Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Primer

By: Matthew Rorie

Infinity Ward isn't necessarily the most adventerous game studio out there; after breaking off from the development team that made Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, it went on to make two more World War II first-person shooter games, Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2. Both were exceptional, but they also helped form a glut of WWII shooters that practically drowned consoles and PCs in the early part of this decade.

Now, though, Infinity Ward has updated its game engine for next-generation consoles and has also updated the setting. Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat takes place in a contemporary setting, with real-world guns and a taut storyline that draws upon the issues of the day. It's not going to revolutionize the shooter genre--in the end, you still have to point and shoot--but it's a welcome departure from the world of potato mashers and MP44s. (Well, mostly…)

GameSpot's Primer to Call of Duty 4 isn't intended to be a full game guide with a walk-through and all the works, because the game is pretty simple to play, so long as you can point a gun and pull a trigger. Instead, here's what you can expect from this primer:

Intel Locations

There are 30 hidden laptops in the game's campaign. Finding them will unlock cheat codes and achievements! We've got the locations of all of them.

Cheat Codes

Want to know what your codes are good for? Here's a description of them and how to unlock them.

Multiplayer Unlockables

Want to know what the unlockable perks do? Here's a list and some recommendations on which ones are worthwhile and which ones aren't.

Xbox 360 Achievements

Details on the game's many achievements.

Intel Locations

There are 30 pieces of Intel in the single-player game. Finding them will let you unlock new cheats for the single-player game after completing it once. They appear in the game world as laptops; to pick them up, you simply need to find the laptop and pick it up. If you miss a piece of intel, don't worry: you can try to find it again by re-playing the level it's on.

Here's a list of all 30 intel locations. A list of cheats is available after the locations.

Prologue

Crew Expendable

Intel One: This intel is located in the room the drunk soldier comes out of when you first enter the ship, near the two sleeping soldiers.

Intel Two: After clearing the deck, you'll head into the hold of the ship. You'll eventually reach the cargo holds. After Captain Price throws a flashbang through a door, follow him through and head to the bottom of the steps. The laptop is on the floor near the hole in the metal grate.

Act I

Blackout

Intel Three: At the beginning of the level, you'll come to a few Russians standing outside a shack overlooking the swamp. Head into the shack to find the laptop.

Intel Four: On the second floor of the building where you need to use night vision goggles, check the bathroom before you rescue Nikolai. The laptop is near the toilet.

Charlie Don't Surf

Intel Five: After reaching the target building at the beginning of the level, head downstairs into the room filled with weapons. A small room through a doorway from this room will have the laptop near a television set.

Intel Six: After exiting the first target building, stick to the right as best you can. You'll bypass the firefight amongst the corrugated steel. If you stick to the right, you'll eventually come to a building with a light blue interior and stairs leading up. The second floor holds the intel. If you get to the point where you fight someone in a technical (pickup truck with a machinegun in the back of it), you've gone too far.

Intel Seven: After defeating the soldier in the technical (pickup truck with a machinegun in it), you'll cross the main road. It's easy to miss, but one of the buildings on the right will have steps leading up to the second floor. Look for a poster of a red fist on the wall with a star above it; the stairs will be immediately next to it. Head up them to find the third piece of intel in the level.

The Bog

Intel Eight: In the first building that you enter, you'll be tasked with using the enemy machinegun emplacements against them. After doing so, return to the hallway of the second floor, where your soldiers will breach a door. Head through the door to reach the first piece of intel.

Intel Nine: After using the Javelin to destroy the enemy vehicles, you'll head into the alleyway between you and the Abrams. Check behind a pallette of cardboard boxes in one of the alleyway's corners to reach the next piece of intel.

Hunted

Intel Ten: Near the beginning of the level, you'll be hunted by a helicopter. After entering the basement of the building nearby, fight your way to the first floor and out the front door (where you'll likely encounter a flashbang grenade attack). After the flashbang, head outside and into the building on your right to find the laptop.

Intel 11: Eventually you'll head through two greenhouses. When Price tells you "The helicopter's making another pass!", look around for the tin roof between the second greenhouse and the barn where the Stingers are located. The laptop is underneath that roof.

