Last night I was shown a pre-recorded presentation in which various developers at Infinity Ward spoke enthusiastically about this year’s upcoming shooter Modern Warfare 2 and the various changes it makes to 2019’s largely successful Modern Warfare soft reboot. I can’t bring you hands-on impressions of the multiplayer, unfortunately (with the lifting of this evening’s embargo there will be plenty of videos featuring multiplayer impressions for you to check out), but I can write about something Infinity Ward repeatedly discussed during its presentation: its fancy new water tech.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Publisher: Activision
- Developer: Infinity Ward, among many others
- Platform: PC via Battle.net and Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S
- Availability: Out 28th October 2022
We’ve been here before. I remember flying to the US to preview Infinity Ward’s ill-fated Call of Duty: Ghosts, widely considered one of the worst Call of Duty games ever made, and seeing “advanced” fish AI during an underwater level. Of course, the fish had no meaningful bearing on Call of Duty’s gameplay. Water in Modern Warfare 2, however, will, Infinity Ward insists.
I was shown pre-alpha gameplay footage of the Amsterdam-set campaign mission Wet Work, which did a good job of showing off Modern Warfare 2’s new water. I’m not aware of all the video games ever to have done water well (the games that spring to mind are The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Sea of Thieves), but to be fair to Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 2’s water looks wonderful. Captain Price and co bob about as waves ebb and flow. Swimming makes little splashes. There’s a foam simulation. Boats produce a wake. You can do stealth takedowns from the water, if you swim quietly towards an enemy who’s standing on a platform above you. Drag them down then Call of Duty stab for the win.
Things get even more impressive when you dive underwater. Water refracts light and gets murkier the deeper you swim, which makes visibility something to content with. The tech wizards at Infinity Ward have simulated how water slows the speed of a bullet, which means you do less damage if you’re shooting someone from underwater or shooting someone who is underwater. There are some restrictions while underwater: you can only shoot pistols and melee (as you emerge you can aim down sights with any weapon, moving with the water to take shots). I can already imagine underwater shenanigans when I get my hands on the game. Why would you swim? Based on the Wet Work gameplay I saw, it’s a useful escape and evasion tactic. It’s also useful for stealth. I suspect it’ll be the same in multiplayer.
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Speaking of multiplayer, the new water tech extends to all facets of Modern Warfare 2: campaign, multiplayer and spec ops. You’d expect the new boats (there’s a big armoured patrol boat with a manned turret on the front and back) and amphibious vehicles to work in water, but some killstreaks do, too. Wheelson, one of my favourite killstreaks from 2019 Modern Warfare, can now swim. I am genuinely looking forward to hunting down underwater enemies with everyone’s favourite remote-controlled tank.