CoD Modern Warfare 2 Preview: Campaign & multiplayer unite

Campaign, multiplayer, co-op and Warzone make a serious splash together.

For a game that’s both a sequel and a reimaging of another sequel from 2009, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 endeavours to be genuine and personal in its mission to up the ante. Modern Warfare’s reboot was about being uncomfortable and provocative. Its purpose was to be entertaining, fun and addictive, to be sure. But its intent was to turn a mirror on the horrors of war through the eyes of individuals.

Modern Warfare 2 hasn’t simply dialled up the action and called it a day. It’s carefully following the acclaimed path of its predecessor, but if anything, is focused even more deeply on the humanity of war. The heroes who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. The real people.

A lot has changed since Modern Warfare 2019, as Infinity Ward called it in a presentation to Stevivor that would have been at, or across the road from, E3 in years gone by. That must make this follow up Modern Warfare 2 2022. In just three years we’ve changed how we live and work through a global pandemic; we’re well into a new console generation that’s shacked by supply constraints; and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine necessitates respectful delicacy from a game focused on current-day warfare.

Call of Duty United

I’ve spoken to a lot of Call of Duty developers in my time and I’ve always been disheartened to hear them speak frankly about how few COD players actually finish – or even start – the campaign. It’s probably why Activision was willing to experiment with dropping it in Black Ops 4, which left it feeling incomplete.

To its live audience behind the camera, Infinity Ward’s preamble repeatedly touched upon how it wasn’t sure how many of them were campaign players, but proudly professed that it was going to start there anyway. As it should; the campaign is at the heart of the Modern Warfare series. But as they ran us through tantalising tidbits and intricacies, it became clear they weren’t only unveiling the campaign.

Modern Warfare 2 2022 is a unified Call of Duty experience. There’s always a cross-mode focus — this year it’s putting water everywhere — but it goes beyond that. All the enhancements to gameplay, from the small new features you’ll never really notice to how maps are constructed, are being designed around the game as a whole — not one game with three independent modes and a free-to-play spin-off.

CoD has always been presented in snippets, clearly designated as campaign, multiplayer and co-op (with or without zombies). While they’re doing it wrong, I can understand why so many players go straight to multiplayer and never venture towards campaign when they’ve felt distinct. Modern Warfare 2 couldn’t do more to address the disconnect. No matter what mode you’re playing, including the upcoming yet-to-be-named Warzone 2, it’s all happening with the same mechanics, in the same MWII universe.

Modern Warfare 2 campaign reunites some old friends

Like its predecessor, Modern Warfare 2 2022 is a reimagining of Modern Warfare 2, not a pure remake. It picks up three years after the 2019 game, with Task Force 141 now fully operational all over the world.

Captain Price and Kyle ‘Gaz’ Garrick lead a cast of returning characters, who are joined by some new, familiar faces. Modern Warfare stalwarts Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley and John ‘Soap’ McTavish make their debuts in this refreshed Modern Warfare timeline, and there’s something nostalgically reassuring about Price exclaiming “SOAP!”

While Call of Duty’s larger multiplayer maps and the emergence of Warzone are bigger than ever before, from what we saw, the campaign isn’t afraid to go smaller. The first mission in a hands-off gameplay demo, Nightwar, was reminiscent of the tight corridors in Town House, used to demonstrate close quarters in Modern Warfare 2019.

It followed a very similar script, with Price leading Soap and a small squad under night vision. Shortly after, COD’s signature helicopter crash entered the fray, but this time it wasn’t an explosive set piece, and your character wasn’t aboard. Rather, you watched as a flat-footed bystander who would later have to investigate, knowing he had just seen his mates go down. A different vantage point sets the tone for an even more personal Modern Warfare.

Without time to dwell, we watched Price and his men infiltrate one building, slowly and methodically, knowing they probably weren’t all going to make it out the other side. It diverted from the 2019 scenario, as the squad moved outside into an expansive open area, where enemies could have lain in wait, to reach a second building in close confines, and eventually the burning remains of the chopper. It brings together a nice mix of close and personal encounters, with the larger scale battles Call of Duty tends to put on its showreel.

The second mission, Wet Work set in Amsterdam, reminded me of Raven’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. It’s more special ops than all out warfare, as Price and Gaz begin their mission floating in wetsuits, spying a barge as their target. Splitting up, Gaz had to clear the docks using knives and silenced handguns, remaining in stealth for as long as possible by using the water, and an excellent lung capacity, to his advantage.

Like Cold War, it felt like one man against the odds, with just enough freedom in routes past anchored boats to give you some options. Infinity Ward’s theme for MWII is, “do you need to become the thing you’re trying to destroy in order to defeat it?” Wet Work felt very Jack Bauer, and so does that tagline.

These missions all promise much more realistic AI enemies. They’re not just goons to slaughter. Infinity Ward wants them to belong in the world by being aware of their surroundings, caring about each other, and acting like they actually live in this tormented world outside of combat — and that means more than some playful banter. To avoid them becoming fodder invitingly popping their head out of cover, the developers captured the movements of real military completing a training course designed around checking your corners and being cautious. It recreated the same course, played by the AI, to get them to actually value their lives. This time, the enemy is going to try and avoid being hit.

Soap, you’re going to get wet

Wet Work was selected to make a splash. Previous Call of Duty games have avoided using many wet environments because the teams didn’t think they could do it justice. Infinity Ward is all in, putting significant resources into how water behaves, influences people and the environment, and can be used for and against you. Expect to see it all over Modern Warfare 2’s modes, missions and maps.