War Pig

Intel 12: Near the beginning of the level, you'll escort the tank out of the bog. After it crushes the abandoned car, stick to the right side of the street. One of the buildings there will have a second story. Take the stairs up and access the laptop to find the intel.

Intel 13: When you find the first piece of intel, jump out of the building and cross the street. To the southeast, you'll find another two-story building. In one of the rooms here, you should find a cot with a laptop on it.

Intel 14: Near the end of the level, you'll reach an alley full of cars, overlooked by a pair of machineguns. Fight your way to the MGs. The room that they're in will have the laptop.

Shock And Awe

Intel 15: The halfway mark will be reached in the same room where you encounter the stranted recon team on the second floor of a building. Look to their right and you'll see the laptop behind some barrels.

Intel 16: After you meet the recon squad, you'll jump down to a firefight with a lot of troops. Some of them will be firing at you from the windows of the second story of a building. Fight your way into the building, climb the stairs to the second floor, and look into the bathroom there for the intel.

Safehouse

Intel 17: After heading up the forest path at the beginning of the level, you'll spot a large building on the right. After clearing it out, head up to the top floor and find the laptop on a dresser near a mattress on the floor.

Intel 18: There's a large restaurant/bar style building next to the water tower. The laptop is in plain site in one of the booths on the first floor, but can be difficult to spot due to all the weapons it's on.

All Ghillied Up

Intel 19: After eliminating the spotter in the square tower of the church, you'll enter the building itself. Climb up the ladder to the tower where he was stationed to find the intel.

Intel 20: When you reach the maze of cargo containers, there'll be a group of soldiers sitting around a few barrels off to the right. Macmillan will lead you around them, but the laptop is on the barrels, meaning that you'll have to start a fight to get to it. You can chuck a grenade into the middle of the soldiers, grab the laptop, then reload if you die.

Intel 21: After shooting the sniper off of the fire escape, walk up to where he was stationed and jump through the window to nab the laptop.

One Shot, One Kill

Intel 22: After Macmillan is wounded, start making your way through the level. Eventually you'll reach a building with soldiers and a couple of dogs inside, on the second floor. Clear the building out, make your way outside, then set Macmillan down and climb up the fire escape to find the laptop.

Intel 23: When you reach the end of the level, you'll be tasked with setting Macmillan down and letting him provide sniper support. Survive the first waves of enemies. When the helicopters come to unload more enemies, though, you can head up into the alley to the right of where you're probably facing. One of the backdoors to the building on the right side of that alleyway will have opened, revealing the laptop.

Sins of the Father

Intel 24: After you get on the dumpster to take out the snipers in the tower, cross the lot to the diner, head inside, and nab the intel off a table in one of the booths. You have to nab it before Price orders everyone to put on the Russian uniforms and the scene changes to daytime.

Intel 25: After Zakhaev runs off into the village, you'll follow him, then duck off into an alleyway to your left. Eventually you'll fight enemies on the other side of a metal fence, then fight off enemies on top of a rooftop. There's a building here with a set of steps leading up to its second floor; head up to find the laptop.

Ultimatum

Intel 26: After you destroy the power lines and cut through the gate, you'll come to a walled-in area where you fight multiple enemies, including troops that rappel down from choppers. After the fire drops down a bit, cross the yard and head into the building on the opposite side. In one of the small rooms on the first floor you'll find the laptop.

All In

Intel 27: As you proceed through the base, you'll head to the right and assault a gate that Price will blow up. Before heading through, check the alleyway behind the building to the right of the gate to find the intel.

Intel 28: During the firefight with the two BMPS (or after it), make your way to the southeastern corner of the silos. There'll be a hangar there with a laptop on the ground.

No Fighting In The War Room

Intel 29: After dropping into the bathroom, take the left exit and head past the locker rooms and dorms. You'll eventually come to a darkened conference room on the left side of the hallway; the laptop is on the table inside.

Intel 30: When you breach the missile control room, head up the stairs and enter the conference room there. The laptop will be on the table.

Cheats and Arcade Mode

Cheat Codes

After completing the game, all subsequent play will let you use the cheat codes that you've unlocked by finding intel pieces. To use a cheat, start a level, then hit the pause menu and select Options. The cheat menu will be available in that menu. You can't gain achievements while cheats are active.

