When Modern Warfare 2 comes out on Oct. 28, it won't just be developer Infinity Ward's newest entry into the long-running military shooter franchise Call of Duty. It will also usher in the next generation for the series, internally referred to as "CoD 2.0." Modern Warfare 2 continues the reboot of the Modern Warfare series released in 2019. Infinity Ward created a new, original story with players stepping into the role of members of the multinational special ops group, Task Force 141. The innovations made with Modern Warfare 2's game engine will not only power the single-player, co-op and multiplayer modes, but also the next Warzone, the franchise's battle royale game. That tells you that the game is different in terms of its subject matter and how painful it is to play for gamers and how mature the audience has to be. I think it means Infinity Ward is aware that if they make their audience feel too uncomfortable, they will lose their status as a franchise for the mainstream gamers. And that could be quite costly. But both Kelly and head writer Brian Bloom both said that doesn’t mean the story is all pleasantries. It will show soldiers who face ethical dilemmas and question themselves about how far they have to go to defeat the enemy. Based on Infinity Ward’s core pillars for the title, a Call of Duty game should not require any instructions and it should be fun for everybody, not just the hardest core players (amen to that). The team didn’t try to make the game more complex, or to change things that weren’t broken, said Kelly and senior animation director Mark Grigsby.
But it did tackle challenges in making the game better. “Is the game cool? Is it realistic? Hopefully, yes. But not over-the-top overly sensationalized,” Kelly said. “We’ve really endeavored to find the balance.” Kelly mentioned this game uses a universal engine across all of Call of Duty now, rather than separate engines for each major studio. That makes it easier for nine different studios to work on the game (compared to five for the 2019 game). And that was important because the team had to make the game from their homes during the pandemic. The developers are now spread out from Mexico City to Los Angeles to Poland. The studio also started operations in Austin, Texas. “We’re out to make the best shit we’ve ever made,” said Jeff Negus, narrative director at Infinity Ward. The first game ends with a defeat of both the rogue Russian general and the terrorist organization Al-Qatala (a possible proxy for Al-Qaeda). CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell and SAS Captain John Price began to assemble Task Force 141, an anti-terrorist strike team. Since the end of the first game, Task Force 141 has been operating around the world with intelligence from Laswell and Price in the lead role along with Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, John “Soap” McTavish and Simon “Ghost” Riley . While Ghost is a loner veteran, Soap is a young but hard-charging rookie. Laswell was just an intelligence officer in a mission control role, but this time she will get more involved in actual missions, Bloom said. A new character is Colonel Alejandro Vargas of the Mexican Special Forces, who is based on real soldiers in Mexico who were interviewed by the team’s technical advisers. Another new character is commander Phillip Graves, the operator of a private military contractor firm. His firm can go into places that Task Force 141 or the official military can’t deploy. One of the things that carried over from the previous game was a conversation between Gaz and Price, where Gaz asked where they would draw the line on what they would do. Price said, “You draw the line wherever you need it. We get dirty and the world stays clean.” Negus said they’re running with that and asking if they need to become the thing you’re trying to defeat in order to destroy it. You may have to make unholy alliances. And Bloom said the key is making sure that you have the right team. The game will cover territories in Europe, the Middle East, and Mexico. Bloom told me that Mexico’s experience with the drug war is relevant, but the missions that take place there aren’t solely about eradicating drug lords. Rather, there is a large purpose in unraveling an international threat. Almost every mission we saw features a new advancement for the Call of Duty series. Infinity Ward was previously reluctant to take combat underwater. Only now, the team claimed, were they able to create the right visuals and physics to make the game's gunplay feel accurate and rewarding. Weapons lose their impact underwater and grenades and flashbangs behave differently if they're detonated beneath the surface. Infinity Ward team members also discussed improvements in the game's AI. Friendly or enemy computer-controlled players have more realistic behaviors. They want to "survive" so they peek around corners and generally are more aware of their surroundings. They'll also telegraph their actions, allowing players to recognize non-verbal cues from their AI-controlled teammates and enemies. These innovations are all part of what Infinity Ward calls "CoD 2.0." which will be implemented across the series including the next Warzone game, which the developer will reveal sometime in the future. Modern Warfare 2 hits PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC via Battle.net for $70 on Oct. 28. The game will also be available on Steam, a first for the series since 2017 when Call of Duty games became available only on Battle.net. Those who preorder the game will have access to the open beta when it opens later this year. Correction: 10:30 a.m. PT: An earlier version of the story listed the retail price of the game at $60. The price for the standard edition across all platforms is $70. First published on June 8, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. PT.
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