''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' is a 2022
first-person shooter game developed by
Infinity Ward
Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game ''Call of Duty'', along with seven other installments in the ''Call of Duty'' series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity Ward ...
and published by
Activision. It is a sequel to
the 2019 reboot, and serves as the nineteenth installment in the overall ''
Call of Duty
''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...
'' series.
It was released on October 28, 2022, for the
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
,
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...
,
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...
.
Like its predecessor, the game takes place in a realistic and modern setting. The campaign follows multinational unit Task Force 141 and
Mexican Special Forces
In Mexico, both the army and navy have special forces groups or elite units.
Army Special Forces
The Army has a Special Forces Corps unified command consisting of three Special Forces Brigades, a High Command GAFE (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Esp ...
unit Los Vaqueros as they attempt to track down Iranian
Quds Force major and terrorist Hassan Zyani, who is in possession of American-made
ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...
s. The game's main playable characters are
John "Soap" MacTavish and Kyle "Gaz" Garrick of Task Force 141. Running on a new version of the
IW engine,
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode supports
cross-platform multiplayer and features a
free-to-play battle royale mode, ''
Warzone 2.0'', a follow-up to the original ''
Warzone''.
''Modern Warfare II'' received generally favorable reviews from critics. However it has been panned much of its player base as slow and clunky. There has been a massive drop-off in players since launch, and many have since moved on to other games. It was a commercial success and broke several records for the series, including becoming the fastest ''Call of Duty'' game to generate in revenue.
Gameplay
''Modern Warfare II'' introduces several design improvements and changes to the series gameplay, such as advanced AI systems in the campaign and co-op modes, water physics, swimming mechanics, and an overhauled vehicle system. New gameplay features and movement tactics include dive to prone, mantle, and ledge hang along with the removal of slide canceling. New vehicle gameplay features include leaning out of vehicle windows, mantling onto a vehicle roof, and hijacking.
The levelling and Gunsmith system has been revamped, allowing players to fine-tune specific attachments to suit their playstyles. It also offers weapon platforms that branch progression to reduce repetitiveness, as well as featuring a firing range for practice.
''Modern Warfare II'' multiplayer features several new game modes: Knockout, in which two teams attempt to capture a package with limited lives; and Prisoner Rescue, in which an attacking team attempts to extract a hostage while a defending team prevents them by fortifying defenses around the hostage.
Third-person game modes were confirmed in September 2022. The cooperative Special Ops mode also returns, featuring two-player missions, with an additional 3-player activity called Raids set to be released post-launch.
Like the previous game, ''Modern Warfare II'' features a free-to-play
battle royale game mode called ''
Warzone 2.0'', which is introduced with the first seasonal content update for the game on November 16. In addition to the traditional battle royale mode, ''Warzone 2.0'' also introduces DMZ, a new extraction game mode in which teams of trios battle against each other as well as AI combatants, while attempting to complete missions and extract loot from the playable map.
Plot
Characters and settings
''Modern Warfare II'' is a continuation of the
2019 reboot entry, with the campaign taking place in late 2022. The central protagonists of the game are Task Force 141, a multi-national special operations unit formed by
SAS
SAS or Sas may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers
* ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series
* Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...
Captain John Price (
Barry Sloane), comprising: Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick (
Elliot Knight
Elliot Knight is an English actor. He made his acting debut as the title character on the Sky1 action-adventure series '' Sinbad'' (2012). Continuing to work on television, Knight appeared as a series regular on the BBC One crime drama '' By Any ...
), Lieutenant
Simon "Ghost" Riley (
Samuel Roukin
Samuel Roukin (ROO-kin; born 15 August 1980) is an English actor and DJ. He is best known for his role as John Graves Simcoe in the series, '' Turn: Washington's Spies'' and Simon "Ghost" Riley in ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.''
Early li ...
), and Sergeant
John "Soap" MacTavish (Neil Ellice). Throughout the course of the story, Task Force 141 is supported by several allies:
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
Station Chief Kate Laswell (
Rya Kihlstedt), Russian
private military company leader "Nikolai" (
Stefan Kapičić
Stefan Kapičić (; born 1 December 1978) is a Serbian actor best known for his role of Colossus in ''Deadpool'' (2016) and ''Deadpool 2'' (2018). He is also one of three members of the Council for Film Industry of Montenegro.
Early life
Kapič ...
), Urzikstan Liberation Force Commander Farah Karim (
Claudia Doumit
Claudia Doumit is an Australian actress. She portrayed Jiya Marri in the NBC series '' Timeless'' and is best known for her portrayal of Farah Karim from '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' and Victoria Neuman from the Amazon Prime Video original ...
),
Mexican Special Forces
In Mexico, both the army and navy have special forces groups or elite units.
Army Special Forces
The Army has a Special Forces Corps unified command consisting of three Special Forces Brigades, a High Command GAFE (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Esp ...
