Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the sixth installment in the Call of Duty series and the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It was released worldwide on November 10, 2009, for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. A separate version for the Nintendo DS, titled Modern Warfare: Mobilized, was also released on the same day. A version for OS X was developed by Aspyr and released in May 2014, and the Xbox 360 version was made backward compatible for the Xbox One in 2018.
This article is about the sixth installment in the Call of Duty series. For the Nintendo DS version of the game, see Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized. For the 2022 reboot sequel, see Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022 video game).Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Infinity Ward
Beenox (Campaign Remastered)
Mark Rubin
- Todd Alderman[1]
- Steve Fukuda
- Mackey McCandlish
- Zied Rieke
Richard Kriegler
Jesse Stern
Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
November 10, 2009
OS X
May 20, 2014
Campaign Remastered
PlayStation 4
March 30, 2020
Windows, Xbox One
April 30, 2020
The game's campaign follows Task Force 141, a multinational special forces unit commanded by Captain Soap MacTavish as they hunt Vladimir Makarov, leader of the Russian Ultranationalist party, and United States Army Rangers from the 1st Ranger Battalion who are defending the Washington, D.C. area from a Russian invasion. The game's main playable characters are Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, of the 141, and Private James Ramirez, of the Army Rangers, with Captain MacTavish becoming playable later in the campaign. The multiplayer mode was expanded upon from the previous game, with several new features and modes.
Development for the game began in 2008, when it was still known as Call of Duty 6. It uses the IW 4.0 engine, an improved version of Call of Duty 4's IW 3.0. Infinity Ward was inspired by real-life conflicts when developing the campaign mode. They initially tested the multiplayer mode by playing an in-house beta version of the game. Modern Warfare 2 was officially announced in February 2009. Teasing of the game began in March, with short trailers being released for the game and, eventually, a full reveal trailer. The multiplayer mode was revealed shortly after. Two downloadable content packs were released for it post-release, each containing five new multiplayer maps, with some being remastered maps from Call of Duty 4.
Modern Warfare 2 received universal acclaim, with praise for its campaign, multiplayer, and amount of content, although it received some criticism for its short length and a lack of innovation. The game was also subject to a controversy surrounding a playable level that had the player carry out a terrorist attack on an airport. Within 24 hours of release, the game sold approximately 4.7 million copies in North America and the United Kingdom ending as the best-selling video game in 2009 in the USA. As of 2013, the game had sold 22.7 million copies becoming one of the best-selling PlayStation 3 video games and best-selling Xbox 360 video games. In addition to its release, a comic book series based on character Simon "Ghost" Riley was also produced, titled Modern Warfare 2: Ghost. A sequel, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, was released in 2011 and finishes the original Modern Warfare storyline. A remaster of the game's campaign, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered, was released on the PlayStation 4 in March 2020 and April 2020 for Windows and Xbox One.
Plot
Characters and setting
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 takes place five years after the events of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. During the single-player campaign, the player controls five different characters from a first-person perspective. The player primarily controls Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, a British member of an international special forces unit named Task Force 141. In addition to Roach, the player will also assume control of Private First Class Joseph Allen and James Ramirez of the 1st Ranger Battalion. The now Captain John "Soap" MacTavish serves as a senior member of Task Force 141, acting as Roach's superior officer, and becomes the playable character in the final three missions of the game. Lastly, the player briefly assumes the role of an astronaut stationed on the International Space Station during the height of the war between the United States and Russia.
The game's non-playable characters (NPCs) feature prominently in the story. For Task Force 141, Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley, a British operator who conceals his face with a skull print balaclava, serves as Soap's second-in-command. For the US Army Rangers, Sergeant Foley, along with his subordinate, Corporal Dunn, is initially Joseph Allen's squad leader, and becomes James Ramirez's squad leader later in the story. Lieutenant General Shepherd is the commander of the Army Rangers and Task Force 141. Other supporting characters returning from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare include Captain John Price, MacTavish's former commanding officer in the British Special Air Service, and Russian informant turned mercenary pilot "Nikolai." Locations featured in the game include Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil, the United States, Georgia, and outer space.
