Single Player Mode
The single player mode is really short for this game. When I mean short, expect to finish it on normal difficulty within 6 hours or less. In single player mode you follow the story of two characters that fight in the Middle East front and also on the Russian front. If you need further information on how the story was inspired just read up on the Cold War and that should put you up to speed.

The campaign is enjoyable, but again it is too short and its also a good way of learning the good cover points you will have to use in multiplayer mode. If you just want some easy achievements, play through single player a few times, because there are no online achievements. All achievements for this game can be gotten offline by playing through the single player mode a few times through.

Online/ Multiplayer mode
The heart of this game is the online mode. Single player was merely training for causing destruction worldwide. What makes the online mode so addictive was the leveling up system. Every time you rack up a certain amount of kills with a certain weapon you can upgrade it by adding silencers, ACOG scopes, grips, and even red dots. You can also gain different perks and when used properly, you can help the weapons you use lessen its weak areas. It takes a while, but if you configure perks and weapons to your combat style you will be racking up kills in no time.

There are generally 55 levels you can climb up to then you are given the option of prestige mode so you can start from square one all over again and work your way up. The only joy you get in this mode is that you get a newer icon to your name so other online gamers can see how hard you’ve worked in the game. Some people don’t like the idea of working your way up and starting from square one, but I do. There is also the ability to get your guns to have a pure gold finish but that requires you to finish all of the weapons challenges in the weapon class. That isn’t my cup of tea, I would rather roll over ten times in prestige mode (the maximum amount of times you can do prestige) and do the weapons challenges from there. However, some people prefer just playing the game and raising their statistics in kill to deaths and total wins so all of their online friends can be in envy. If you feel inadequate in something you can brag about it with how much you’ve progressed online.

In the online mode there are many different modes in where you can have a team deathmatch, capture the flag style play, one on one mode, controlling territories, etc. If you want a fast paced shooter you can do that in quite a bit of the modes. If you want something slower and a bit more realistic you can also get that feel in search and destroy or hardcore mode.Don’t expect this game to be as arcade like as Halo 3 and don’t expect the game to be as realistic as a Tom Clancey shooter either. This game falls somewhere in between.

The cheating/glitching
One complaint I have with this game is people can cheat in the game by using known exploits such as getting on roofs normal players don’t have access to and racking up kills. I have also seen people use knives to launch an infinite amount of grenades. Then I have also seen people get out of the map and hide in areas and kill people. When people get out of the map they can kill people without ever getting shot back at. Infinity ward does need to make something like a replay system so they can ban players who ruin the game for everyone else. I don’t know how they will fix it, but they need to. More than likely nothing will be fixed until Infinity ward is given the opportunity to make Call of Duty 6. Call of Duty 5 is already contracted by another developer that I don’t like. I don’t like that developer because of their shoddy job with Call of Duty 3.

Lag/ Network load
One big complaint I have about the game is that the online games are hosted by random Xbox live users and not a central server. Therefore if you are on the host’s side you will usually get the best connection. If you are on the opposing side you will get the short end of the stick. It gets so frustrating that you can shoot someone in the back, have them turn around, and then kill you. Please make a central server to kill the lag. I would like to go to a central server to choose my games rather than the automatic matchmaker. The automatic matchmaker option is a pain because once you exit the game that is full of latency, it will put you right back on there. The trick is to wait 5-10minutes then try again. It gets annoying after a while, but at the same time I fiend for causing destruction in the online world.

Sound and Visuals
In the sound effects department, this game will get your adrenaline going. Sounds of shotguns, machine guns, sniper rifles, ricochets, explosions, and handguns will all get you deeply involved in the game.

The way the stages and characters look is also good. If you do not experience lag while playing online one of the best things to do is shoot at a long distance and hit the hidden snipers. Nothing feels better than wondering if that little dot is a figment of your imagination or if it’s a sniper creeping up on your team. What gives it that good feeling is knowing that you just did kill the sniper hiding in the bushes. I like how there is nothing too fancy graphic wise, but good enough to play and really get into the game.

In conclusion
This game is fun because it is not a World War 2 shooter and they give modern combat a balanced feel of arcade shooter while having a more realistic feeling when shooting the guns. With the online mode, I have been spending over a 150hours replaying multiplayer to try to get my golden cross.

With the custom character system and a good connection, you have a fair chance of winning against the competition no matter what their rank is. The trick to winning is to understand your playing style and what weapons you are highly skilled in. Once you do that you can rack up more kills.

Aside from the cheating and connection problems, this game is very impressive. This is the type of shooting game where you can easily walk into a game and easily walk out of a game. The multiplayer maps are large enough to take cover in many regions and use the cover to confuse your opponent. While I am playing this game waiting for the next Gears of War 2, I will be stuck trying to earn that infamous golden cross.