Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 blows records away

Modern Warfare 2 has blown away sales records in its first few days on sale.

Here's the answer to the question of the week: Does the hugely hyped, hugely pre-sold Activision's

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

live up to its hype as the likely game of the year? Quite simply, yes.

Adjectives are easy to find to describe how amazing a multiplayer game it is. The new R18 shooter on Xbox 360, PC and PS3 (which I was playing it on) is set in a future where terrorists cause mayhem.

The core elements that make first person shooters so popular remain - the running about with a fully loaded modern weapon to find a target and taking out large groups of unsuspecting enemies.

In fact, it's hard to put your finger on how this game reinvents the genre because it doesn't in terms of approach. What it does is show such realism, you become as engrossed in a game as you ever will and the bullets feel as if they're really hitting you.

The chase scenes are both exciting and terrifying and blend a little action into the combat. While it is fast-paced and boasts relentless firing action, that doesn't mean some of those battles aren't complex requiring some quick thinking as well as some hair trigger moments.

This may be the best tense action game yet. With stunning graphics, wonderful production values including frightfully crisp sound with dutifully matched weapon effects and coupled with some eerie tracks in the Hans Zimmer musical score.

Complete with realistic physics allowing shoot through wall and blast radius damage, the gameplay has proven the AI to be varied and smart, the graphics engine to an extreme rendering vivid scenes (urban through desert) and a high level of smoothness during the action to boot.

It has a deep and involved story spun throughout loading scenes, with excellent Special Ops, and

Call of Duty

fans will be pleased to welcome the return of John MacTavish. You battle in real-world missions in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Brazil but when you visit Russia the fun really starts when a terrorist group cons the Russian government into invading the US.

While the single player Campaign is made for solo play and is shortish at about nine hours, it's compelling with the elements that make this game so engrossing- and it is visually detailed and clear with cinematic-type cut scenes.

There is an offline co-op mode and Spec Ops mode which can also be enjoyed in co-op play. The multiplayer online with up to 18 players gives unlimited hours of entertainment.

Here's a taste with this latest trailer:

The proof is in the fact within days, the game has become an instant classic and an instant best seller, breaking famed sales records.

Variety reported it sold 4.7 million units in its first day on sale in the US and Britain alone, taking in $310 million for the game publisher Activision Blizzard.

But overall games' sales in the US declined once again during October, down 19% compared with the same month last year.

So a game that matches its hype and one that may rate as one of the greatest shooters ever.

It's hard to find anything that matches the production value in each level and that provides the intense excitement whether single player, co-op or multiplayer. It raises the level in gaming and will be a hard one to beat in the line up for game of the year.

Madgamer rating: 10 / 10