Now that the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 beta is officially over, we can take a bit more of a deeper dive into if Modern Warfare 2 is really all that different compared to its 2019 predecessor, Modern Warfare. After spending several hours daily working through Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer beta, there are certainly many differences that I noticed especially when it comes to gameplay and movement.
Modern Warfare 2’s beta has finally finished after running over two weekends. It was first released for PlayStation players, but PC players like myself had to wait until the second weekend to get to try out the title.
There are many online who have obviously compared the two games, and I’m going to breakdown each thing that I noticed that was a major change and difference, as well as what’s better or worse.
Visuals, Graphics, and More
So, let’s start with some of the more prevalent visual things, like texture quality. First of all, Modern Warfare 2 seems to look a bit more vibrant in terms of its color. Modern Warfare certainly had a much darker look to it, and a bit of a grayer color palette, alongside more washed visuals.
Some people have noted that Modern Warfare looks a bit better in the visuals department compared to Modern Warfare 2. Seeing as they’re really built off of the same engine in a sense, it most likely has to do with colors and filters being placed on the two.
Many have noted that Modern Warfare 2 looks a bit more cartoonish than Modern Warfare, which felt a bit more gritty and based in realism. I’m not sure if this is based off of the fact that MW2 takes place in Mexico for many of its maps or what the main reason behind that decision is, but it is what it is.
Modern Warfare 2 also has a bit of a different UI and menu, which is clear to see as well. Now, there’s no telling if the UI in the beta is the final UI or not, but for now, we can tell that they are different. The UI in Modern Warfare 2019 is a bit easier to work with and it does look much better.
Graphically though, MW2 does have an edge over Modern Warfare. It seems like the graphics are more vibrant and high quality,
Weapons
Now, let’s take a bit of a look at some weapons. The weapons in Modern Warfare 2 are different from what we see in Modern Warfare. Some of the weapons also have different names. For instance, the MP5 in Modern Warfare is now the Lachmann Sub. I’m not entirely sure why the names were changed, but this is likely due to a licensing issue.
Weapons animations are more sophisticated and robust in MW2. They’re a bit more creative with their different inspects and reloads. They feel like a more upgraded version of what we got back in 2019, which was already impressive as-is.
Additionally, weapons do look fantastic in both games, but MW2 does have an advantage here in that the weapons do look a bit more refined and nicer.
Gameplay/Gunplay
Now, let’s take a bit of a deeper look into the more gameplay elements.
Movement is probably the biggest noticeable change in Modern Warfare 2 when compared to Modern Warfare. In Modern Warfare, it seems like the gameplay was a bit more fast-paced. The operators did feel a bit less clunky, so-to-speak. Sliding was also very different in Modern Warfare.
In MW2, sliding definitely got hit by the biggest changes. Firstly, slide-canceling is now nonexistent in MW2. So, for some players this might be a big deal. For me, I wasn’t the biggest slide canceler at the beginning of my experience with Modern Warfare 2019. Close to the end, I started using it a bit just because I would get bored so I’d throw it in out of boredom, I’m just being honest, but I didn’t really feel like it was necessary to play MW2.
I did use sliding a bit in MW2 just because it was a good way to get around some corners here and there, but for the most part, it wasn’t necessary to enjoy the game in my eyes.
Additionally, if we really take a bit of a deeper look at it, slide canceling should have technically never been a thing due to the fact that it’s basically just a glitch that people figured out how to exploit. Either way, sliding definitely got a bit of a nerf with MW2.
Adding onto that, you can’t shoot while sliding, which I think was a bit hard for me to get accustomed to at first. And that’s also part of one of the biggest observations I made with MW2.
Is Gameplay Slower in MW2?
It seems like gameplay-wise, MW2 does have a bit more of a preference to slower-paced gameplay. Being aggressive and rushing forward is a bit of a death sentence, because it’s easy to get shot at and it’s hard to push like that. Plus, the time to kill does seem pretty fast in MW2, which means that it’s hard to run away from getting shot and that makes it a bit more preferential to play slowly.
I still managed to find a way to use my more aggressive playstyle with MW2, but it wasn’t without its challenges and frustrations at first.
Shooting in MW2 does feel satisfying and I would say that it felt just a bit better than Modern Warfare did. But both games are still really good in this aspect.
How Different Are Maps?
Maps are definitely different this time around. Modern Warfare seemed to move away from the traditional 3-lane system we knew in older Call of Duty titles. MW2’s maps in my eyes were both better and worse than MW’s maps.
I guess my biggest critique would be the amount of open space in some of the maps in MW2. That makes it a bit hard when there are several camping vantage points around the empty space. It’s easy to just get shot at by a camper hiding in a building nearby. I didn’t really encounter too many campers in my games, but yeah, you definitely saw them.
The Modern Warfare maps back in 2019 were simply too large. That’s the biggest issue. You could be running around for the majority of the game and not really find enemies, or get annihilated by campers hiding out in the various number of buildings. The maps are great for battle royales if you expanded them, but they were a bit of a nightmare to deal with in multiplayer. That’s why a lot of people just stuck to shoothouse and shipment, because it was easier to grind camos and they were less stuffed with buildings. However, shipment was a slaughter fest.
Extra Differences
Spawns in MW2 were improved I’d say over its predecessor. They’re not fantastic, but I feel like spawns haven’t exactly been fantastic for a few years now, so with what we’ve got in the past, it’s not the worst I’ve seen.
Lobby disbanding was still present, but there were matches where I did end up with the same players.
Skill based matchmaking is still a thing, and some people have complained that it’s very intense in this title. My personal experience is that it wasn’t better or worse than the previous Call of Duty titles we have seen that included SBMM.
It’s about on-par with the other titles thus far. I won’t really comment on this point too much, because at this point, SBMM is probably just not going to go away from Call of Duty, so it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
MW2 definitely has an interesting variety when it comes to game modes, which is great. Seeing that third person mode was pretty unique. If you didn’t know or you didn’t play MW2 back in 2009, third person was a game mode back then as well, so seeing it return is definitely a cool nod to the original game.
I personally had loads of fun with prisoner rescue. I thought that that was a unique twist on search and destroy and definitely was the mode that elicited a lot of fun in the chat. Definitely a lot of that classic MW2 toxicity I’m sure everybody has seen or experienced by now, but it was pretty wild at times.
Now, one of the best modes had to be Invasion and a lot of people have really likened it to something like Battlefield, which is pretty funny because I saw a lot of people online compare the two games and joke about how Call of Duty made a better Battlefield than Battlefield did, especially with the recent installment of Battlefield 2042.
Is Modern Warfare 2 Better/Worse Than Modern Warfare 2019?
Overall, I personally think it’s a bit too soon to say if Modern Warfare 2019 is better or worse than Modern Warfare 2 or if they’re about the same. As of right now, I think both games have lots of value to offer and provide, however I think that after 3 years of Modern Warfare 3, which I know a good amount of people skipped Cold War and Vanguard. So, Modern Warfare 2 should provide a fresh perspective for Call of Duty.
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Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
