Modern marvel

Pre-release expectations loomed so large over Infinity Ward’s sequel to “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” that anything the developers offered up risked damning amounts of criticism. Leave it to the Ward folks to shut (almost) everyone up right out of the gate. “Modern Warfare 2” takes everything that was spectacular about the first “Warfare” and cranks it to 11.

Any serious or even casual fan of first-person shooters or multiplayer competition is strongly advised to buy this if they weren’t already in line at midnight Nov. 10.

Single-player campaign mode is the game’s only noticeable weakness, lacking length and a coherent plot, though it still delivers enough excitement and variety to buoy a six-hour run.

New this time is Special Ops mode, which allows single players or teams to test their mettle on timed and scored missions ranging from fish-in-a-barrel simple to preposterously difficult.

As any hardened “CoD” veteran knows, online multiplayer is the real reason for the these games’ longevity, and after nearly perfecting its multiplayer offering with “CoD 4” and last year’s WWII shooter “Call of Duty: World at War,” the series has achieved the highest level of perfection possible for a multiplayer first-person-shooter at this point in the seventh generation.

If the photo-realistic graphics, fluid controls and bone-rattling sound design don’t hook you, the astonishing depth of multiplayer competition will.