Colonel Alejandro Vargas (Alain Mesa) and Sergeant Major Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra (Bayardo De Murguia), Shadow Company PMC Commander Phillip Graves (
Warren Kole), and
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
General Shepherd (
Glenn Morshower). The primary antagonist of ''Modern Warfare II'' is Major Hassan Zyani (Ibrahim Renno), an Iranian
Quds Force officer who is allied with the Urzik terrorist organization Al-Qatala, and is supported by the Las Almas Cartel. The cartel is controlled by ''sicaria'' Valeria Garza (
María Elisa Camargo
María Elisa Camargo (; born in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian actress and activist. She started out as a contestant on The X Factor Colombia. She decided to knock on doors and start appearing in musical telenovelas after studying theatre as ...
), who hides her identity using the alias "El Sin Nombre" (''lit. Him without (a) name / The Nameless'').
The game takes place in both real and fictional locations, such as fictional Mexican city of Las Almas,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
Mexico–United States border
The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...
,
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Urzikstan, and the new United Republic of Adal (URA), the capital of which, Al Mazrah, serves as a major locale within the campaign and multiplayer modes, as well as the new map for the free-to-play ''
Warzone 2.0''. The game's plot is partly based on real-life events, such as the
assassination of Qasem Soleimani.
The Special Ops and Multiplayer seasonal story takes place after the campaign, and features a cast of multi-national operators working under two major factions, SpecGru and KorTac Group, both of which are private military companies. Both factions undertake new covert operations, overseen by Laswell, taking place within the vicinity of Al Mazrah. Alex Keller (
Chad Michael Collins
Chad Michael Collins (born September 22, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for his leading role in the ''Sniper'' film series.
Biography
He graduated from college in New York before moving to Los Angeles. He then started taking act ...
), a protagonist of the ''Modern Warfare'' (2019) campaign and seasonal story, returns in the Special Ops Raid mode.
Synopsis
Campaign
In July 2022, an American ballistic missile strike assassinates Iranian general Ghorbrani during an arms deal in Al Mazrah, his second-in-command,
Quds Force Major Hassan Zyani, becomes involved in funding terrorist activity over several months and seeks revenge on the United States. His activities draw the attention of Shepherd and CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell, ordering Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish to apprehend Hassan in Al Mazrah. Hassan has already fled the area, with Ghost and Soap discovering that he was in possession of an American-made ballistic missile.
Laswell, Captain John Price, and Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick pursue one of Hassan's couriers in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, learning that Hassan has allied with the Las Almas cartel and is in Mexico. After a failed attempt to apprehend Hassan at the
US-Mexican border,
Mexican Special Forces
In Mexico, both the army and navy have special forces groups or elite units.
Army Special Forces
The Army has a Special Forces Corps unified command consisting of three Special Forces Brigades, a High Command GAFE (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Esp ...
Colonel Alejandro Vargas and his second-in-command Sergeant Major Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra participate in a joint operation with Ghost, Soap, and Shadow Company to capture Hassan. Although successful, they are forced to release him from captivity to avoid political fallout while placing a tracking device on his cell phone.
Hassan's traced phone call leads Price, Laswell, and Gaz to Spain. Where Laswell is captured by Al-Qatala forces, prompting Price and Gaz to save her in Urzikstan, with the aid of their old allies "Nikolai" and Farah Karim. Meanwhile, Vargas and Soap infiltrate a Las Almas meeting to identify their leader, El Sin Nombre, revealed to be Vargas' former teammate Valeria Garza. Valeria reveals the location of the missiles. A raid led by Task Force 141 , Shadow Company , and Vargas has the joint task force prevent a missile launch. Despite the successful mission, Graves and Shadow Company betray Vargas and Task Force 141 under Shepherd's order. Graves captures and imprisons Vargas while Ghost and Soap flee . With help from Parra, Laswell, Price, and Gaz, Ghost and Soap free Vargas and his soldiers.
Laswell reveals that Shepherd and Graves were responsible for a illegal transportation mission, that was transporting ballistic missiles. The transport was ambushed by Russian PMC , which led to the three ballistic missiles being stolen , forcing Shepherd to cover up the mission's failure. Price confronts Shepherd over the revelations , promising to pursue him when threat is eliminated. Task Force 141 and their Mexican Special Forces allies succeed in killing Graves and learn that Hassan is in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. The team thwarts his plan and kills him.
In the aftermath , Shepherd has gone into hiding, while Laswell informs Task Force 141 of the new leader of Russian Ultranationalists, Vladimir Makarov. Meanwhile, a Russian terrorist cell receive a text from Makarov, telling them
not to speak Russian as they hijack a plane.
Special Ops
Some time after Hassan's death, Laswell starts to oversee new covert operations in Al Mazrah , in an effort to further undermine Al-Qatala activities.
In December 2022, Laswell tasks Price, Gaz, and Farah with investigating the disappearance of former CIA officer Alex Keller, who was sent by Farah alongside several ULF fighters to infiltrate a recently-discovered Soviet-era bunker in the Sattiq mountains in Urzikstan. they learn that the bunker houses a Soviet-made thermonuclear missile, while Farah's fighters were killed, Alex remains missing.
