The expert matching of mood to mechanics, as well as the rudimentary crafting system, brings to mind The Last of Us Part 2. In the storytelling department, Infinity Ward appears to be missing some of the Naughty Dog DNA from which it once benefited.Įven an attempt at scrappy survival horror, dubbed Alone, is largely successful – forcing you to push through a grueling period in which your protagonist is hobbled and unarmed, until you can play cat and mouse with armored soldiers using improvised mines and molotovs deployed in empty restaurants and clothes shops. Unlike Modern Warfare II’s first hours, it’s eminently repeatable. You can deescalate the situation by vacating the floor you were spotted on and concealing your weapon, for instance – or embrace escalation by raiding a cartel lieutenant’s hidden armory, replacing your loadout of beer bottles and knives with M16s and chest plates. A narco mansion makes for rewarding freeform stealth, thanks to the oblique angles offered by balconies and garage roofs the guards half-glimpsed through the slats of bedroom cupboards or peek holes of internal doors.Īs with Black Ops: Cold War’s KGB infiltration, there’s a touch of Hitman here, but the influence now runs deeper than stolen uniforms and poisonings – as you slip between safe and hostile areas, enemies cotton onto your masked deception with varying degrees of awareness. Then there’s El Sin Nombre, named for the anonymous head of the Las Almas cartel. You hop from car to truck to APC as you please, hurling the drivers onto the tarmac as you take their seats and engage with Warzone 2’s vehicle handling. Look out for Violence and Timing, a winningly daft convoy chase that begins with you dangling upside down from a flaming helicopter with the road as your roof, and only gets less sensible from there. That changes in Spain, and Infinity Ward keeps up the momentum for a good few hours thereafter. Though well choreographed, there’s little truly novel or knotty to hold onto, and so these postcards from Al Mazrah, Amsterdam, Mexico, and the southern US border slip through your fingers, quickly leaving the memory. These missions are also repeats of past glories – namely the signature level of 2019’s Modern Warfare, Clean House, with its close-quarters combat in domestic settings, and of course Death From Above, the grayscale pummelling of tiny targets from an airship hanging high in the sky. You’re told precisely what to do and where to stand to see the next fancy takedown animation or exquisitely rendered Dutch church. Whether to forefront its cinematic storytelling or for fear of overwhelming newcomers, Infinity Ward practically directs the camera for you during the campaign’s first half.
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