GAMEPLAY

Campaign

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 released post-launch. Additional multiplayer modes were also released as part of post-launch seasons, including the 2v2 "Gunfight" mode from Modern Warfare (2019) and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

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.

Synopsis

Characters and settings

Modern Warfare II is a continuation of the 2019 reboot entry, with the campaign taking place in late 2022. The game takes place in both real and fictional locations, such as the fictional Mexican city of Las Almas, Amsterdam, the Mexico–United States border, Gulf of Mexico, Chicago, 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 central protagonists of the game are Task Force 141, a multi-national special operations unit formed by SAS Captain John Price (Barry Sloane), comprising: Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick (Elliot Knight), Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley (Samuel Roukin), and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish (Neil Ellice). Throughout the course of the story, Task Force 141 is supported by several allies: CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell (Rya Kihlstedt), Russian private military company leader "Nikolai" (Stefan Kapičić), Urzikstan Liberation Force Commander Farah Karim (Claudia Doumit), Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas (Alain Mesa) and Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra (Bayardo De Murguia), Shadow Company PMC Commander Phillip Graves (Warren Kole), and United States Army General Herschel 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 Mexican Las Almas Cartel. The cartel operates under the leadership of sicaria Valeria Garza (María Elisa Camargo), who uses the alias "El Sin Nombre" (lit. The Nameless One).

The Special Ops and Multiplayer post-launch 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; the operations later expand to the Asia-Pacific island Ashika and the city of Vondel, Netherlands. Notable characters who appear in the post-launch story include: Daniel "Ronin" Shinoda (Thomas Bromhead), an ex-Special Forces fighter; Alex Keller (Chad Michael Collins), a former CIA officer who joined Farah's army; Hadir Karim (Aidan Bristow), Farah's brother who defected and became an Al-Qatala commander; Nikto (Gideon Emery), a former FSB deep cover agent; Vladimir Makarov (Julian Kostov), the Ultranationalist commander of the Russian PMC Konni Group; and Andrei Nolan (Nikolai Nikolaeff) and Ivan Alexxeve (Lev Gorn), Konni operatives working for Makarov.

Plot

Campaign

In July 2022, Task Force 141, under the command of General Herschel Shepherd, conducts a surgical missile strike against Russian-backed Iranian forces, assassinating Iranian General Ghorbrani during an arms deal in Al Mazrah. In October, Ghorbrani's lieutenant, Quds Force Major Hassan Zyani, becomes involved in funding terrorist activity and seeks revenge on the United States. Hassan’s activities draw the attention of Shepherd and CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell, who order Marine Raiders, led by Task Force 141 operatives Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish, to apprehend Hassan in Al Mazrah. Ghost and Soap fail to capture Hassan, but discover that he was in possession of an American ballistic missile.

Laswell and Task Force 141 operatives Captain John Price and Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick pursue one of Hassan's couriers in Amsterdam, learning that Hassan has received protection from and has allied with the Las Almas Cartel, and is currently in Mexico. After a failed attempt to apprehend him at the Mexico–US border, Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas and his second-in-command Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra, alongside their unit Los Vaqueros, participate in a joint operation with Ghost, Soap, and Shadow Company, a PMC under the direct command of Shepherd and led by its CEO, Phillip Graves, to capture Hassan. Although successful, they are forced to release him to avoid political fallout with Iran, as they lack the definitive evidence needed to arrest him.

Data hacked from Hassan's phone leads Price, Laswell, and Gaz to Cape Vilan, where they discover that Las Almas possessed Russian-made GPS devices for missiles. When Laswell is captured by Urzik terrorist group Al-Qatala, Price and Gaz track down and save her in Urzikstan, with the aid of their old allies Nikolai and Farah Karim. Meanwhile, Alejandro and Soap manage to capture Las Almas leader, "El Sin Nombre", revealed to be Alejandro's former special forces comrade Valeria Garza. Valeria reveals that one of the missiles is on a oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting a raid led by Task Force 141, Shadow Company and Alejandro to prevent its launch. Despite the successful mission, Graves and Shadow Company betray Alejandro and Task Force 141 under Shepherd's orders. Graves captures Alejandro and seizes Los Vaqueros’ base of operations, while Ghost and Soap flee into Las Almas as Shadow Company slaughters its residents in search of Hassan. With help from Rodolfo, Laswell, Price, and Gaz, Ghost and Soap free Alejandro and Los Vaqueros.

