplayer with rules that make it easy for beginners to play, including up to 64-player matches and a third-person viewpoint

Multiplayer in this title basically follows that of the "Call of Duty" series. Players can enjoy a variety of rules based on 6-on-6, including "Team Deathmatch," in which teams are divided into teams and the first team to kill a certain number of enemies wins; "Domination," in which players compete for three positions; and "Search and Destroy," in which attackers and defenders are divided and battle over targets.

In addition, this title offers "Invasion," a 20-on-20 game, and "Ground War," a 32-on-32 game. Both of these games feature large-scale battles with tanks, armored vehicles, and helicopters, and are a different experience from 6 vs. 6. Add to this the "streak," a reward based on the number of kills and scores earned, and you have a festive atmosphere. Personally, I found this invasion and ground war to be suitable for beginners.

There are various types of streaks, including "UAVs," which display enemy positions on a mini-map of allies, and "SAEs," which bombard player-designated points

With a small number of players, there is a greater sense of speed and tension, but also a greater amount of responsibility placed on one person. In search-and-destroy, where once a player is killed, he cannot be revived until the next round, he will cause his allies a great deal of trouble if he makes a careless move and dies in vain. On the other hand, in Invasion or Ground War, the pace is slower, but the pressure on each player is less because of the large number of players working together, and no one cares if only one player is killed in a battle of 40 or 64 players. The objective is to score points by taking positions, so you don't necessarily have to defeat the enemy.

For beginners, I also recommend the new "Third Person Mosh Pit" rule added to this title. Unlike the other rules, which are based on a first-person perspective, this new rule allows players to look over their shoulder at the character they are controlling.

When the viewpoint changes to over the shoulder, it becomes something different from the subjective viewpoint presented in the first-person perspective. First of all, the field of view is wider. Whereas in the main viewpoint, depending on the angle, you could not even see right beside the character, in the over-the-shoulder viewpoint, you can see right beside the character as well as diagonally behind the character. You can even see behind obstacles without having to lean forward. Because of the wide field of view, even if you move the camera, the screen itself changes only slightly, and since your character is always in the center of the screen, you are less likely to get screen-sick. For those who are not good at intense action, the third-person perspective makes it much easier to play.

In addition to the iron sights, which can be a problem during aiming, there is no muzzle flash, which shoots out from the muzzle of the gun when it is fired. This is because the viewpoint is over the shoulder, so the player's point of view is far from that of the gun he is holding. Depending on the gun used, iron sights and muzzle flash have a great deal to do with visibility while aiming. If the sights are hard to see or the muzzle flash is flashy, the player often loses sight of the opponent while aiming and is often turned back. When playing with subjective view rules, you may have to use a limited frame of reference and special attachments to improve visibility, but with the third-person mosh pit, you don't have to take these considerations into account.

MW II will also deliver new content, including the battle royale "Warzone 2.0" and the completely new "DMZ" content. As a first step to familiarize yourself with the various forms of "MWII" that will come out in the future, beginners should try Invasion and Ground War, which can be played in a large group for fun, and Third Person Moshpit, which offers an over-the-shoulder perspective.

Gunsmithing has become more extreme with the ability to adjust each part.

Gunsmithing, first implemented in MW in 2019 and carried over to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Vanguard, continues in MW II.

Gunsmithing is an element that allows players to customize the base gun to their liking by attaching various attachments. The customization itself has existed in past titles in the series, but in "MW" and later titles, the range of customization has been greatly expanded and a new name, gunsmith, has been given to it.

In this work's gunsmithing, each gun is classified as a "platform. To unlock certain guns and attachments, you must raise the level of guns in this platform in order. For example, the "M4" assault rifle, which can be used from the beginning, is the base gun of the platform derived from the M4. Leacon" are released. By raising the level of each, new weapons such as the "M16" assault rifle and the "FSS HURRICANE" submachine gun can also be used.

There are more than 50 types of sight attachments alone. You can choose one based on practicality or on looks.

Although you will have to use each weapon evenly to unlock some guns and attachments, most of them are around 20 levels at maximum, so you don't have to use them that much, which is nice. At the same time, it gives you a chance to try out different guns, which will help you discover the weapon and play style that suits you best and make you rethink the way you have been fighting.

Furthermore, weapons that have been leveled to the maximum will release "weapon adjustments. This allows you to fine-tune the performance of attachments on the gun, such as lowering one of "flinch resistance" and "aim speed" to increase the other, or changing the values of "recoil stability" and "movement speed on aim" for the barrel. The feature of this system is that you can tweak the gun in details that cannot be reached by simply changing attachments.

The heptagonal radar chart displayed in the center of the adjustment screen shows how much the adjustments affect the gun's status. When you move the value of the target you are tinkering with up or down to see if it is affected by other attachments, the growth may be slow or significant, and time passes quickly just by watching these trends and making adjustments to the performance. After adjusting attachments and their weapons, the basic trial-and-error method is to try them out on the "shooting range," which can be selected from the customization screen, and the result is a true gunsmithing experience.

This title is a true gunsmith, with a campaign mode based on the motif of modern battles, a multiplayer mode with rules for large group battles and a third-person perspective, and an evolved gunsmith that can be adjusted to such a fine degree of detail that even the most dedicated gunsmith will be satisfied. This is the latest in the world's most popular FPS series. We hope you will give this latest installment in the globally popular FPS series a try.

（We hope you will give this latest installment in the world-famous FPS series a try.)

• Title Information
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
• Genre: FPS *TPS is also available in some modes
• Compatibility: PS5/PS4/Xbox Series X|S/Xbox One/PC
• Number of players: 1 to 64
• CERO: Z (only for ages 18 and up)
• Release date: October 28, 2022
• Price: 9,680 yen (including tax) *Secret edition is 13,090 yen (including tax)
• Manufacturer: Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Official website: ##

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