The year is 2009: Activision and Infinity Ward launch Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, one of the best shooter experiences of all time. The campaign convinces with a short, action-packed blockbuster story including a controversial mission that is a topic of conversation for a long time. “No Russian” is the name of the game’s fourth act, in which we witness a terrorist attack at Moscow airport. In Germany, this part was not only hotly debated, but even cut. The title’s multiplayer thrilled fans to such an extent that iconic maps like Terminal, Favela and Afghan are still being demanded as remakes today.

Modern Warfare 2, due out in October, has little to do with the game at the time. Finally, Infinity Ward decided to launch a reboot of the MW series in 2019. At least familiar characters like Captain John Price and Seargant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick are back in the game. The sequel to the shooter will be released later this year and is supposed to bring the CoD series back on track for success.

Heroic, but human

Modern weapons and night vision are only a small part of the equipment we are allowed to lug around in MW2.

Source: Activision

After Modern Warfare, Call of Duty took a detour into the Cold War with Black Ops Cold War, followed by Vanguard, which returned to the dark days of World War II. With Modern Warfare 2, the new part of the series returns to the present.

The focus is on Captain Price’s team, Task Force 141, with the story once again said to be fictional, but inspired by real events. We continue to hunt the terrorist organization Al-Qatala, after all we were not able to smash it in the predecessor. But a Mexican cartel also interferes in the dark machinations and so we face new enemies on top of that.

It is important to the developers that the characters in Modern Warfare 2 are realistic. For this reason, the story should not overshoot the mark this time, but be more convincing than ever.

Due to the new enemies, our team will also have new allies. The cooperation of our squad with Mexican special forces plays a big role in the complete course of the campaign.

“Gaz” is one of the characters we’ve known since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from 2007. He also plays a big role in the 2019 reboot.

Source: Activision

But Task Force 141 also gets prominent reinforcements. Already in the last sequence in the Modern Warfare reboot, Price puts together his team for future missions. In MW2, “Soap” McTavish and fan favorite Simon “Ghost” Riley are among the new members of the task force.

We have already seen the latter in action during a clip of the Nightwar mission: After a helicopter drops us off at the target location, it is hit by a missile and crashes into the middle of enemy territory.

Our team has to rush to the aid of the few survivors as quickly as possible, first using night vision equipment to take apart a nearby house full of enemies. Atmospherically, Modern Warfare 2 takes another step forward. The impressive graphics, paired with a great background music, make for an atmospheric overall picture. The oppressive silence between the gunfights rounds off the whole thing excellently.

In the second mission shown, called Wet Work, we get an impression of one of the heavily revised gameplay mechanics. In MW2, water is supposed to be the focus in all game modes. The new Call-of-Duty engine, which Infinity Ward can use for the first time on the new console generation, opens up completely new avenues for the developers.

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