Two Intel Pieces: COD Noir

Changes the game to black and white.

Four Intel Pieces: Photo-Negative

Reverts the game's colors so that black becomes white and white becomes black, and so on.

Six Intel Pieces: Super Contrast

Turns the contrast in the game way up. Can be combined with the first two effects.

Eight Intel Pieces: Ragtime Warfare

Protocol Chaplin Omega speeds up the game to 170% of the normal speed and adds an old-timey film filter and soundtrack to the game.

Ten Intel Pieces: Cluster Bombs

Every frag grenade you throw will explode normally, then detonate five more times after that.

Fifteen Intel Pieces: A Bad Year

Every enemy that dies will explode into a bunch of car tires. Very fun stuff.

Twenty Intel Pieces: Slow-Mo Ability

Pressing the melee button will toggle super slo-mo abilities, letting you pop heads with ease.

Thirty Intel Pieces: Infinite Ammo

Gives you infinite ammo while playing.

Arcade Mode

When you defeat the core campaign for the first time, you'll unlock the Arcade Mode. If you've played the Campaign scoring game in Halo 3, you should have an idea of what to expect here: you gain points for damaging enemies, killing them, killing them in unique ways (such as by stabbing them or blowing cars up while they're nearby), destroying vehicles, and so on. If you can move through a level quickly, you'll gain score multipliers if you manage to kill a number of enemies without taking any long breaks (20 seconds or so of no killing will reset your score multiplier). You can challenge your own high scores or try to beat your friends. It's a fun way to give the game some replayability, but keep in mind that you only have limited lives to work with. The harder the difficulty you play on, the larger your final score will be.

Multiplayer Unlockables

There are a number of unlockables that you can obtain in multiplayer. For the most part, these are unlocked as you increase in level, meaning that no particularly special actions are required to unlock them; so long as you can kill a few dudes in every round, you'll eventually get the experience required to unlock them, even if you're otherwise a very bad player.

Challenges

There are two types of challenges: weapon-specific and general training challenges.

Weapon Challenges

Weapon challenges are based around the specific types of weapons that you unlock. Each weapon that you're capable of using in combat will have Marksman and Expert challenges for it; you can complete the Marksman challenges by killing enemies, while the Expert challenges can only be completed by getting headshots with the weapon. Marksman challenges will unlock new attachments for the given weapon, like reflex sights or silencers. Expert challenges will unlock new camo schemes for the weapon.

One unmentioned bonus is the ability to unlock new golden weapons. If you complete all of the Marksman and Expert challenges for a given class of weapons, you'll unlock a new golden weapon from that class. For instance, completing every single SMG Marksman and Expert challenge will unlock a new golden AK-47. These golden weapons don't offer you any new abilities or damage, but will definitely make you cut a dashing figure on the battlefield.

Training Challenges

Training challenges force you to complete tasks on the battlefield in order to gain XP rewards. It's not necessary to complete training challenges in order to gain levels - killing fools is enough for that - but being aware of what you need to do to unlock challenges will boost the rate at which you gain XP.

Early on, the challenges are easy, with such tasks as blowing up cars or killing enemies with the knife. As you gain levels, though, more challenges are unlocked, and they get progressively crazier. At the later levels, you'll be faced with challenges like killing an enemy, picking up his or her weapon, then killing them with their own weapon after they respawn, or shooting an explosive through a wall to kill an enemy on the other side.

Training challenges are purely for the experience; they don't offer any unlockables that we know of.

Weapon Unlockables

We're not going to detail all of the weapon unlocks here, although it's worth pointing out that you can be very effective with even the basic weapons that are available at the first level. If you want a decent weapon that'll be effective on most maps, go for the MP5 submachine gun and get used to its firing mechanisms; it's pretty effective on the smaller maps and can take down enemies at range if you aim well. As you get more familiar with the weapon types, feel free to switch over to an assault rifle or light machine gun. Shotguns and sniper rifles will be situational weapons that are probably only going to be useful on certain maps, but can still be deadly in the hands of a proficient player.

Perks

You can equip up to three perks at a time in Call of Duty 4. These perks help you customize your player with different effects. A few perks are available at level one, but as you increase in level, more will become available to you.

