About the Author: Al is a Senior Editor and lover of everything gaming. He's been involved in the gaming industry for a few years now and has accomplished a couple of great things like high profile interviews and key events. He's always ready for a good gaming session. Favorite games: Contra (NES), Mega Man II (NES) and Final Fantasy III (SNES)
MW2 Multiplayer Is a Hot Mess
Al Zamora | Dec 15, 2009 | Comments 31
Infinity Ward brought us Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which many gamers were calling a masterpiece and possibly the next best thing since sliced bread, but alas it seems the franchise has taken a sharp turn into a dark region, known as the crap zone. The multiplayer on each platform is plagued with issues from players having the ability to hit their 10th prestige without earning it on the PS3, to players having speed hacks on the PC version, to just an utter loss of control of matches on the Xbox 360. there have even been matches where players do not reload and have infinite ammo during death matches, Infinity Ward needs to get on these issues before players lose interest in taking part in a multiplayer system that is obviously not working.
I have to say that I play mostly on the Xbox 360 and matches over Xbox Live are a terrible mess. I like to play 3rd person tactical (yes I guess I am in the minority here) and every time I try to “Find a Match” it loads up a random game that sometimes has nothing to do with 3rd person tactical at all. I have spawned into matches on Rust, which is a very small map, where it has been “glitched” into an 18 person free for all in which a kill against anyone gives you points. I have taken part in matches where the cross hairs to aim have disappeared and you are literally shooting from the hip. I have even taken part in games where you spawn and literally seconds in you are already dead or seen a player take aim at a harrier with a javelin and have the rockets come back and hit him. 3rd person can even turn into an FPS match, go figure.
Infinity Ward needs to address these issues in a fast tracked manner because if not the fans of their game will quickly become frustrated with this as I am getting. The other night I played on a map where the creator made the match only via a tactical nuclear launch, which on small maps with 18 players running around is a feat that will almost never happen as the probability of you getting shot in the face before racking up 25 kills is very high. In essence I was locked into a never ending game but didn’t realize this until I had already spent a good 15 to 20 minutes of my time wasted. I was literally a prisoner of Modern Warfare 2 and a very frustrated game that night.
The major problem with the current affairs of map glitchs on the Xbox 360 is that you as a gamer have no control of what kind of map you are joining. If I knew that the game were glitched I would not join, but I have no choice as it throws me and I will not know until I go into the game. Many gamers are losing patience with what is going on, while some are using the exploits to quickly boost their way through the ranks or unlock different attachments for guns. The other problem is that once the creator of the game leaves the glitches do not fix themselves so you are still playing 18 player matches in maps that are not designed for that volume of players which leads to lag issues and just a general change in strategy as you can no longer play the maps as they are intended.
I am curious to see how Infinity Ward plans on handling this new batch of issues hot on the heels to their patch aimed at fixing the dreaded javelin glitch? At least the javelin glitch was something annoying but was not something that completely changed how the games are played or how long games take. Can we expect massive bannings or just a patch to fix the current hot mess that is called Modern Warfare 2? Many have brought into question the QA at Infinity Ward and how much testing went into the game in the first place in order to have a multiplayer that is almost entirely screwed up.
Have you had this happen to you, share your experiences in the comments so Infinity Ward knows that these are not isolated incidents.
Filed Under: Featured • PC • PlayStation 3 • XBOX 360
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yup! they have alot of trouble on there hands, and i hate to say i told you so infinity ward but we all did when it came to an open beta lol.. and as for issues there is more than these super bad ones but loads of little ones like dual shotguns being able to reach 2 miles lol ok yes theres 2 which doubles fire power BUT that doesnt increase distance, it should be wider no longer in range lol! and crap like that.. im happy to see them suffer if im honest
@ lewis – yes akimbo shotguns need a patch as well, I get angry getting shotgunned from across the map
Meh most glitches aren’t to much of a problem.
When the javelin glitch came out only one person in the games i played used it, so we all just avoided him. Problem solved.
However i haven’t seen any of the other glitches, such as the infinite ammo one, but i imagine all it would take to beat was a bit of skill and better accuracy.
The worst problem i find with the game is the bloody Americans (sorry Americans) always being hosts making it difficult for Aussie gamers to play, what with the bullet lag and low ping and what not. Oh well, it’s still a fun game to play.
