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I'm not that impressed with the videos that I've seen of MW2. The maps don't look like they spent much time on them and completing a challenge every 5 seconds with the announcer saying 'Wicked Sick' in the pro wrestling emcee voice is a little juvenile. Oh yeah, and don't get me started on the whole "party up" thing and Bowling's quote, "hop and pop". I'm not bitter, but they should have made a PC version, or just sell XBOX versions that come with a cable so you can play your XBOX through your PC. "not a direct port" pfffffft "no change to multiplayer" pffffffffft
I finally gave in and got it, and it is an amazing looking game. And the maps are very very well done. Every path has a counter path, every line of sight has stuff to hide behind. Typical IW map making. Say what you will about the company, they know how to make maps. The remake of brecourt (Wasteland) is absolutely fantastic. Best remake I have ever seen.
However, the lack of dedicated servers does show. You only have to spend a day or two on the new match-making/lobby system to realise their abscence and miss them. You spend more time waiting in the lobby than you do playing in the actual game. Its a mandatory 60 second intermission wait for players, then a 10 second count down before the map begins - and this is EVERY MAP. So, its no more instantly rotating to the next map with all the players from the previous map. Oh no. You get shoved into a lobby again and have to wait.
Also, I have lost count of the times the players from the previous map time out and the lobby gets closed, so you have to go back to step 1 and start all over again.
The lag isnt as bad as I feared, but it is in no way as good as on a dedicated server.
People are speculating that this new P2P system is all about money - getting things ready for paid DLC and pay-to-play. Well, I have my own theory about it origins:
Its clear when you look at the game that all the assets for the typical COD game is all still there, right down to the server browser menu. My theory is that if IW had continued developing that typical COD game, with dedicated server support and everything, the PC game wouldnt have come in on schedule. I believe 100% that they ran out of time, and rather than miss the deadline, they hastily botched together IWNET with Steam in order to reach target.
It was clear from rudedog's meeting with Jason West in mid September that IW hadnt even started on the PC game, as they were in a panic about finishing the console game, as that wasnt finished either. I believe that once the console game went gold (end of September), they looked at what had to be done with the typical COD PC game we usually get, with dedicated servers and all, and realised it just couldnt be done. What with all the Q&A needed to make sure all the dvars werent explotable, it would have not have been possible to realise it until after XMas sometime. So, rather than chase the impossible, they gave up and decided to go the IWNET route instead - turn all the dvars off in the executable, and hash together a Steam environment where the (finished) console game would work for the PC.
The algorithm compression for the MP fastfiles is almost identical to the XBoX 360's one. They have litterally shoved the console game into an environment where it will work for the PC.
So, forget all this tosh about IW had planned IWNET all along. That is an out right lie. Its a hasty botch job put together because they would have missed deadline. Its literally a console port to PC in order to come in on schedule.
What could have been an epic title in the Call of Duty series had it had dedicated servers, has been turned into nothing more than a "good" game. It is still good, and looks amazing, but it could have been so much more.
I'm hoping that, now the deadline issue is out of the way, IW can patch dedicated servers of some description into the setup, and have a two tier game - those who want dedicated servers, and those who want to stick with the very frustrating lobby/match-making system.