Story
Five years after preventing a nuclear war by the SAS and the Force Recon[c], the Ultranationalists have ultimately seized control of Russia and Imran Zakhaev becomes a martyr. Diplomatic relations with the United States plummet, while Vladimir Makarov, an Ultranationalist extremist and Zakhaev's protege, commits to a campaign of vengeance against the West with acts of terrorism. In 2016, Private First Class Joseph Allen impresses US Army Lieutenant General Shepherd with his acts with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan, and is subsequently inducted into Task Force 141. He is then embedded with the CIA and adopts a secret identity to infiltrate Makarov's terrorist cell, leading to him participating in a mass shooting at an airport in Moscow, killing hundreds of Russian civilians. However, Makarov, aware of Allen's true identity, kills him, and leaves his body behind to implicate the United States in the attack.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson and Captain John "Soap" MacTavish secure an Attack Characterization System (ACS) module from a downed American satellite that had been retrieved by Russian forces at an airbase in the Tian Shan range. In the aftermath of the airport massacre, Soap, Roach, Ghost, and several other members of Task Force 141 are sent to Rio de Janeiro to capture Alejandro Rojas, Makarov's arms dealer, and succeed after an intense pursuit through a favela.
In retaliation for the airport massacre, Russia launches a surprise invasion on the Eastern Seaboard, facilitated by their earlier capture of the ACS module, which allowed them to disable American satellites over North America, leaving NORAD blind. 75th Ranger Regiment platoon Hunter Two-One, including Sergeant Foley and Private First-Class James Ramirez, defend the Washington metropolitan area while helping evacuate civilians and high-profile targets before holding out against Russian forces in Washington, D.C..
Under interrogation, Rojas reveals that the only person Makarov hates more than Americans is an individual known as "Prisoner 627", imprisoned in a gulag in Kamchatka Krai. Intending to use 627 as bait for the terrorist, Task Force 141 breaks into the prison and rescues the prisoner, who is revealed to be Captain John Price[d]. Price rejoins Task Force 141, and in an effort to give American forces a much-needed advantage in repulsing the invasion, leads a raid on a Russian nuclear submarine and launches an SLBM which detonates above D.C. in the upper atmosphere, destroying the International Space Station in the process. The blast creates a massive electromagnetic pulse, disabling all electronic equipment, but gives the American force the upper hand. They launch a counterattack to saves the White House from a US Air Force bombing run to deny the city to the Russians. Other high-value locations are recaptured by the Americans, successfully regaining control over the city.
Task Force 141 splits up and sent to two separate locations in search of Makarov—Roach and Ghost lead half of the team to a safehouse on the Georgia–Russia border, while Soap and Price lead the other half to an aircraft boneyard in Afghanistan. Although Makarov is not at the safehouse, the team finds a wealth of intelligence, which they download onto a hard drive before reaching the extraction point. Upon being rescued by General Shepherd, he suddenly executes Roach and Ghost while members of Shadow Company, a private military company hired by Shepherd, wipe out the rest of the unit. Meanwhile, Soap and Price manage to escape with Nikolai's help.
In the face of a mutual enemy, 141 and Makarov forge a temporary truce, and Makarov reveals Shepherd's location to them; Price and Soap launch a suicide mission to exact revenge on Shepherd, infiltrating his base in Afghanistan. After a lengthy pursuit, the duo corner the general, but Soap is stabbed in the chest. As Shepherd prepares to execute Soap, he reveals that he was the commanding officer of the thirty thousand men who died to Al-Asad's nuke in 2011, and that he revealed Allen's true identity to Makarov to start a war with Russia and become a war hero, betraying Task Force 141 to cover this up. Price then intervenes and engages in a fistfight with Shepherd, giving Soap enough time to pull the knife from his chest and throw it at Shepherd, killing him. Nikolai arrives by helicopter and evacuates Price and Soap, leading them to a safe place.[e]