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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (previously marketed as simply Modern Warfare 2) is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Officially announced on February 11, 2009, the game is due for worldwide release on November 10, 2009. It is the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series, and the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, continuing along the same storyline.

Modern Warfare 2 will be released in conjunction with two other Call of Duty games: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized for the Nintendo DS, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex, a port of Call of Duty 4 adapted by Treyarch for the Wii console. In addition, a comic book series based on one of the game's characters will also be produced, entitled Modern Warfare 2: Ghost. The developer has stated that the game's proprietary IW 4.0 game engine is an improvement over the engine used in its previous game.

Gameplay

Campaign

In response to questions about the length of the single-player campaign, Infinity Ward CCO Jason West stated that Modern Warfare 2 would not be longer than the 6-10 hour-long campaign of Call of Duty 4. Mission settings in the game will include Russia, a military base in Kazakhstan, a desert area in Afghanistan, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A trailer released on the official Infinity Ward YouTube page teased fighting at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., although it is unknown if the game will feature fighting in that setting . New features include the ability to dual wield handguns.

Special Ops

Modern Warfare 2 will feature a cooperative mode entitled Special Ops, which consists of independent missions similar in design to the "Mile High Club" epilogue mission from Call of Duty 4. These missions will take place in a variety of locations from the campaign mode, but are not related to story of the campaign itself. Special Ops supports cooperative play for up to two players, and can be played alone, in split-screen locally with another player, or online with another player. It includes such scenarios as a snowmobile race, providing airsupport from an AC-130, capturing an enemy compound and fending off a wave of 50 enemies at once.

Special Ops is divided into separate groups of missions with changeable difficulty levels.There are four groups which are Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. There are 23 missions in total and three stars are available for each mission meaning the total number of stars are 69. At the end of each mission, a statistics screen displays how long the player took to complete the level and how many kills were scored. Successfully completing a mission earns the players stars one star for completing it in regular, two for hardened and three for veteran. Once enough stars are earned, more missions are then unlocked.

Online

The online multiplayer mode of Modern Warfare 2 retains the same experience points and unlockable reward system of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but also introduces several new features. Aside from new weapons and equipment, 15 different kill streak rewards can be unlocked and selected by the player. Among these is the ability to receive a supply drop after four kills, a predator missile strike after five kills, and to call in a strike by an AC-130 gunship after achieving 11 enemy kills in a row. It is also now possible to upgrade perks to a "pro version". Another new addition to online multiplayer, is in-game host migration, which means that if the match host leaves the game, players will remain (instead of being reset to the game lobby like in Call of Duty 4) while a new host is selected and the game resumes. There has also been the addition of a new 3rd person mode which can be used in certain game types for multiplayer. Game modes include Free-For-All, Search & Destroy, Demolition, Domination, Team Deathmatch, and Capture The Flag. For the PC version, Infinity Ward decided to implement a matchmaking service similar to what console versions have: the IWNET working through Steam. This system however takes away the dedicated servers which means there will be no more mods or community made maps. Also, since the multiplayer runs with Steam, the PunkBuster anti-cheat system has been replaced by VAC.

Synopsis

Characters

During the single-player campaign, the player will take on the role of Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, a member of an elite, multinational commando unit known as Task Force 141. The player character in Call of Duty 4, Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, returns as a non-playable character; promoted to captain in the Special Air Service, MacTavish is now the head of the Task Force and Sanderson's superior officer. A third member of the Task Force is Ghost, a mysterious character who conceals his face with a skull-imprinted balaclava.

Plot

Modern Warfare 2 is set several years after the conclusion of Call of Duty 4. The radical Russian Ultranationalist organization has returned to prominence under the leadership of Vladimir Makarov, a former associate of Imran Zakhaev with his own ambitions. Makarov has publicized Zakhaev's death as an act of martyrdom to garner support for his cause, enabling him to build a strong power base in Russia over the years. Fearful of Makarov's growing influence, the global community established Task Force 141 to counter the threat posed by the resurgent Ultranationalists.

An early campaign mission called "Cliffhanger" was demonstrated during E3 2009, following the player character Sergeant Sanderson as he and Captain MacTavish infiltrated a Russian base in the Tian Shan mountain range in Kazakhstan and escaped on snowmobiles.

Development

Modern Warfare 2 was originally referred to under the working title Call of Duty 6. The game was first announced under the title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by Activision on December 3, 2008. Activision subsequently retracted their announcement, stating that any information about an upcoming Call of Duty game was "speculative"; Infinity Ward also asserted that they had not officially confirmed their latest project at that time. On February 11, 2009, Activision officially announced Modern Warfare 2 and set a tentative release date for "Holiday 2009." The game has been tested in an internal beta by the development team. While both Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty: World at War have been preceded by public multiplayer betas, Infinity Ward's Community Manager Robert Bowling has stated that no public beta will be released for Modern Warfare 2 unless it was determined that the internal beta did not provide adequate feedback.

The announcement made in October 2009 that the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 would not support the use of user-run dedicated servers was badly received by the majority of the PC community. The resulting negative response to reinstate dedicated servers by some of the community drew Infinity Ward's own response on the matter in an effort to put the community at ease. Currently a petition and boycott has been organized in an attempt to have the decision reversed.