Weapon ballistics are different under water. It slows down bullets, allowing a last resort cover, but also requires you to use more ammo and be restricted to melee weapons and handguns if you must fire while submerged.

All items are configured to work on land or on water, with a proximity mine used as an example. It deploys small floaties if thrown on water so it can be used to destroy boats or amphibious vehicles – and yes, there are a few that can be driven seamlessly across land and water.

All of this applies to campaign and multiplayer. While previous CODs have given us some cool toys that only work in a specific mission, prepare to get wet and use your soggy equipment across every Modern Warfare 2 mode.

Multiplayer for the masses

Infinity Ward’s presentation felt more grounded than previous Call of Duty previews, being realistic and honest about what the studio is trying to achieve without overembellishing. It couldn’t help but fall into old habits with the odd “our most ambitious ever,” but mostly made light of how meaningless such remarks have become.

The truly ambitious promise was the one left intentionally vague. Its dogma, as they called it, is the ideal scenario where all players can play together. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a fairly competitive Call of Duty player who knows how to get kills and when it’s right to capture B. But there are millions of casual players who aren’t so familiar, and historically, the two shall never meet.

That’s about to change.

Modern Warfare 2 aims to create gameplay where players across the wide spectrum of abilities can play together and still get the experiences they desire. Lesser skilled occasional players don’t want to get destroyed by seasoned regulars, but Infinity Ward says it has a way to allow them to play together in the same environments, in the same modes, and each enjoy their own experiences.

Considering the scale and range of skill levels spanning the Call of Duty audience, this is truly their most ambitious undertaking yet; and potentially game changing in a way we had never really considered. Cross-platform, cross-gen, and now cross-skill, perhaps.

But alas, they bit their tongue and didn’t say how this seemingly impossible goal is going to be accomplished.

Supporting how you play multiplayer

Modern Warfare 2 promises to support how you already play Call of Duty multiplayer. IW is doing that by first identifying the most common types of players in Call of Duty. They are the:

• Rusher: Aggressive players who make up the majority. These are players who want to keep things happening, getting kills and completing objectives. Infinity Ward has often assumed these players want close range weapons, as most of their encounters are in close quarters where those are most effective, but that isn’t how most of this cohort plays. It’s making sure the rushers amongst us are just as well equipped to use the mid-range weapons, which I know I prefer.
• Sentinel: The defensive players who value their lives more than anything else. This can include the pesky snipers who barely move, but it’s much wider than that. Many of these players use LMGs or other mid-range weapons and value taking their time and staying alive.
• Stalker: The weirdo of the bunch who likes to watch, and probably falls somewhere in the middle. These players watch movement and objectives. They’re trying to get kills, but want to give themselves the advantage wherever possible and are willing to wait.

Ensuring all of these player types are accounted for should make a more dynamic experience. You’ll come up against a variety of other players, but the core skill sets should be as polished as they’ve ever been no matter which approach you take — unless you have such an unusual style, Infinity Ward could never have seen you coming.

Maps, big and small

Ground War went big, Warzone went bigger, and core Call of Duty 6v6 felt familiar, but disconnected. As a united experience, Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer maps are being designed more in-sync across the different game modes. There are a couple of biggies for Ground War, but segments of these are also allocated to more traditional multiplayer modes so they aren’t restricted to one or the other.

These big battle maps are designed to feel like an active war. They make use of the new vehicles and their updated mechanics, which most notably includes being able to use a door for cover while you’re driving, so gunplay feels more Call of Duty while behind the wheel. You can now mantle onto a vehicle and leap to another one and take control, across both single and multiplayer, and when it eventually explodes, it’ll leave a charred husk on the battlefield, rather than suddenly disappearing.

These wartime maps are experimenting with different ways to move, with verticality that doesn’t mean jetpacks and double jumping this time. It’s slightly more grounded, with the ability to hang from ledges and peak ahead, rather than leaping directly into enemy fire, and even some rudimentary platforming if you chain a few ledges together.

Alongside the battle maps are a selection of core maps designed especially for the traditional 6v6 gameplay. But as these modes can also be played in segments of the larger maps, these core maps have been designed on a smaller scale with a special ops theme. They should be interesting, but more focused and tighter than past games.

New multiplayer modes

Multiplayer is getting two new modes which sound familiar.

Knockout blends Gunfight with more traditional COD multiplayer, set against the clock. You only have a single life, but it is possible to revive teammates. To win, you either need to kill all enemy players or be holding the bag when the 1-minute timer runs out. While holding it, you’re extremely visible with an icon pinpointing you to everyone. It sounds like a tense matter of trying to stay alive, killing the opposing team, or going for glorying with a giant target on your back.

The second newcomer is Prisoner Rescue, Call of Duty’s take on Rainbow Six Siege: one team spawns with prisoners they have to defend and a small window to setup defences, while the other has to breach and either extract the prisoners or eliminate all of the kidnappers. While more than heavily inspired, I’m looking forward to trying the breach and siege style of play within the Call of Duty rulebook that I’m far more familiar with.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019 had a clear goal that it nailed. Modern Warfare 2 is following the path it started, and I’m looking forward to going hands-on, as Infinity Ward makes its debut on current-gen platforms.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches on 28 October 2022 on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PS5.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 28 October 2022 PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One Xbox Series S & X   Buy on Windows PC via Steam Buy on the Microsoft Store Buy on Amazon: PS4, PS5, Xbox