After a week of early access to the campaign, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is finally here for pre-order fans and day-one buyers alike. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 features 17 missions for gamers to play, and each offers a different experience with Infinity Ward's newest incarnation of Task Force 141. Violence and Timing is the 10th mission in the single-player campaign mode, a vehicle mission presenting players with the ability to drive vehicles and fight simultaneously.
Several games in the past have attempted a drive-by feature, including iconic titles like GTA: San Andreas, combining driving ability with testing the player's marksmanship in an epic - although chaotic - display of gaming. However, several of these attempts have fallen flat for multiple reasons. It's hard enough to drive vehicles at the blistering pace required to keep up with other NPC-driven vehicles in the games, but the combination with the shooting makes players have to repeat these missions several times. The vehicle missions would demand too much focus and skill at driving and near perfection at shooting. Violence and Timing, however, manages to strike the right balance in its core components, which other games can learn from.
Violence and Timing Tests Players' Aim
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took on the parts of great games, featuring car chases like Uncharted and GTA, letting players hijack and take control of cars at will. In true GTA fashion, when the player's selected vehicle takes on a lot of damage, they will need to abandon it before it explodes and take control of another vehicle. The element of recklessness is refreshing and appeals to the childhood memories of fun leisurely playthroughs in several GTA titles, where several gamers cruised around the maps of Los Angeles.
Violence and Timing is centered around the player accompanying Price and a small team on a rescue mission to extract Laswell from the hands of Hassan's men. The mission begins with the player providing aerial support from a chopper to a ground team, covering their tracks as they speed along the dusty roads of Urzikstan. Players must avoid civilian vehicles while fighting off a convoy on the ground with their rifles. Some enemies are heavily armored and require the player to aim at the head to keep the mission going for as long as possible. If the player is severely wounded, they can recuperate by hiding inside the helicopter.
Inevitably, the helicopter carrying the player -- controlling Gaz from Task Force 141 -- will get hit by a missile, and the player hangs from a rope, causing the screen to tilt upside down and requiring the player to keep shooting with a pistol from this awkward angle. Some maneuvering skill is needed to dodge oncoming traffic, but shooting is easier for players as explosive barrels serve as large targets to direct their aim. When the player reaches a covered truck, they will get the option to cut themselves free from the dangling rope -- a task that must be done quickly to avoid death. Upon freeing themselves and landing in the truck, a bit of action-like showboating is seen to get the player to the top of another moving vehicle driving side by side with the player's truck after killing its occupants.
Hijacking Vehicles in Violence and Timing
The driving sequence begins, giving players the adrenaline rush of steering and shooting simultaneously. Any fan of action franchises like Mad Max has longed for this opportunity, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 provides some unique ways for players to showcase their shooting talents. This part of the mission requires players to find a balance between maintaining a position at the front of the convoy and disposing of their enemies. Players have to accelerate as quickly as possible to keep their vehicles moving forward, gaining enough momentum to open fire on their enemies. There are a variety of ways for players to do this; they can lean out of their vehicles or climb the roof to jump onto other cars in good old action blockbuster movie style.
Just like the first part of the Modern Warfare 2 mission, players need to keep an eye out for civilians and ensure their vehicle does not explode with them still occupying it. Once the vehicle takes enough damage up to a critical level, players have to abandon it and hijack another one. Small pickup trucks are preferred in this mission because of their speed. Violence and Timing also involves using grenade launchers to kill enemies that are in pursuit of Captain Price and the Ally Vehicles.
As the mission nears its climax, players will board an APC that drops land mines as traps to take out the player's vehicle. Players' driving skills are tested here, as they will need to weave out of the line of the APC's laser fire and avoid driving over the dropped land mines simultaneously. Eventually, players will draw close enough for them to jump and board the APC, planting an explosive charge on the vehicle and jumping back to Captain Price's truck. Violence and Timing ends after Captain Price's truck comes to a halt and the player secures the surrounding area by eliminating all enemies, walking over to a black van, and rescuing Laswell.
Violence and Timing keeps a nice balance between the driving and shooting components, with both parts requiring near-equal amounts of focus throughout the mission. Players are on the edges of their seats from the start, and jumping across moving vehicles provides an exhilarating factor that doesn't get old easily. All in all, Violence in Timing gives Call of Duty's rival FPS franchises a tutorial on how to make a thrilling vehicle mission without being obscenely difficult.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set to launch on October 28, 2022, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.