Perk 1

Note that attaching a grenade launcher to an assault rifle is possible; if you do so, it will replace whatever perk you select here.

• C4 x2: You gain two pieces of C4. You can throw these with the left trigger and detonate them with the right trigger, but you'll be really exposed to enemy fire when you run around with them. Requires a bit of trickery to use well, but if you're good at getting enemies to chase you, then you can leave them special surprises.
• Special Grenades x3: You'll gain an extra three special grenades. Can choose from flash or stun grenades, but not smoke; smoke is only available if you don't use this perk.
• RPG-7 x2: Gives you an RPG and two rounds. Handy for shooting down enemy helicopters, but somewhat more difficult to use against actual players due to the time it takes to actually fire the weapon. If you want to use it on players (for the challenges), try using the RPG on Domination maps, where you're relatively sure to find clusters of foes around flags.
• Unlockable Claymore x2: Two plantable claymores. Useful for covering your back if you're going to camp up and snipe, or to defuse a thorny situation if an enemy is chasing you. Also handy to protect objectives in objective-based gameplay modes. Note that claymores take a second to pop into the ground, so it's tough to use them unless you're relatively clear of enemy influence. The red lines that denotes claymore positions will be a dead giveaway to your foes, if they're visible; try to hide claymores around a corner instead of putting them right in the middle of doorways. Also note that claymores despawn when you die, or shortly thereafter, so try to stay alive if you want to get kills with them!
• Unlockable Frag x3: More frag grenades for you. Handy if you're a throw-and-pray style.
• Unlockable Bandolier: Extra ammunition for primary and secondary weapons. Might be handy if you're an expert at surviving for long periods of time, but in most cases something like extra frag grenades will be more handy to you before you die, especially in the deathmatch modes.
• Unlockable Bomb Squad: You'll be able to see enemy C4 and Claymores on your minimap. Handy if you run into those explosives on a regular basis, but again this will depend on the gametype that you're playing. Domination and Headquarters will often see more use of these explosives than other gametypes will.

Perk 2

• Stopping Power: Increased bullet damage. A nice perk that'll be effective in almost any situation, although it's not like your enemies will require many bullets to kill normally.
• Juggernaut: Increase health. Again, pretty handy, but you'll still die pretty quickly if an enemy gets a bead on you.
• Sonic Boom: Higher damage from explosive weapons, including C4, frag grenades, RPG rounds, and claymores. This also increases the damage radius. Combine it with the Frag x3 Perk 1 for extra fun, especially in deathmatch or TDM.
• Unlockable Sleight of Hand: Helps you reload more quickly. This is a very, very useful perk, but only for certain weapons. SMGs and assault rifles stand the most to gain from it, since you'll be chewing through ammo very quickly and will have to reload more often. In the case of LMGs, they take a very long time to reload, but in most cases you won't be able to chew through a whole case of ammo before you get killed, at least in more frenetic gametypes. And if you wind up having to reload an LMG, you're likely to either get killed (in deathmatch) or will be safe enough to where the reloading time-saving from Sleight of Hand won't really help all that much.
• Unlockable Double Tap: Increases rate of fire. For SMGs this will simply chew through your ammo clip that much more quickly, but for slow-firing weapons, like some of the light machine guns, it can let you put a lot more metal in the air.
• Unlockable Overkill: Allows you to carry two primary weapons instead of a primary weapon and a pistol. Handy on maps where you think you may need to fire at close range and long range, or if you want to work on two types of weapon challenges at the same time, but in most cases you'll want to pick a weapon and stick with it.
• Unlockable UAV Jammer: Your character does not show up on enemy UAV sweeps. Pretty handy, since most big games will have more or less constant UAV sweeps going down.

