MW2 players take one more parting shot at “shocking” UI

Ryan Lemay
Modern Warfare 2

Activision celebrated Modern Warfare 2’s introduction of HQ for making the UI “more straightforward,” but community members argue the inverse.

Disdain for MW2 has arguably amplified excitement about Modern Warfare 3. And it doesn’t help that Sledgehammer Games’ marketing strategy only added more fuel to the fire. MW3 directly tears down what Infinity Ward built up this past year by re-introducing the classic mini-map, slide canceling, map voting, and more.

And then, Community members drew comparisons between how Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward handled community feedback. Players specifically pointed out how Infinity Ward refused to revert the mini-map even after players complained about the change during the MW2 beta. While on the other hand, the MW3 devs rolled out multiple updates to address community concerns.

With all of that frustration built up, community members didn’t waste another opportunity to bash the previous game.

Modern Warfare 2 players crash celebration party

On October 26, Activision released a blog post celebrating Call of Duty’s 20th anniversary. The studio shouted out each game and honored their contributions to the series. For MW2, the game received recognition for introducing DMZ, Campaign Early Access, and Raid Episodes, among other improvements.

But at the end of the blurb, Activision credited Call of Duty HQ as a noteworthy innovation, a statement that CharlieIntel mocked on social media. “Activision claims Call of Duty HQ “makes it easier and straightforward” to jump into Call of Duty games, but there are video tutorials on YouTube on how to access game modes.”

For context, HQ serves as a central hub for COD. Players launch one title. From there, they can choose to access Modern Warfare 2, Warzone, or Modern Warfare 3. But instead of simplifying the process, some community members have argued that finding where they are going is more confusing than ever.

DMZ content creator Westie responded: “The UI is shocking. Endless horizontal and vertical scrolling. Just make the boxes smaller.”

A second user included an image of a tutorial to find the MW2 Campaign with over 100,000 views and used that as evidence to suggest HQ is not doing its job.

To really hammer the point home, a third player claimed: “It’s the most annoying, confusing interface in COD history.”

Activision has not revealed any plans to rework HQ, but it’s clear that Modern Warfare 2 community members want to see significant change before giving the feature any sort of praise.