Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game guide

Act I: Cliffhanger

Follow Captain MacTavish

Carefully sidle along the ice wall, after your teammate, and follow his lead up the cliff wall. Thankfully, you're equipped with a pair of Ice Axes which are necessary for scaling these babies. To use them, alternate pressing the left and right triggers as you scale the cliff--make sure to keep holding the trigger of the respective Pick Axe until you've firmly planted the second one, otherwise you'll fall. If you're having trouble, you can also simply pump both triggers at each interval, holding them between, to scale the mountain.

After climbing the first section, your teammate will take a flying leap toward a nearby ledge. Follow his lead and take a running leap--although you'll almost fall to your death, MacTavish will save you just in time, allowing you to scale the rest of the wall.

After pulling yourself up, follow the Captain up a couple of ledges. He'll soon instruct you to whip out your heartbeat monitor, by tapping left on the control-pad. This baby functions like a radar, displaying the location of nearby enemies, as represented by white dots (your partner shows up as a blue dot). Now keep in mind that the heartbeat monitor only updates every few seconds, so it's often best to move slowly to ensure you don't draw unnecessary before the monitor alerts you to the presence of nearby enemies.

Up ahead are a pair of enemies--focus your sight on the left one and shoot as soon as your partner says "three." Do the same for another pair ahead. Shortly thereafter, your teammate will take off and watch over you from a nearby cliff--although you'll be trekking ahead alone, he'll provide sniper support from time to time.

Intel (1/3)
The guard tower by the entrance into the base is home to the first intel. Climb up via the ladder and look for it on the walkway.

Find a Way into the Base

Snowy Camouflage
The heavy storm actually provides great camouflage, blanketing you from enemy eyes unless you're really close. Of course, this works to the enemy's advantage too, which is why using the heartbeat monitor becomes all the more important now that you're by yourself. We recommend keeping it out and visible at all times for the remainder of the level.

Push forward through the storm, toward the on-screen marker. As you approach the base, duck behind the first vehicle on the left, and wait a few moments for a couple of enemies to get into position. Thankfully, as long as you merely peek at them--one around the right of the vehicle, the other through a fence on the left--your teammate will take them out for you!

With the first two enemies down, dart into the building ahead, as marked. Inside, sneak up behind the sleeping guard in the chair and melee him to death.

Plant Explosives on the Fueling Station

With the room cleared, look through the nearby window to spot another building just across from it--dart to it before a patrolling truck spots you! Be quiet as you enter to stealth melee two more guards inside--one in a chair on the right, the other resting inside a door frame on the left.

Now that you've cleared this second building, it's time to work your way across the base to the fueling station. The trick is to move slowly, and keep an eye on your heartbeat monitor to avoid arousing suspicion--if you can avoid being spotted, you won't have to fire a single shot! The easiest way to do this is to exit the current building out the back side (opposite of where you came in) and head toward the marker, while hugging the right cliff wall until you reach the street.

Here are some quick tips for getting through this section:

• Move slowly and keep watching your heartbeat monitor to make sure you avoid running into any enemies.
• Don't sweat the enemy on the high right ridge early--just glance his way to have your partner take him out.
• Take cover behind a building whenever your partner alerts you to the inbound truck, and be especially cautious when crossing the street to the runway.
• As you cross street just before the runway, you may encounter a trio of enemies walking along slowly. Just hang back and wait a few moments for them to walk away before continuing.
• When you reach the runaway, you can make a straight shot for the fueling station without having to worry about drawing attention (contrary to what your partner suggests).

Once you reach the fueling station, plant the bomb where the marker indicates by holding "X" (360) or "Square" (PS3).

Get to the Satellite

With the bomb set, the marker will now point to a hanger containing the satellite. There are many ways to get there, but only one we recommend. Follow the fence--the same one connected to the wall where you planted the bomb--west toward the rear of the runaway. There, your partner will tip you off to a tank nearby--as long as you cross a ways in front of it, he won't notice you (if you're unsure of the distance, he should be barely visible, as shown below).

After crossing in front of the tank, head straight for the marker--when you reach the building, follow it around to the gap leading to its backside, where you'll meet with your partner.

Intel (2/3)
When you regroup with MacTavish just outside the warehouse containing the ACS Module, turn around and dart up the path to a second warehouse--peek into one of the windows on the right to spot the enemy intel. You can grab it by smashing the window first, allowing you to reach it.

Retrieve the ACS Module

After regrouping with your partner, follow him inside and let him take down the guard within. While he works on the satellite, head up stairs and look for the ACS Module on a table by the far window.

After retrieving it, return to the main hangar to find your ally has been taken hostage. Wait at the top of the stairs and don't do anything--that is until MacTavish announces it's time for "Plan B." That's your cue to detonate the bomb you just planted by tapping the right-trigger. This will distract the enemy troops, enabling you to take them all down while they're confused.

Escape with Captain MacTavish

With the hangar cleared, make a right outside the hangar and follow MacTavish across the base to a gap in the fence. You should be able to dart to it without dying, but if you're having trouble, take it slowly, pushing forward only when MacTavish instructs you to, and take down the enemies along the way.

Through the fence, slide down the snowy hill just after and immediately turn around to take down the enemies gunning for you from atop it. Once they're down, some snow mobiles will come for you--picking them off is pretty easy, and you can use the enemy-free ones for cover to target the remainders.

Get to the Extraction Point

With the area cleared, hop aboard the marked snowmobile and zoom zoom to the marker, a few miles away! While driving, you can even shoot the enemy snow-mobilers, though this isn't necessary on the lower difficulties. As long as you can avoid driving into trees, off of cliffs, and avoid the incoming helicopter fire (simply by veering to the side around its path of fire) this shouldn't pose any trouble.

Intel (3/3)
The final piece of Intel is located during the snow mobile escape sequence and can be a bit of a pain to find. After about 25 seconds of driving, you should spot a broken cabin/shack on a right ridge. The laptop is located among the trees just a few meters from the shack's entrance.

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