Yes, i think that this game needs some major patches, but until never-ending games and over-player-cap is fixed, i personally think that the shotguns are a little fix-it-up for after these major glitches…
Yup this has happened to me once about a week ago, and at first i thought nothing of it just like ohh hey a glitch ok. I ddnt have to worry about stayn since i got kicked with host migration =/ but ya today i couldnt find a match anywhere basically and im a 3rd person guy too so add me if you wan Lone Wolf016…but all day i played these anyoing rust matches, and they should definitly make a update which lowers models ranges, cuz shottys arent like that. All the praise infinty ward made can SMD now my 60 bucks is quickly turning to a waste, this is why there should be a proper beta testing for a game like this but nooo infinity ward game themselves way to much credit.
so lets see
1. Javelin glitch
2. care package glitch
3. SpecOps trophy glitch
4. Ranking glitch
5. Host/maps glitch
6. infinite ammo, no reload glitch
7. Javelin boomerang glitch
8. titles and Emblems glitch
9. faulty party support glitch
10. 18plyr death match glitch
11. prestige 10 glitch
12. 10 custom classes glitch
all in less than a month since release, damn……
I wanted FPS Free-For-All and wound up in an 18-player Capture the Flag or whatever MW2 calls CTF. Everyone from my perspective was on the same team, but some people could actually be shot so I assume they were not on the same team. I left the game with a loss. Of course I’ve never won a match since everyone is usually 20-30 levels ahead of me anyway.
Modern Warfare 2 is a terrible game, overall. It is hardly an improvement over the first installment. The game is boring, almost exactly the same as the first one. The graphics, sound, animations, effects, old cover art, save data dated 2007 prove this game was created and finished years ago. A terrible game from an underskilled yet once amazing dev house.
@ADAM
You can’t play the game w/ unlimited ammo because it means unlimited noob tube, rockets, nades. Then, when someone gets a killstreak that gives a chopper gunner unlimited ammo, or the Ac-130 unlimited ammo, which means NO RELOADS, and means THEY RAIN DOWN UNLIMTED SHELLS.
You can’t even spawn into the game.
I’m really pissed that I traded in COD waw on Saturday.
Looks like I’ll be playing Halo 3 until the patch comes out.
Friggin weak, IW. This is worse than the glitching mess that Cod 5 started out as.
I find the domination glitch fun but also annoying. I make them a lot but feel kinda bad for the people who dont enjoy them.
elite and old wastes his time trolling.
lets just face it, MW2 will blow over just like cod4 was almost destroyed by halo 3, except this time bioshock 2, gow3, halo:reach and splinter cell and many more stand in the way of this glitchy sequel
Hello world. Cods still fun with all these glitches. They will be patched soon enough neway.
@ Yoda’s Earwax
At least Treyarch fix most of the glitches before the game came out. Thats why games like COD need beta’s before release.
And why do i get the feeling that Treyarch is better and more reliable then IW at times.
At least you guys can get in games. I can get into some games by myself, but I can’t join games with people on my friends list. What’s with that? Can’t even join an Xbox Live party when playing MW2.
Agreed with @lewis and @Al Zamora
Akimbo shotty’s need a patch, or they got to go. Those weapons are bullshit.
UR ALL FORGETTING THE HIT DETECTION PROBLEM, IV SHOT PEOPLE AND THEY HAVENT DIED OR A BULLET HIT THEM AMD I USE THE FAMAS,
IW HAVE JUST MADE THERE MONEY THEY DONT CARE, THEU R MUGS!!
COD: MW2 sucks for 360 like all 360 games. Xbox LIVE is broken and isn’t worth the money, which is why people cheat all the time.
Wiiconnect 24 is a much better serivce than Xbox LIVE, IMO.
Are you playing with a snes controller or what? ive never had any of this happen to me… and stop crying you weiner
To Adam: The infinite ammo glitch is not easily solved. As soon as I respawn, I am killed from across the map because someone is shooting unlimited, rapid fire noob tubes by just aiming straight up in the air and holding down the trigger. I’m pretty good at this game and so are the people I play with but we havent been able to do crap the last few days because all these damn glitches. I have it for both PS3 and XboX and both are terrible. I spent about $300 on this game and I can’t even play it.
With all these problems, here’s the big question……..
SHOULD MW2 DESERVE GAME OF THE YEAR?
I will be honest, I’m not the best player, but I’ve played both MW and this version and have to say the akimbo shotgun glitch is completely ridiculous.
All other glitches, yah sucks, but damn that shotgun has got some advantage that I’m super jealous of.