Laswell reveals that Shepherd and Graves were responsible for an illegal missile transportation mission in August meant to aid American allies in the Middle East. The transport was ambushed by a Russian PMC known as the Konni Group, with 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 the current threat is eliminated. Task Force 141 and Los Vaqueros succeed in retaking the latter's base and seemingly killing Graves, while also learning from Valeria that Hassan is in Chicago. The team narrowly thwarts Hassan's plan, detonating his missile en route to the Pentagon, and kills him. In the aftermath, Shepherd has gone into hiding, while Laswell informs 141 of the new leader of the Russian Ultranationalists responsible for Shepherd's botched operation, whom Price identifies as Vladimir Makarov.

In a mid-credits scene, a Russian terrorist cell prepares to hijack a plane. They receive a text from Makarov, who tells them not to speak Russian during the hijacking.

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 by Al-Qatala forces. The team heads further into the bunker and finds Alex alive, though the missile warheads were stolen. Alex reveals that Farah's brother, Hadir, has been acting as AQ's commander, and he left Alex alive to deliver a message: join him in his mission, or leave him be.

As Gaz leaves the facility to relay the information to Laswell, Price and Farah, joined by Alex, pursue Hadir by going further down the bunker, but they are forced to stand down as Hadir and his men surround them. Hadir orders his men to lock up the trio in jail cells, but they manage to escape captivity and resume their pursuit. After securing the core of the Soviet warhead, Price, Farah, and Alex catch up to Hadir and find him trying to escape from the bunker via an elevator; the trio is forced to sabotage the elevator's mechanism in order to stop him. After bringing down the elevator, Price, Farah, and Alex confront a mortally wounded Hadir. Before dying, Hadir tries to persuade Farah to make use of the warhead, warning her that Urzikstan is in danger and that "the real Russians" are coming for them. Afterwards, Price and Gaz exfiltrate from the bunker via helicopter, while Farah, Alex, and the ULF move to dispose of the warhead.

Multiplayer/Warzone

In late 2022, several private military companies begin to move into Al Mazrah, looking to wrestle control of the city from AQ forces as well as each other. At some point, Shadow Company was discovered to be running new operations in Al Mazrah, as well as the Asia-Pacific island Ashika and the elusive underground facility Building 21.

In April 2023, Valeria manages to escape captivity in Las Almas and rallies the Las Almas Cartel to conduct activities in Al Mazrah. Alejandro is recruited by Laswell to thwart the cartel's plans and apprehend Valeria. Later that year, a terrorist attack occurs in the city of Vondel, Netherlands. As its citizens are evacuated, a mysterious special forces group, called the Peacekeepers, moves in and seizes control of the city. Laswell establishes partnership with the Black Mous PMC to investigate the Peacekeepers while working to free Vondel from their grasps. They soon learn that the Peacekeepers are actually the Russian PMC Konni Group in disguise, and the attack on Vondel was orchestrated by them.

In August, Graves, who is revealed to have faked his death, meets with Farah and Alex, and proposes an alliance between Shadow Company and the ULF, as they prepare for an invasion on Al Mazrah from the Konni Group. Under Shepherd's command, Graves leads an assault on the Konni-occupied Zaya Observatory in Al Mazrah as part of Operation: Rogue Arsenal. After destroying the observatory with missile launchers, Shadow Company locates an underground weapons facility containing chemical weaponry and begin extracting gas canisters, but are forced to exfil when the tunnels begin collapsing. However, Konni operatives masquerading as Shadow soldiers manage to infiltrate their ranks and hijack the planes carrying the gas shipment, rendering the operation a failure.