Um... we all waited so long, so much hype, and then... so disappointing.
I'll start with campaign. I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, etc. recently. These are all incredibly awesome games, with great, immersive stories and innovative gameplay. So, from this I come to MW2. I played CoD4, and loved it. WaW felt very similar, but we all excused it because it was more of the brilliant same. By the time I finished with WaW I felt a bit tired of the whole formula, however. Then, MW2 offers up... more of the same. New guns sure, but they all feel the same. New locales, (and check out the graphics, they are INSANELY brilliant), new characters, new attachments, new enemies. But strip off the layer of explosions and cool set pieces and by halfway through you realise that it's just more of what we've all seen before, and played to death before. Also, it's unbelievably short – I clocked it in under 5 hours.
Now, my major gripe with the game. I agree with Bioware – every game should have a good story. Of course, FPS's are famous for not having much tying them together, and I don't mind that. However, when a game gets a spectacularly bad story, it can really detract from the overall quality of the experience. Case in point: MW2. For further details, see: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/modern-warfare-2s-glaring-plot-holes-exposed/a-20091120123332495077
Throughout the game, the plot is flat-out ridiculous. It really takes away from the level of detail put into the levels and set pieces. You never feel involved, just trudging through an insane globetrotting adventure about gunning down the same generic NPCs a million times. It relies really heavily on the whole 'OMG guise, the russans r invadin, ima gon shoot thems!' Seeing Russian troops tearing up a leafy American suburb will set everyone on an instant jingoistic murdering spree, right? Well, I'm British, strongly anti-war (in real life, not games) and seeing this simply made me think of how ludicrous the whole set-up is. Two countries could have easily sorted their problems by talking for five minutes, instead they go to war. I didn't want to fight! The levels as TF141, trying to stop the war by finding the man responsible, are good, but the completely retarded plot really ruined the game for me. Don't even get me started on 'No Russian'...
Single Player: 5/10
Enough ranting about campaign. Spec Ops? Um, well, no. Sorry. Most of it is either cribbed from CoD4 or the MW2 campaign. Even when done in 2-player, it just doesn't feel right. I dunno what it is, but I just don't like it. Good enough to take a few hours, though.
Spec Ops: 7/10
Now, multiplayer. Sorry, once again, no. In CoD4, everyone loved the customisation, yeah? More guns, more perks, brilliant. Everyone loved getting rewards in-game, so more killstreaks and all-new deathstreaks. More maps, guns, everything that made CoD4 such a winner is here, in even greater force. WIN, right? WRONG-O. The new killstreaks are incredibly unbalanced. The new weapons have some dirt-cheap tactics that can be exploited by the cheapest on Xbox Live. More of everything does not make it better, but much worse. I played several hours, hoping against hope that it would get better. It didn't. Campers rule the roost, anyone who plays properly it mercilessly gunned down. By the bloody campers. Again. And again. They have taken an almost-perfect experience, and murdered it. Then chopped it into little pieces. Then teabagged its corpse.
Multiplayer: 6/10.
However, at the end of the day it has swallowed about 15 hours of my time. My overall feeling, is sheer, bitter disappointment. Great production values, but lame game. So much hype, brilliant previews, all for this. Sorry infinity ward. You're going to have to do better to get my £40 next time.
Graphics: Wow. Stunning. 10/10.
Sound: Music, weapons, voiceovers, perfect. 10/10.
Story: No. Just no. Awful. 2/10.
Campaign/ Co-Op: Nothing tying it together, and more of the tired old same. 6/10.
Multiplayer: Tooling around with a sublime game has wrecked it, but only appreciated after a few hours of play. 6/10.
Overall: 6.5/10.
Final note: If you're new to the series, don't even hesitate. Make it a day 1 purchase. Get it. Sure, the plot sucks, but this will all be new. Go now.