Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Shares rank 22 of 24 first-person shooters by recommenders
Fondly remembered as a peak Call of Duty shooter that many called a gaming revolution; critics cite cheating, unpatched exploits and lost self-hosted servers.
Fondly remembered as a peak Call of Duty shooter that many called a gaming revolution; critics cite cheating, unpatched exploits and lost self-hosted servers.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 38%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Nostalgic favourite from childhood
“I really miss the days of COD/MW2, that was kind of peak for me.”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Quake – 30th Anniversary Update” “The game of my childhood.”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Vince Zampella, developer of Call of Duty and Battlefield has died” Easy to digest, peak Call of Duty
“I really miss the days of COD/MW2, that was kind of peak for me.”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Quake – 30th Anniversary Update” “which is maybe the only digestible COD game ever made”
Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Vince Zampella, developer of Call of Duty and Battlefield has died” Incredible experience, a gaming revolution
“it truly felt like it, a real revolution in gaming”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Vince Zampella, developer of Call of Duty and Battlefield has died” “That game was an incredible experience.”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Vince Zampella, developer of Call of Duty and Battlefield has died”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Unpatched remote code execution flaws
“Modern Warfare 2 and 3 have an unpatched RCE.”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “California bill would require patches or refunds when online games shut down” “there's unpatched RCEs for Modern Warfare II”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc” Rampant cheating ruins matches
“the cheating got so bad it made it impossible to play”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Denuvo has been cracked in all single-player games it previously protected” “every single game is just full of cheaters”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc” Self-hosted servers removed or unavailable
“After self hosting servers were removed, the game became less fun.”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “The gamers taking on the industry to stop it switching off games” “After about 2010 companies stopped providing the server binary.”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “The California State Assembly Has Passed the 'Protect Our Games Act'”
Other first-person shooters people recommend
The four most recommended other first-person shooters, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quake | 118 | 29 | 80% | 12 | 28 yrs8 owners | Approved |
| Doom by id Software | 102 | 24 | 81% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Unreal Tournament 2004 | 51 | 12 | 81% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Quake III Arena | 49 | 3 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2This page | 5 | 8 | 38% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I really miss the days of COD/MW2, that was kind of peak for me.”
“there's unpatched RCEs for Modern Warfare II”
“every single game is just full of cheaters”
“After self hosting servers were removed, the game became less fun.”
“After about 2010 companies stopped providing the server binary.”
“Modern Warfare 2 and 3 have an unpatched RCE.”
“COD:MWII went behind the same paywall.”
“the cheating got so bad it made it impossible to play”
“which is maybe the only digestible COD game ever made”
“it truly felt like it, a real revolution in gaming”
“The game of my childhood.”
“That game was an incredible experience.”
“They're checking for TPMs and yelling about secure boot.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.