Infinity Ward, developer of the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, returns with this year’s Modern Warfare 2, after last year’s Call of Duty game came from the series’ other developer, Treyarch. Activision has confidently stated that it expects Modern Warfare to be the biggest games launch ever seen.

It’s a challenge an no mistake, because the original Modern Warfare managed to sell 12 million copies, and what’s more Activision has raised the price for Modern Warfare 2 to a “premium”. So Modern Warfare 2 has to now sell more copies at a higher price.

The good news for gamers in this is that it shows Activision believes it has a very good game on its hands in Modern Warfare 2. As before the game will offer a combination of single player campaign and, the killer feature from the original Modern Warfare, multiplayer.

Multiplayer footage released by Infinity Ward has shown the new chain bonus, and provided evidence as to the quality of the new graphics in Modern Warfare 2. Everything looks more polished, although there remain some doubters about quality.

To our eye, there’s more destructive environments, more details everywhere and smoother animation too. It’s not a million miles away from the original Modern Warfare, and let’s remember it is a sequel, but it does show improvements. The other negative so far is that it will only run in the same resolution as the original – 1024×600 – not true HD.

All that we know about the Single Player game is that gameplay will vary from mission to mission and that the locations will take gamers from Afghanistan and its deserts to Russia and its frozen mountains.

The aim with Modern Warfare 2 looks to have been to improve on every element of the original, so while features and ideas may look similar, everything you’ll find is better. Gamers are likely to find that promise a draw they can’t resist.

Out 10th November 2009, Modern Warfare 2 is to be released on PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360.