But again, SSR is very much in place on console, with all the expected break-up on the reflections over the top.Ĭomparisons between the big three consoles - PS5, Series X and S - are something of a footnote at this point. ![]() The ripples and caustics as the water hits the bay are well realised - and later missions even have you shooting at guards while floating downstream in a wild set-piece. However, Series S (pictured here) is less stable, with more taxing scenes sitting in 50-60fps territory with noticeable screen-tearing.īeyond Amsterdam, the early Wetwork mission showcases the new water tech of IW9, letting you dive into a simulated water body, using it as a form of stealth as you take down guards. The campaign is a nigh-on 60fps lock on PS5 and Xbox Series X from start to finish. Infinity Ward are still in cross-gen territory here - and not even the PC version benefits from the ray-traced reflections that would add so much more to the realism level. Yes, there are going to be obvious differences: NPCs are still a world away from effectively capturing human behaviour, while screen-space reflections are too artefact-prone to capture the way light actually reflects on rain-soaked brickwork. MW2's rendering of Amsterdam's streets comes across as such a direct, literal translation of the actual thing, it's even possible to compare the two directly - in 1:1 fashion - and that's a key focus in the video embedded above (and many thanks to Melhi Korkmaz for providing the real-life footage). Perhaps more remarkable is the sheer accuracy of this Amstderm level's scale. It informs the lighting engine, all playing a huge role in giving true-to-life results. There are exceptions but the team at Infinity Ward uses photogrammetry to take most real-life materials - each brick, each restaurant sign - and translates their properties to the game engine. Strolling down the red-light district, every small detail here is almost directly lifted from the real world: the stylings of the cafe signs, the bikes flanking the canal, the road markings - even the proportions of its brick roads, the arcing bridge, and the spire of the Old Church are precisely measured. It's a quiet story beat, a moment of calm in-between the game's more bombastic action. ![]() The most memorable mission - visually speaking - is the now iconic Amsterdam level. Watch on YouTube The Modern Warfare 2 campaign on PS5 and Xbox Series machines gets the Digital Foundry video review treatment. And while there are certain missions that outstay their welcome - particularly the top-down gunning in Close Air - more often than not, its set-pieces at least hit the mark. It's the classic All Ghillied Up mission from Call of Duty 4 taken to a new generation, a brilliant reinvention with multiple ways to attack it. You get to choose dialogue, you choose what points to strike first, and you choose how to do it: by stealth or all guns blazing. All linearity is thrown out the window in favour of a more open-ended design. Every set-piece escalates too, level to level: from upside-down shoot-outs to hopping between exploding cars, from dodging container units on a rocking tanker to swimming the Amsterdam canals at night - there's huge variety.Ī huge highlight here is the Recon By Fire mission, where we see the IW9 tech pushing a vast, sprawling, misty landscape of green. Each mission really is a vehicle - a self-contained showcase - putting each of its new visual tricks front and centre in ways the multiplayer modes cannot. Modern Warfare 2's story gives the IW9 engine a superb workout. However, it's the game's beautiful recreation of Amsterdam that has captured the headlines - and rightly so. ![]() Now dubbed IW9, Infinity Ward's custom engine offers up a wealth of upgrades, including stunning character rendering, improved water simulation and AI upgrades. It was a breakthrough for the series, iterated on in last year's Vanguard and improved once again for the new Modern Warfare 2. The 2019 Modern Warfare reboot was exactly that, its IW8 engine delivering an enormous boost in geometry, a new lighting model, updated physics, materials and a streaming system for large-scale maps. Every few years the Call of Duty series hits a new technical milestone - a definable moment where developers like Infinity Ward make a clear break from what came before.
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