Call of Duty Modern Warfare Mobilized

Modern Warfare 2 has finally hit consoles. Unfortunately though, skepticism is one word we can use to describe how people felt about the DS release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare Mobilized. This was due to the fact that the DS wasn't exactly known for it's technological prowess. I, on the other hand, decided to give this game a try, since I wondered how they would attempt to bring the epic experience to the DS. The answer: they didn't. Instead, they made a game that has no relation to it's console counterparts (besides the cover), allowing the creators to create a unique experience for the DS. The result is not only the greatest FPS on the DS, but also a huge technological achievement for the portable console.

The single player has you playing a few soldiers who are searching for a nuke. Unfortunately, due to stupidity of this military, they end up making a simple operation take up a whole entire 6 hours. The story is interesting but lacks any impact, making it more of an excuse to go around killing insurgents. Thankfully, the gameplay is extremely fun, making me wish that the military in this game were even more idiotic so the adventure could last a little longer.

The game has you going to various locations, fighting vast amounts enemies with a variety of weapons. The weapons are as real as the DS can make them, each with unique sounds, reload times, and recoil. This may not sound much, but for a DS, this is huge. The enemies now do stuff, unlike the games predecessor Call of Duty World At War for the DS, where the enemies went to a location, and just stood their, shooting. Granted the enemies are all retarded, but they sometimes take cover, rush at you with shotguns, and retreat when shot at. When they are not acting intelligent, they usually just standing in a spot waiting to get shot at.

The controls are quick and responsive. You basically use your DS stylus to aim, and the D-pad to move around. Some may need a bit of time to get used to it, but I had no trouble adjusting to this interesting control method. Reloading requires that you tap the weapon icon on the touch screen, which is very efficient.

The game is hard. On the easiest difficulty level, the enemies are most likely going to kill you quickly if you don't utilize cover, making the final levels rather diffcult, since one of them involves a time limit and tons of enemies. It may sound frustrating, but it's actually fun as hell, since the action doesn't feel as fragmented, and it's immensly satisfying to finish the games campaign. The campaign is short, but for good reason, since the single player seems to prepare you for six player multiplayer, survival mode, and arcade mode.

Six player multiplayer will keep you busy for hours on end, since the game had the generosity of including unlockable weapons which are given to you based on the amount of kills you get. The unlockables not only motivates you, but adds a lot of variety to an otherwise basic multplayer. The multiplayer is pretty much revolutionary on the DS, since never before has their been 6 player online multiplayer feature on any DS game. Next title, they should try bumping up the player to 8, and concentrate on adding RPG elements to the multiplayer.

Other features include a plethora of challenges and achievments, allowing for tons of replayability. In fact, it doesn't stop there. Finishing the game on the normal difficulty level allows players to unlock arcade mode, which is basically the single player game with a point system. Unfortunately, the feature was tacked on, due to the fact that the game doesn't save your statistics. To add insult to injury, they don't even utilize online ranking, making this a forgettable feature. Still, it's fun to compare scores with your friends. Finishing the game on hard allows you to unlock the final feature, survival mode. Basically this mode has you fighting against wave after wave of enemies at once, making it an interesting mode. Unfortunately, the game didn't put co-op, making it a missed opportunity. However, it will definetly keep you occupied and it does give me hope that the sequel will expand on this mode.

Overall, this is it: the ideal FPS for the DS. N-Space has done a fantastic job, for they have created a solid shooter that not only will keep people occupied for hours, but will show that the DS is capable of first person shooters. If you are looking for a great action game, than Call of Duty Modern Warfare Mobilized is the game for you.