The Call of Duty series has been a sales juggernaut with annual releases over the last few console generations. The latest entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, is the sequel to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot that was developed and released by Infinity Ward in 2019. Modern Warfare 2 is almost upon us, and it is bringing back a fan-favorite mode from the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 called Special Ops. In the original game, Special Ops was a series of standalone missions for two players to complete in co-op.
Post-launch content is always an important part of the Call of Duty experience, and it appears that the Special Ops mode in Modern Warfare 2 will be no exception to this. At the launch of the game, Special Ops mode will feature three playable missions that players can tackle in groups of two. All of these Special Ops missions will take place in the setting of Al Mazrah, which is also the location that will be used in the Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 map. The three missions are called Bad Situation, Vehicle Escape, and Observatory Defense.
Bad Situation will encourage pairs of players to put their best stealth tactics to use as they take part in a nighttime infiltration mission to obtain “evidence left behind by Al Qatala.” The second mission, Vehicle Escape, will let Modern Warfare 2 players destroy SAM turrets to prevent enemy reinforcements from appearing while they make a daring escape. Finally, Observatory Defense will task players with defending a single location from multiple waves of enemies. It sounds like it will work in a similar fashion to horde modes in other games or the zombies modes in other Call of Duty titles as players will be able to buy items like armor, self-revive kits, and Killstreaks in between waves.
When it comes to the new Raids part of Special Ops, this will be released on December 14 alongside the Season 1 Reloaded patch. Activision describes Raids as “a three-player cooperative engagement requiring teamwork and strategic, puzzle-solving thinking in-between bouts of intense combat.” It’s also worth noting that Raids will take place after the events of the single-player campaign.
Players will be able to store one of three kits in a Backpack while playing Special Ops. These kits are the assault kit, which includes increased armor, the Medic kit, which includes faster revive times and a Bomb Drone, and the Engineer kit, which helps carry extra useful equipment like a Heartbeat Sensor. Kits can be leveled up through playing in Special Ops, and Activision recommends that players have leveled up one of these kits to Rank 5 before attempting to try a Raid.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on October 28. Players who pre-order the game can access the single-player campaign up to a week early starting October 20.