I need me some of that before they patch it. HA.
@smoke $300? wow. I can’t see why people would stick with a game as unpolished as this. i haven’t played this game. but have friends that do. just can’t belive what $60 buys now a days. oh well BFBC 2 comes out in march.
I hope the Domination Glitch is fixed sooner than later. I hate trying to play a game of Domination and it takes 20 minutes to find a legit game. I hope all the boosters in those private matches get their ranks reset.
Infinity ward and EA will either fix the problem or (And i think more probable) get a rude awakening that just because COD4MW may have been the messiah doesnt gaurantee we will give a shit about a broken multiplayer followup 6 months from now
I play the PC version and aside from no dedicated servers i see hackers every day i met one person ingame(on my team thankfully) who would press h for harriers G for chopper u for uav and every thing else was hotmapped FOR WHENEVER HE WANTED IT he would literally find a cozy corner and call in 5 choppers and harrier after harrier how does that get past?
I hate that people can invite their friends into free-for-all matches, then use cold blooded, ninja, and tactical insertion, hide somewhere and get 30 kills in under 5 minutes. That needs to be fixed!
I find it takes ages (20 minutes sometimes) to even get into a Death Match. But my main complaint would be I have had players appear as team mates (green name), and surprise surprise they would come up and shoot or stab me, then their name goes red. At first I thought it was just I had a few too many beers, but this has happend at least a dozen times. Not much of a game if you can’t distinguish between your team mates and the enemy.
Has this happened to anyone else??
don’t you guys forget about the terrible spawns
ok, there’s a lot of mixed views, half of which i could agree with, the other half i mostly understand from their view…
but i personally think glitches can be fun and make a game more distinguished, everyone must remember the rocket-sword glitch back in old school halo 2, in fact, i believe if you go offline local multiplayer, and uninstall the system updates, which yes is possible at least on xbox original, you can then do that on old disc copies, as well as have the old school melee damage and smg recoil unfortunately, but once you connect online again it will just force all the updates back
though i have to agree, the javelin glitch was bullshit, lol, i think it was too cheap of a move.
i’m also glad they put death barriers inside those certain maps where people were going inside of rocks and metal tubes.
though at the same time, there’s things known as elevators, now those should stay in game, because i can’t do them, lol, but anyone who possibly has the patience to try to do it during actual gameplay, and somehow not get shot, i think deserves to float on top the map.
i personally went local and tried for half an hour, swearing the entire time that it didn’t work, and i have no idea how people seem to youtube themselves doing it within 2 minutes, it seems impossible to me
and as for the ps3 problems, i’m glad i only play xbox 360, lol, sorry ps3 people.
then about the 18 person private matches, there’s so many different ones.
everyone knows the rust types, its either ffa (10 minute time limit) or its a never ending team domination.
but i have seen it on other maps, sometimes in 3rd person, sometimes limited HUD, sometimes its a normal game just with max player count of 18, sometimes people put up a limited domination game, i played derail once with a limit of 750, though just when my team got up to 730 something, our lead player nuked the game, lol.
now i actually have wound up in that infinite ammo glitch people talk about, and damn….. O.o i mean, daaaammmnnn…..
DDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNNNN……
lol
i thought it was cute, persay, but yeah, that kind of thing probably would lag out weak connections and eventually crash xboxs i’m guessing, but it was completely utterly hilarious, lmao!
tubes everywhere, javelins speed launching, ac130s machine gunning the big ones, it was just pure noise, it was like taking Beneath the massacre’s music and overlaping 3 different songs at the same time xD
if IW patch the infinite care and ammo stuff, i would hardly care, but i like the private match games, not just because it helps boost (and also usually severly drops your K/D ratio if you are playing ffa rust) lol, but i get adhd with playing slow paced games, and the utter chaos of playing rust is exciting
i couldn’t handle doing it all the time, but it helps keep me on my toes if HQ is pissing me off.
thank you for my 2 cents, happy holidays
@ Branden: I’m having the exact same issue! I can’t connect to an Xbox Party or join/invite friends to a match… Occasionally, I’m having issues even finding a match (w/o friends). Is there a patch for this issue yet?
i don’t know why but for some reason as long as i search for a match by myself i cannot find one but if i join a friends game i am fine for a couple matches unless i lagg out wtf?
i don’t know why but for some reason as long as i search for a match by myself i cannot find one but if i join a friends game i am fine for a couple matches unless i lagg out wtf?