GENRE
	Shooter
	DEVELOPER
	Infinity Ward / Treyarch
	PUBLISHER
	Activision
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	Yes
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard scoring criteria.

To call the first person shooter genre an adventure on Wii would be an understatement. The system’s solid IR capability have spawned all kinds of third party efforts, ranging from awful quick and dirty ports (Far Cry Vengeance, Brothers in Arms: Double Time) to surprisingly solid multiplatform titles (Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Call of Duty: World at War). And then there was The Conduit which was long and promise and beauty but also long on multiplayer frustration.

Into the fray comes the long-winded Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -- Reflex Edition, a port of a two year-old next-gen title. Down-ports of other franchises such as Far Cry and Dead Rising on Wii have been, frankly, something of a disaster, so gamers might be forgiven for being a bit skeptical of a Wii adaptation of a two year-old next-gen game. Fortunately for Wii owners, this game is not a “quick and dirty” port, as it looks decent, plays solid, and offers a full slate of modes to satisfy players both online and off.

The guts of the game play out like most recent Wii shooters. Players maneuver along environments with two equipped weapons (usually one rifle and one handgun to start) and the ability to swap out for any new weapons that may be encountered in the field. Weapons run the standard gamut, including a vast array of pistols, sniper rifles, shotguns, and automatic weapons. Exotic weapons like anti-tank missiles and secondary weapons such as grenades and claymore mines are also in the mix. Making the combat happen in a visceral way is the Wii Remote and its IR functionality, which and can be adjusted for sensitivity and dead space. The button mapping can also be altered to suit player tastes, although the default scheme works well. As in other war shooters, health is managed by screen color change rather than a health bar, so the key to staying alive is to retreat or find cover when the screen turns red.

Presentation is always a concern with ports, and on that front Reflex looks largely like other Call of Duty games on Wii. While the stage entry cutscenes are slick and cool, the main game’s textures are comparable to World at War: adequate, if unspectacular. The trade-off is that draw distance is generous and the framerate is generally reliable save for a few isolated instances. Some of the levels are downright expansive, too, with urban and open-range locales to mix things up. On the sound end, the voice acting and music are both Hollywood quality, and the game serves up a range of sound effects to produce an authentic combat feel.

Gameplay comes in three flavors: offline campaign, arcade mode, and online multiplayer. The offline campaign is a faithful recreation of the original game’s campaign, with action shifting between the exploits of the British special forces in Russia and the United States Marines in the Middle East. The game has a real Tom Clancy feel to it, with international intrigue, small-party combat, and gameplay that encourages patient, pitched combat (and occasionally stealth) over the run-and-gun of more arcade-style shooters like The Conduit. The two plots are actually pretty interesting, with some truly shocking twists, and do a nice job of encapsulating some of the world’s current uncertainties.

Reflex also does a few things to shake up the campaign. While the bulk of the game is done on the ground with gun in hand, a few levels have the player in the skies; a particularly memorable level, for example, puts the player in the role of bombardier in a plane providing cover for a small platoon on the run. Additionally, game brings back World at War’s Squadmate function, which allows a second player to drop in and play as a disembodied armed sidekick in the vein of Super Mario Galaxy. Unfortunately, Squademate is not as fun as it should be, in part because the first player’s movement makes it extremely difficult for the second player to get a bead on enemies; oftentimes the second player’s targeting is disrupted when the first player moves the camera.

A changeup from the campaign is the arcade mode, which is only unlockable after beating the game. This mode puts players in the regular campaign levels, but with lives, a score (including multipliers for multiple kills), and a time limit. This is a cool option that adds some variety to the game, but it is the probably the part of the game that players will use the least.

Reflex’s online is a centerpiece of the game’s experience, and it is easily the deepest and best online experience on the console so far. Drawing from the infrastructure of World at War, Reflex offers quick, streamlined, lag-free combat. In stark contrast to the laborious nature of The Conduit’s online, a player can get into the action in Reflex in just a few seconds, and the combat is engrossing and lag-free. Friend codes also allow players to create private matches. Some players will lament the absence of integrated voice chat, but given how poorly Wii Speak seemed to serve that purpose in The Conduit, most players would probably look elsewhere for voice chat solutions anyway.

The genius of the online play is its progressive nature. In an almost role-playing fashion, players earn experience points from both participation and from kills and those experience points lead to leveling-up. Leveling-up, by turn, unlocks all sorts of possibilites: over a dozen online modes, legions of weapons with customizable weapon accessories, various player enhancements (like increased running speed or a steadier hand), and the ability to set up custom player loadout templates. The sheer number of ways to play the game is mind-boggling, but the leveling system helps feed it all to players at a steady pace and also rewards gameplay time in the process. Wii owners looking for an online experience won’t find anything deeper than Reflex.

Hackers have been a pestilence in virtually every Wii online game to date, wrecking more than a few of the titles for Nintendo’s console. Reflex is no different; as of the time of this review, several of the leaderboards had already been hacked to reflect unholy (and impossible) statistics. Similarly, there was ample video evidence online of the ability to hack the game’s online, and while this reviewer did not encounter evidence of any moon jumps, infinite rocket launchers, or invincibility players, online evidence suggests that may well be out there.

Taken as a whole, it’s hard not to like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -- Reflex Edition. The controls are solid and the presentation (while average) is decent enough not to detract from the performance. The single player mode is compelling and the arcade mode is a nice change-up. Most importantly of all, though, the online mode is a home run. Although the risks of hacking are here as in every other Wii online title, the infrastructure of the game is outstanding and represents the sort of depth and scope that has been largely lacking in previous Wii shooters. What’s more, getting online is quick, easy, and lag-free. Wii owners looking for an online game -- especially one not set during World War II -- should pick this one up without hesitation. Highly recommended.

8.5/10