Development
''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' was developed by
Infinity Ward
Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game ''Call of Duty'', along with seven other installments in the ''Call of Duty'' series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity Ward ...
alongside a new version of the
battle royale title ''
Call of Duty: Warzone'', later revealed to be titled ''
Warzone 2.0'', with both games using a new version of the
IW engine, and will be under a single cross-game launcher known as ''Call of Duty HQ''.
The new upgraded engine features a physically based material system, a new hybrid tile-based streaming system, a new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, 4K HDR, as well as a new GPU geometry pipeline.
The game features
Activision's proprietary Ricochet Anti-Cheat at launch.
Audio
Sarah Schachner
Sarah Schachner is an American composer and musician who has worked on the scores of films, television series and video games.
Biography
Schachner grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. When she was five, she first started playing piano and ...
, who composed the score for Infinity Ward's previous two ''Call of Duty'' titles, ''
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare'' and ''Modern Warfare'', returned to compose the score for the game.
Marketing
Reveal
In February 2022, Activision confirmed that a sequel to ''
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' would be released later that year, alongside a new iteration of ''
Call of Duty: Warzone''.
The game's title, ''Modern Warfare II'', was revealed in April 2022.
A month later, Activision released another teaser, which featured the key arts of the main characters of the game, as well as a release date of October 28, 2022.
On June 2, 2022, a live-action trailer was released, on the same day,
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
responded to a tweet from the official ''Call of Duty''
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account, strongly suggesting the game would be released on
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
via the Steam platform, in addition to
Battle.net
Battle.net is an Internet-based online game, social networking service, digital distribution, and digital rights management platform developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The service was launched on December 31, 1996, followed a few days later ...
.
The first trailer for the game was released on June 8, showcasing gameplay from the campaign mode, as well as confirming the game's release on Steam, Battle.net, and the
eighth and
ninth generation consoles.
''Modern Warfare II'' marks the first time since 2017's ''
Call of Duty: WWII'' that a ''Call of Duty'' title released on the Steam platform. In September 2022, Activision held the "Call of Duty Next" showcase where they revealed a multiplayer gameplay trailer, details on the Spec Ops mode, ''
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0'', and the DMZ extraction game mode.
Release
The multiplayer beta for ''Modern Warfare II'' started for
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...
players on September 16, and for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...
players on September 22. The beta officially ended on September 26 at 3pm EDT across all platforms before the launch on October 28, 2022. Pre-orders of all editions grant "early" access to the open multiplayer beta. The Vault Edition grants access to a "Red Team 141" operator pack, a "FJX Cinder Weapon Vault" pack, plus access to the Battle Pass of a Season for ''Modern Warfare II'' (dependent on the time of purchase), and double XP tokens. In addition, the Vault Edition also includes the "Ghost Legacy Pack", which grants 12 Ghost operator skins and 10 weapon blueprints for the
M4A1
The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle.
The M4 is extensively us ...
assault rifle for use in ''
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' and ''
Call of Duty: Warzone''. Unlike the previous cross-gen titles, ''Modern Warfare II'' offers no standard editions for the eighth generation consoles, but only a cross-gen edition for all platforms, in addition to the Vault Edition. Pre-ordering also granted early access to the campaign a week earlier on October 20.
Post-launch content
Similar to the previous titles, ''Modern Warfare II'' employs both the
battle pass system and an
in-game
A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...
store where players can purchase cosmetic bundles using the "COD Points" microtransaction currency, while free content, such as new maps and weapons, are provided on a regular basis with "Season" updates.
In November 2022, Activision and Infinity Ward announced a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
-themed limited time event for the Season 01 content update, "Modern Warfare FC", which features the addition of several world-renowned football athletes:
Paul Pogba,
Neymar, and
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...
, as playable characters in both multiplayer modes and ''Warzone 2.0''.
Reception
''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
.
''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' called the campaign "a greatest hits list for the series", praising the amount of player freedom in missions and the variety of locales,
but criticizing the multiplayer's gun customization as overly complex and that the mode as a whole "
elt
ELT may refer to:
Education
* English language teaching
* Expanded learning time, an American education strategy
* Kolb's experiential learning theory
Mathematics and science
* Ending lamination theorem
* Extremely large telescope, a type ...
lacking".
Sales
''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' became the fastest-selling ''Call of Duty'' game of all time. The game earned in revenue in its first three days of release, and within 10 days, surpassing the series previous record-holders, 2011's ''
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' and 2012's ''
Black Ops II''.
In the United Kingdom, ''Modern Warfare II'' became the best-selling game in its first week of release. In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version of ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' sold 24,371 physical copies within its release week, making it the second bestselling retail game of the week in the country. The PlayStation 5 version sold 17,710 physical copies in Japan throughout the same week, placing it at number six on the all-format video games sales chart.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Call of Duty series
Activision games
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PlayStation 5 games
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Video games set in Afghanistan
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Video games set in Los Angeles
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Works about Mexican drug cartels
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Video games developed in the United States