Modern Warfare 2: Stimulus Package

With the soap opera style drama surrounding Infinity Ward and Activision as of late, you’d think they’d try to smooth things over a bit with their first map pack for Modern Warfare 2. But the cleverly named Stimulus Package has only brought on more controversy. With a price tag of $15 (1200 Microsoft Points), the Stimulus Package was unveiled as being the priciest map pack to have hit Xbox Live yet. At a time where others have added additional content for free, this is a package that hits where it hurts: the wallet.

Within the Stimulus Package lay five maps for Modern Warfare 2, two of them – Overgrown and Crash – are replicas from the first Modern Warfare, meaning they are the exact maps from the first game. It would have been nice to have seen some changes made to the landscape or some new additions to the atmosphere. For those new to the series, these maps are all new, but for those who have put hours into the first game, the newness factor is lacking.

Though the two maps have been played before, at least they are two of the best ones from the first Modern Warfare. Overgrown, a grassy landscape that feels more like an abandoned hunting community, boasts a large playing field. Switching up the playing style here is a prime ingredient in a place that can be described as a potential sniper heaven. The bridges connecting the landscapes also hold a dried up river bed beneath them. This allows an alternate route for stealthy play. The other map brought back, Crash, was a definite fan favorite. It places you in the middle of a war torn area with a crashed and mangled helicopter at its center. Crash offers a play style for any type of player. Run-and-gunners will have a blast with the endless corners and places for cover in the streets and stealthy snipers can climb buildings in order to get awesome vantage points. I was excited to see this one brought back.

Bailout, one of the three new maps, is rectangular, donning a long driveway scattered with cars. It has a similar vibe and atmosphere to the campaign level Exodus. Both sides of the map have apartment buildings with side rooms, snack machines, and anything else you can think of finding within a complex like it. Hole-blasted areas allow for alternate routes as well. This puts much of the focus on the narrow driveway in the middle. Even though it offers the quickest route in modes like Headquarters getting caught there for too long can be deadly.

One of my favorite new additions, Storm, brings ghastly weather, lightning and thunder, all while being able to actually see. Take that Underpass. Yes, Storm has all the weather one can handle while keeping great visibility. The industrial environment holds warehouses with lofty walkways up high and oversized shipping containers on the ground level, like a thawed Sub Base. High walkways give a grand perspective of the paved ground level, but with so many containers and crevices to hide around, it evens the playing field dramatically.

Salvage, the third and final new map, is set in a frozen, snow-covered junkyard plagued with a graveyard of cars. Narrow lines and pathways are spread throughout Salvage. Snipers may have a hard time in this one, except in the house and garage that are placed at opposite sides of the map. Not much for cover here, while air strikes are catastrophic and hand to hand combat flourishes. The sounds of boots crunching into the snow feel familiar, but the junkyard’s close quarter combat bring a unique playing style to the game.

The Stimulus Package brings in three new and two copied maps to Modern Warfare 2. But the $15 price tag begs for much more. Games like Gears of War 2 have brought in new campaign slices and multiplayer maps for $10. Overgrown and Bailout are great, but when Epic brought in copied maps they changed them up. They added some needed flare in order to make the atmosphere new, while keeping the original map’s objects in check. The hardcore Modern Warfare 2 players will buy this map pack regardless, but the rest of the fan base may think twice before committing to the price. This is a shame, especially considering how much fun the Stimulus Package actually is.