Cole Burton, Associate Writer

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Night Vision Goggles Review

This review is long overdue. I made an unboxing video of my Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition and showed off the night vision goggles, but I still haven't said if they are any good, or just a waste of an extra $70.00. Let's find out how this crazy idea of Infinity Ward's turned out.

First, I want to discuss the Captain "Soap" McTavish head. The face looks very little like Soap if you ask me, however, since the NVGs are on him most of the time it doesn't really matter. Each plate for every prestige edition is individually numbered (my number is 193432). The plate has the Infinity Ward logo and four fake screws, which are the exact same color as the plate. Even though the screws are fake, they are plastic so you can still twist and turn them around; but you can't remove them. When the NVGs are resting on the head, they look great on display and are very flashy. However, they might as well be resting on anything since you can't make out any facial features and the Infinity Ward logo is blocked. Even so, the head is a great feature.

I figured the best time to test these babies was at 1:00 AM. The Night Vision Goggles are Infinity Ward branded with their logo and have Modern Warfare 2's "MW2" abbreviation. They have three switches. One is for the display color: green or black and white. The one next to it is for the distance: long range or short range. The final switch is the on/off, and is the only horizontal switch while the other two are vertical. When looking right at the night vision goggles, you can see seven lights surrounding the center hole that will be your tunnel of vision. To the right of that are five more lights surrounding a very small circle. It seems to me that those are just for show. There are also many knobs and similar designs thrown into the goggles, but only one of them does anything, and by anything, I mean very little. When wearing the goggles, you can turn the knob and you will see the lenses move in and out, perhaps trying to focus on something, but I have yet to find a situation where that pays off. There are also two little buttons on the straps to loosen or tighten the head strap. It works out really well, just hold in a button and then pull from one side or the other.

And now, what you've all been waiting for, are the NVGs any good at all? This may be one of the biggest shock to the gaming world, but yes! They work amazingly well. The bad news is that they take eight AA batteries, but they really pay off. I can't say how long they last, but I can say this, they have lasted me from November 11th, 2009 to January 31st, 2010. When wearing the goggles, you can't see anything at all with them turned off. When they are on your head, it is easy to change the display, distance, or turn them off or on because the three switches are close together in an easy to reach location. When using the goggles, I put them on long distance even when I am close to something because all the distance does is amplify the light more. Meaning, the batteries drain faster but the lights are brighter. When choosing my color I use "Night Vision Green" because I prefer how it looks to "B&W." In addition to seeing in the dark, you can see farther. For example, when I stand in the back of my room with the lights out, I can see my video game consoles, but I can't tell them from each other. When wearing these, I can see the crack-like design on my Atari 2600. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

That's about all there is to say. I was afraid that a pair of NVGs for about $65.00 after taking the Hardened edition out of the equation for $80.00 and about $5.00 for the plastic Soap head would be pretty much near unusable. Leave it to Infinity Ward to impress us all yet again. These NVGs were worth every penny!