Modern Warfare 2's campaign will be available via early access before the full product is released. This is a great idea as it allows players to enjoy the campaign at a time when multiplayer and spec-ops won't also be competing for their attention. In this article we'll explain how to get early access, when the campaign will go live, and what kind of missions you can expect.
Modern Warfare 2 will surely follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, MW2019, and provide a great campaign. That game had some of the best missions of all time (hence, so many of them feature in our ranking of all the best CoD missions in history). Obviously, the multiplayer element is more significant in a Call of Duty game, and MW2 will be far more divisive in this department, for reasons we make clear in our review, but the campaign is still worth getting excited about. And this year, there's even more reason to be excited about the campaign; we're getting it a week early.
This is such a great idea. Usually the campaign get's forgotten because so many folks want to head over to multiplayer and immediately start grinding. But by releasing the campaign ahead of everything else, the devs can show off some of their best work and introduce us to the world of MW2, without player's feeling the pressure to spend their time levelling weapons instead. We've put together a guide below with all the key information for MW2's campaign early access. You can find out how to get early access, what time it starts, and what kind of missions you can expect to be playing.
For Warzone players, we're afraid you'll need to wait until Season 1 begins to play the BR, but you can find all of that info here:
How Do You Get Early Access To MW2's Campaign?
To get early access to the Modern Warfare 2 campaign you need to pre-order the game digitally. You can pre-order any edition, on any platform, and you will get early access, but it needs to be a digital pre-order. If you're able to pre-order the game digitally then you will automatically be able to download the campaign from your platform's respective store ahead of early access going live. However, if you want to get a physical copy of the game then you will have to wait until the full release of the game on October 28. We really can't stress this enough, if you've pre-ordered physically then don't expect to receive some download code from your vendor.
Haven't pre-ordered yet? Still interested in MW2? Here are links to pre-order the game:
When Will The MW2 Early Access Campaign Be Released?
Modern Warfare 2 campaign early access begins on Thursday, October 20. We'll be able to provide exact preload and start-times soon, but we can already confirm that the campaign will be available to download individually. So even if you aren't able to preload, this won't be a monster 200gb download.
What Is The Plot Of Modern Warfare 2?
From trailers, leaks, and our knowledge of the Modern Warfare story so far, we can piece together an overview of the campaign. This Call of Duty will be more adult than previous games, with graphic violence and sexually explicit content. But before we go any further, consider this your official spoiler warning.
Okay, so let's give ourselves a quick refresher course on where Modern Warfare 2019 left off:
- The terrorist organization Al-Qatala is still very much alive, and is now under the leadership of Khaled Al-Asad.
- Bharkov is dead, but the Russian Ultranationalists are also still thriving, and are now led by the international weapons dealer Victor Zakhaev.
- Captain Price is putting together Task Force 141 to counter these threats.
So, there's a serious threat from the Middle East, being armed by an even greater threat from Russia. But the official governments of both Urzikstan and Russia are still at peace with the West.
Now let's jump to what we know about Modern Warfare 2 so far:
- A female cartel leader is helping Al-Qatala because, in her words: "Terrorism is good for business; as long as there is a war on terror, there will be no real war on drugs".
- Victor Zakhaev has acquired nukes, or some other kind of WMD, and wants to use them to create a war that the US will be forced to fight, probably against Russia.
- The campaign will see us jumping between the cartel threat in Mexico, acts of terrorism in Europe, and open war in the Middle East.
Long story short, they're loosely following the plot of the original Modern Warfare games, and setting us up for an all out Russia vs. US war in MW3.
For all the mechanical changes coming in Modern Warfare 2, here's a comprehensive overview of what to expect:
What Missions Do We Know About In Modern Warfare 2?
So you've pre-ordered, and you've got early access to the Modern Warfare 2 campaign, what will you actually get to play? Well, we're going to need to give you an official spoiler warning again because we actually know every single mission in MW2 already. For an in-depth overview of all of those missions you can check them out via this guide to the MW2 campaign.
But, in brief, MW2s campaign will consist of 15 missions. We're going to be getting a lot of urban warfare in Mexico, traditional warfare in Urzikstan and Yemen, and we'll be getting a couple of ultra-tactical, special forces missions in Chicago and Amsterdam. And before you ask, yes, we're also getting a mission that tires to emulate the greatest Call of Duty mission ever made, All Ghillied Up:
This is the one I'm most excited for, although the Chicago mission sounds dope as well.
And there you have it, all the information you need on MW2's early access campaign. Pre-order digitally, and jump into the fun a week early.