Modern Warfare 2 tests our Short Attention Span

Configuration
MW2 is very simple to get up and ready to play; you can allow the game to detect your hardware and setup the best setting or, you can manually adjust them to your liking. As we were using the AMD Radeon HD5970 for this "test" we maxed everything out and ran from there.

 
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Game Play
Ah the real meat of the review. So, was MW2 able to grab our attention in 30-minutes? This is an overwhelming YES! As with the original you do have to go through a boring "learning" stage and there is another CQB [Close Quarters Battle] course like the ship. Still I suppose they have a purpose for someone used to the game. I just wish you could skip it if you are already used to first person shooters.

 
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Still once you are through with that the guys at Infinity Ward dump you straight into the fire. Right from the beginning you are tossed into heavy combat with multiple enemies. From there the pressure never lets up. I have to be honest I was not able to stop at the 30 minutes, when the buzzer went off on the timer I simply turned up the volume and ignored it. I played for over 4 hours that first session. The game is quite simply that compelling. IW [Infinity Ward] has done a good job on improving the "bar fight" AI. In the past the bad guys simply rushed at you with very little thought or complexity. The thought seemed to be the more enemies the harder the game.  With MW2 the same basic principle is used but they bad guys actually take cover, fire around corners and try to flank you. There were several times where they actually setup ambushes and crossfire situations. Having been in the real thing [Ed's note: Given your military career and the fact that you're a decorated soldier, wondered what your opinion was ;)], it was impressive and heart racing to play through this type of simulated combat.
Below are a few random [and out of game play order] screen shots from inside the game.

   
   
   
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Performance
MW2 is not a system killer. It will push some older hardware but that is more from the sheer amount of rendered images and "bots" on the screen. On the HD5970 we were able to get a consistent frame rate of around 180 FPS [frames per second] so there was absolutely no stuttering or video issues there. On our mobile system we only saw stuttering when a large number of enemies were on the screen during combat [most noticeable with RPG fire]. Otherwise you should not see too many issues with performance unless you are trying to push older hardware too far [GeForce 6 and 7 series or HD 38xx and below].