So the Dutch videogame magazine Power Unlimited is seemingly the first mag in the world with a thorough hands on preview of Modern Warfare 2. Without wasting anymore of your time, here's the gist of it:
Singleplayer:
- To handle the pressure, Infinity Ward put up a selective filter on community feedback, and at some point simply decided: "this is how the game is going to be."
- Both bullets and grenades now have realistic physics. Bullets will ricochet off walls and grenades will realistically fall down stairs.
- It is now possible to hold a handgun in one hand and a knife in the other, comparable to how Solid Snake holds them together in MGS3 and 4.
- There will most probably be an underwater level, since a heavily armed Navy Seal diver was shown off (as in the trailer).
- One of the levels is called 'International Cyber Space Lab'. Will CoD go into space, or is this some derelict Russian missile base?
- Bullettime is featured in the game, but will only be triggered at key points. It's not some super power which you can activate with a press of a button.
- More innocent bystanders and civilians will be present in the warzones, and though it isn't your mission, you wont be punished if you shoot them down.
- Every time you finish a level, a Challenge will be unlocked. These challenges are comparable to Horde Mode from Gears 2, only with a time element added to it. The faster you kill everyone, the higher your rank will become.
- You can play the Challenges in split screen and they will most probably be playable online as well.
- New weapons will be introduced (while some others will be dropped), and since you're part of Task Force 121, you will have access to the most advanced weaponry available.
- One example of such an advanced weapon is a gun equipped with a heartbeat sensor, which you will use in the 'snow level' to detect enemies from dozens of feet away.
- Existing weapons are completely remodelded and as such are much more detailed this time around. For example, a scope can get smudged while a red dot sight will dissappear when you aren't targeting anything.
- You can destroy much more of your environment. For example, you can shoot at a firefighters pump which will cause a huge geiser to errupt, blocking part of your sight.
- Another example: you can shoot at a gas station, which not only causes an explosion, but the gasline will then flail around like crazy while flames erupt from it.
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- The 'snow level' takes place somewhere in Kazakhstan and is called 'Cliffhanger'.
- The level starts off with climbing a ridge which, from their description, sounds mostly scripted, though you do the climbing yourself by pressing the triggers.
- General MacTavish makes a return and is featured in this first level.
- Once you've climbed up the ridge, you will make a trek through the snow, while your sight is slightly blocked due to falling snow, so you'll have to make use of your weapons' heartbeat sensor.
- This level is described as an infiltration mission, where you have to use stealth to advance, comparable to Ghillies in the Mist from the first game.
- After a couple of stealth kills and the placement of several explosives, you get caught and are forced to trigger the explosions early. Now s**t hits the fan and all hell breaks loose in true Call of Duty fare.
- During the huge firefight, with soldiers, helicopters and jets all over the place, you make your escape on the well known snowmobile, racing downhill while fighting off pursuers.
- The 'Brazil level' takes place in Favela, a shanty town in Rio de Janeiro.
- Level starts out with you sitting in a car when suddenly you get fired upon.
- You are forced to leave the vehicle, as your driver got shot and bullets are still flying all over the place.
- Your mission here is to chase down some guy while not killing him, so it's a capture mission.
- Loads of stuff happening in this level too: civilians screaming and running away, exploding cars, dead bodies everywhere, it's utter chaos.
- After shooting the target in the leg, the demo ends, which is because they haven't finished the level yet.
- Infinity Ward now uses texture streaming, which enables them to construct much bigger levels. They show this off by zooming out of the Favela level.
- The lighting is greatly improved, with much more subtle details everywhere.
- The entire level is described as having loads of detail, with lots of shacks everywhere and alleys going in every direction, as well as newspapers blowing in the wind.
- The developer hints to Favela being a multiplayer map as well.
- A third level takes place in the desert.
- You drive off to a cliff, which you will rapel down from.
- After this, you will enter a cave and fight underground.
- The scene in the cave strongly resembles the scene from the Iron Man movie where Tony Stark constructed his first suit, which is something the developer was shooting for intentionally.
- The cave consists of a seemingly endless amount of corridors, and numerous large rooms.
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Multiplayer:
- A couple new multiplayer modes will be introduced, but they wont be revealed until after E3. All modes are completely new and have never been featured in any other game.
- New perks will be introduced.
- The riot shield will be a perk. It will be possible to carry the shield with two people, while a third shoots from behind it's cover.
There's also numerous screens in the magazine, but it's basically all scenes from the recently released trailer.