Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition is a port of one of the most influential shooters of the decade to Wii, released two years after the original, offering the complete campaign and multiplayer adapted to the console's capabilities. The story follows a British soldier nicknamed Soap and American marines in parallel storylines that intersect in one of the most frequently referenced moments in the whole genre, alternating firefights in narrow streets, night operations lit by night-vision, and slow crawling in a ghillie suit resembling a pile of grass.

The main added value of the Wii version is pointer aiming. Hitting targets at range is more precise and faster thanks to it than with an analog stick, and the game offered a large range of sensitivity and dead-zone size settings, so everyone could tune the controls to their liking. The classic controller and Wii Zapper attachment were also supported. The campaign remained fully intact, including bonus missions and a difficulty level that rewards careful movement and use of cover, and leaderboards for repeated timed playthroughs are also included.

Technically, it was a compromise. The graphics were adjusted for weaker hardware, so textures and effects are simpler and the resolution lower, but the game runs briskly and hasn't lost the pace the series is built on. The sound, with loud gunfire, radio chatter, and a dense orchestral backdrop, carried the atmosphere surprisingly faithfully, and some of the strongest scenes work just as well in this form. Contemporary reviews rated the version as a successful and honest port that made an otherwise unavailable game accessible to Wii owners. The online component was eventually shut down along with the console's network services, but the campaign remains fully playable and is still the best way to play a modern military shooter on Wii. Collector-wise, it's also a title that got lost in sales among family games, so today it isn't among the most common finds in secondhand shops, which makes its place in a collection all the more interesting.