Audio

Voice actor Ken Lally, who has previously provided motion capture work for the Resident Evil 5 character Albert Wesker, confirmed that he provided voice work for Modern Warfare 2; his role in the game was not specified. 50 Cent will provide voice work for the Special Ops and multiplayer modes, playing as "one of the squad voices." On August 20, 2009, Robert Bowling revealed through Twitter that Kevin McKidd, Craig Fairbrass, Barry Pepper, Keith David, and Glenn Morshower are confirmed voice actors for the game. It has been confirmed that McKidd will voice "Soap" MacTavish. Billy Murray has also confirmed that he will be back to reprise his role as Captain Price from the first game.

Game engine

The game utilizes the in-house IW 4.0 game engine, which is claimed to be a generation beyond the capabilities of the engine used in Call of Duty 4. The new engine can accommodate larger worlds, enhanced graphic detail, and more efficient rendering.

Infinity Ward has addressed the issue of enemies that continually respawn at different points of a level. The developer demonstrated that the game engine uses a "dynamic AI," which has replaced the respawn system and allows enemies to act more independently. These "smarter" enemies are designed to actively seek and drive the player forward through a level, and can break away from set behaviors such as following a designated route in order to attack more quickly. The player cannot depend on an enemy being in the same location because enemies will behave differently each time a level is played.

Marketing and release

On March 25, 2009, a teaser trailer for the game was revealed at the Game Developer Choice Awards ceremony in San Francisco. The teaser was also posted on Infinity Ward's website. The teaser was also released on the Xbox Live Marketplace and on the PlayStation Network a short time later. A second teaser was released on May 10, 2009, showing gameplay features such as snowmobile driving and an underwater mission. The teaser announced that the game would be "revealed" on TNT during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on May 24, 2009. The "reveal" was the first full-length trailer, which debuted extended sequences of actual in-game scenes and combat; the trailer was subsequently made available on the Modern Warfare 2 official website, which was updated for the occasion. A fourth trailer was released on July 27, 2009, showing the first footage of the game's multiplayer mode. On October 4, 2009, a second full-length cinematic trailer was released which revealed that part of the game would take place in a war-torn Washington, D.C.

On July 21, 2009, Robert Bowling revealed through Twitter that a Modern Warfare 2 controller was in the works. Peripherals manufacturer Mad Catz was contracted by Activision to create a line of Modern Warfare 2 controllers and accessories for all platforms that the game will be available on.

Activision stated in its quarterly earnings report that pre-orders for the game had broken a company record; more copies of Modern Warfare 2 had been pre-ordered than any other game that the company had published.

In September 2009, Monster Energy teamed up with Activision to bring special redeemable codes on the Monster Energy website where people can submit code's included in Monster Energy packs to redeem things such as Xbox 360 Premium Themes and a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Map Pack code.

Concerns arose about an early mission in the game involving the apparent killing of civilians. Activision responded, explaining the context of the mission, as well as the portion with "disturbing elements" is optional.

Title

The original teaser trailer announced the release date for the game to be November 10, 2009, and confirmed that the game's title of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was officially shortened to just Modern Warfare 2. After photographs of the official retail boxes were posted by Robert Bowling, Activision confirmed that the standard-edition Modern Warfare 2 packaging will feature the Call of Duty brand logo in order to reflect the game's association with the Call of Duty franchise. It is speculated that the decision was influenced by findings that brand awareness for the game was significantly lower without the Call of Duty brand. The developers however still prefer to simply call it Modern Warfare 2 as they consider it as a new IP.

Retail versions

Modern Warfare 2 will be released in four different retail versions across the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms: Standard, Hardened, Veteran, and Prestige. The standard version consists of the game and instructional manual, and will be the only version available for the Microsoft Windows platform. The Hardened Edition consists of the game and manual packaged in a steel book case, an art book, and a token to download the original Call of Duty from Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Store. The Prestige Edition contains all of the elements of the Hardened Edition, but will also include fully-functioning night vision goggles, imprinted with the Modern Warfare 2 logo and a stand modeled after the head of character "Soap" MacTavish.

On September 15, 2009 Activision and Microsoft jointly announced a special limited edition version of the Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard disk for Modern Warfare 2. The unit is highlighted by special game product branding and includes two wireless controllers and a headset. This is the first Xbox 360 announced to come with a 250GB hard drive.

On September 18, the UK retailer GAME announced a Veteran Edition of Modern Warfare 2 exclusively for the UK, pricing at £120 it will come with a 12" (30.5 cm) tall statue of "Soap" MacTavish with interchangeable arms and weapons; it also has the same contents as the Hardened Edition. In September 2009, on the US EBGames website a Veteran Statue Bundle of Modern Warfare 2 was posted on the website. This bundle is selling for $139.98 USD and is available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and the PC.

Downloadable content

Activision announced that two downloadable map packs will be released for Modern Warfare 2. Microsoft stated at E3 2009 that these map packs would be made available for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live before they would be released for other platforms. Robert Bowling said that community response to the game and the first two downloadable map packs would be used in designing other potential map packs.

Comic

A six-part comic book mini-series related to the game will also be produced. Announced by Robert Bowling on August 17, 2009, Modern Warfare 2: Ghost will focus on the backstory of the character Ghost, who appears in the video game. The series will be published by WildStorm and a release date has yet to be revealed.

References

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External links

• Modern Warfare 2 official website
• Infinity Ward official website
• Modern Warfare 2 on the Call of Duty Wiki, an external wiki

• 2009 video games
• Activision games
• Call of Duty series
• Cooperative video games
• First-person shooters
• First-person shooter multiplayer online games
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• Video game sequels
• Video games developed in the United States
• Video games set in Washington, D.C.
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