Modern Warfare 3: First Two Levels Revealed

Activision demoed Modern Warfare 3 live in London earlier this week. Here are the essential facts.

Activision showcased two levels of Modern Warfare 3 gameplay live in London earlier this week.

Warning Spoilers Ahead

The New York Mission Is Called ‘Black Tuesday’ 
Modern Warfare 3’s second level is a real showstopper: Russian forces are invading New York – skyscrapers burn, US aircraft carriers and battleships fight it out with Russian subs, attack helicopters buzz between the buildings.

The level opens on new American lead characters Frost and Sandman crawling out of a downed chopper and fighting their way down Wall Street.

Their objective is to disable a radar-jamming dish on the roof of the New York Stock Exchange. From the word go the sound of gunfire, explosions and falling skyscrapers is deafening, as the city falls apart around you.

Russian troops flood the streets, using cars and rubble as cover. Playing as Frost, you must move between cover, taking down Russians as you make your way to the entrance of a ruined skyscraper.

The Shooting Mechanic Remains Identical
As Frost battles his way along the street, he uses his ACOG-scoped rifle to zoom in on enemies, while Russian troops drop sighted AK-47 rifles. Frost can use a new type of stun grenade, the 9-Bang, to temporarily blind troops.

The 9-bang is essentially a cluster stun grenade that creates a rapid series of mini stun flashes. It roots Russian troops to the spot as they regain their vision, leaving you open to take them down with ease.

When popping into iron sights, the reticule zooms in on the closest enemy’s head for efficient scoping. Movement and knife melee attacks are identical to Modern Warfare 2, although the running dive move from Black Ops was no where to be seen.

There Is A Huge Battle On The New York Stock Exchange Trading Floor 
Frost fights his way through the ruined skyscraper while hiding from a patrolling Russian helicopter outside. At the other side of the building he makes his way out onto another street and leaps on a mounted turret gun to repel a massive horde of Russian troops.

Once the dust settles, you must guide Frost to the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange and on to the trading floor. The arena is similar to the Iraq TV station in the first Modern Warfare.

The wide floor is dotted with trading podiums that can be used as cover. As you fight your way across the room, using the podiums wisely to avoid being shot, you eventually come to a flight of stairs leading up to the rafters above the trading area.

This area will also be the setting of new multiplayer map ‘Exchange’.

The Destruction Is Bigger And Better Than Ever 
After fighting across the stock exchange rafters, you emerge on the roof of the building, next to the radar-jamming tower. Placing a thermal charge on the structure and running to a safe distance, Frost detonates the bomb.

The tower then crumples, twists and falls convincingly, bathed in flames. While the destruction isn’t interactive in the same way as Battlefield Bad Company 2’s, it is still cinematic and impressive.

There Are Dogfights Against Multiple Choppers 
Seconds after the tower is destroyed, a Russian chopper swoops in and unloads on your position, while enemy snipers open fire from rooftops across the street. Your next objective is to suppress the snipers and grab a Reaper drone console lying on the ground.

Grabbing the device, you have to call in Reaper drone rockets from high above the city and guide them into the attacking chopper initially, and then use the rockets to clear the snipers off the rooftops.

Once the enemies are cleared, Frost jumps behind the minigun of an American Black Hawk chopper and is suddenly attacked from both sides by two Russian choppers giving chase.

Using the minigun, you have to take them down as your chopper swoops between skyscrapers and clips debris. After causing the second chopper to explode, it slams into Frost’s Black Hawk, causing it spin out of control.

It then grazes the side of a building. All seems lost as the pilot miraculously regains control of the aircraft. According to the Modern Warfare 3 leak earlier this month, the chopper will then fly to the Hudson River to attack Russian submarines and ships.

The SAS Return In London Mission ‘Mind The Gap’ 
The second level demonstrated focused on a group of SAS troops infiltrating a London dockyard facility. The player character is a soldier called Burns. The troops split into two teams.

The level opens from the perspective of an overhead spy plane, as the thermal camera surveys the dockyard from above. The area is swarming with Russian terrorists, while Burns and his squad can be seen hiding behind some buildings nearby.

There is a Russian terrorist plot to blow up Westminster Two trucks are seen entering the dockyard facility, which are both carrying WMDs loaded with chemical agents. SAS intel suggests the Russians are planning to drive the trucks to Westminster and detonate the WMDs on board.

Once the trucks stop at the facility the spy plane camera swoops down and you are then placed in control of Burns on the ground. The team quietly move up to the door of a warehouse and slip inside undetected.

London Opens With A Superb Stealth Mission
As Burns enters the facility, another SAS team provides laser-scoped sniper rifle cover from afar. Burns and his unit move stealthily through the next warehouse warehouse, silently killing guards with silenced rifle and melee takedowns.

So far, the mission is similar to some of the best stealth missions seen in the series, but is still no patch on Call of Duty 4’s ‘All Ghillied Up’ level.

All hell breaks loose in the London dockyard After taking down the patrolling Russian terrorists and making his way to the trucks – which are now parked in the dockyard’s car park – Burns and his team are exposed, and Russian trucks burst on to the scene.

Gunfire reigns out from all directions, as the SAS team takes cover behind whatever they can find. Warehouse doors open suddenly and more Russians keep pouring out into the car park.

Thankfully, the troops do not infinitely spawn, and are eventually repelled effectively. Pressing forward Burns and his team make fight to a freight container storage area and combat more Russian troops.

There is an insane Jeep chase in the London Underground 
Once the Russians are pushed back, the enemy behind the attack hops in a jeep and makes a break for it. Burns and his squad commandeer a Russian jeep and give chase.

Both vehicles scream down a nearby sewerage tunnel and just before they reach he end of the pipe, a subway train barrels past them both. It’s loud, it’s insane and it is completely unexpected when it happens.

All of a sudden both Jeeps are weaving in and out of pillars, dodging trains and debris in a panic. The Russian jeep returns fire from a mounted turret, while Burns mans the other turret.

Suddenly, another train car pulls up next to you swarming with Russian soldiers. The doors slide open and the enemies start shooting at Burns. You have to return fire with the turret, while concentrating on the fleeing jeep.

London Underground Commuters Are Caught In The Crossfire 
As the gun battle kicks off, the action whizzes past a commuter train platform full of screaming, fleeing civilians. The scene looks certain to cause controversy once the game launches following the 2005 London bombings.

‘Mind The Gap’ Ends With Some Incredible Destruction Elements 
Once Burns has dispatched of the jeep, it swerves and slams in to the train cab, sending it wobbling, and then eventually derailing. Flipping horizontally, it tumbles down the tunnel.

As it spins ahead of your jeep, it obliterates several pillars holding up the tunnel, causing them to crumble and distort, as well as causing some of the roof to shift and collapse into the tunnel below.

Once both vehicles come to a halt, the live demonstration ends. Both levels show off some amazing set-pieces and action, serving as a mere taster of what to expect once Modern Warfare 3 launches 8 November.

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