Perk 3

• Extreme Conditioning: You can sprint for longer distances.
• Steady Aim: You're more accurate when firing from the hip. Handy if you want to run-and-gun, but you still shouldn't expect to get headshots from across the map unless you use your sights.
• Deep Impact: Bullets will penetrate thicker materials. Allows you to hit enemies on the other side of some walls. Depending on the level, this can be really handy, but it's difficult to know when it'll work without a lot of experience.
• Eavesdrop: Allows you to hear the voice chat of enemy soldiers as you get close to them.
• Unlockable Last Stand: When you take lethal damage, you'll drop to the ground, pull out your pistol, and gain a few seconds in which to try and hit your killer with your sidearm. This only does you any good if your enemy killed you up-close; if they hit you from a distance it won't be possible to hit them, and if they notice you rolling around with your pistol they can continue to fire on you and kill you for real. Also, most good players will know that you have this perk when it activates, since they won't get the experience from the kill until you completely die, so they'll either run and let you bleed out or finish you off with another burst.
• Unlockable Martyrdom: When you die, you drop a live grenade directly on your body. Probably handier than Last Stand, since your opponents will immediately get the experience gain and think you're dead (since you are), but the sound the grenade makes when it drops will tip off better players and encourage them to run. Still, there's a good chance that they won't notice the sound in the heat of the battlefield, or will have migrated from Halo and think they'll be cool by teabagging you, making this perk an amusing way to exact your revenge. You do get experience and kill credits for anyone the grenade kills, even though you'll be dead when it explodes.
• Unlockable Iron Lungs: You can hold your breath for a longer period time when sniping. Only handy for snipers, obviously, but pretty handy for them.
• Unlockable Dead Silence: You make less sound when you move. The last perk you'll unlock, and arguably one of the best if you like sneaking up on people, but keep in mind that you'll still show up on your opponent's minimaps

Call Of Duty 4 Achievements

Unlike many Xbox 360 games, Call of Duty 4's achievements are purely based on the singleplayer game. The Challenges and other unlockables are your only rewards for playing multiplayer.

Name of Achievement	Task	Point Reward
Earn a Winged Dagger	Complete F.N.G. level.	20
New Squadron Record	Complete the cargo ship mockup in less than 20 seconds. Very difficult to do, especially on a console. Keep in mind that you can get a time bonus for accuracy; you may want to try using your pistol to hit the targets.	20
Make The Jump	Infiltrate the cargo ship in the Prologue	20
Dancing in the Dark	Kill the power. (Occurs in Blackout level.)	20
Your Show Sucks	Destroy all the TVs showing Al-Asad's speech. Believe this is the Charlie Don't Surf level.	20
Rescue Roycewicz	Save Pvt. Roycewicz on the stairs at the beginning of the level "The Bog". Just shoot the guy who grapples him.	20
Save the Bacon	Protect the M1 Abrams tank "War Pig".	20
Death From Above	Operate an AC-130 gunship.	20
Straight Flush	Kill 5 enemies with one shot while in the AC-130 gunship.	20
Bird on the Ground	Shoot down an enemy helicopter with an RPG in the single player campaign. Try it in the War Pig level.	20
Wrong Number	Find Al-Asad's safehouse.	20
Piggyback Ride	Carry Cpt. Macmillian to safety.	20
Desperate Measures	Corner Zakhaev's son. One of the best achievement icons you'll see anytime soon.	20
Man of the People	Save the farmer. We believe this is the "Hunted" level.	10
Ghillies In The Mist	Complete "All Ghillied Up" without alerting any enemies.	20
Win the War	Complete the game on any difficulty.	40
Deep and Hard	Complete the game on Hardened or Veteran difficulty.	90
The Package	Complete "Crew Expendable" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Rescue	Complete "Blackout" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Search	Complete "Charlie Don't Surf" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Bog	Complete "The Bog" and "War Pig" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Escape	Complete "Hunted" and "Death From Above" on Veteran difficulty	40
The First Horseman	Complete "Shock and Awe" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Second Horseman	Complete "Safehouse" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Shot	Complete "All Ghillied Up" and "One Shot, One Kill" on Veteran difficulty	40
The Third Horseman	Complete "Heat" and "The Sins of the Father " on Veteran difficulty	40
The Ultimatum	Complete "Ultimatum", "All In", and "No Fighting In the War Room " on Veteran difficulty	40
The Fourth Horseman	Complete "Game Over" on Veteran difficulty	40
Mile High Club	Skydive to safety on Veteran difficulty. You'll need to beat the game and sit through the credits to unlock the Mile High Club level.	20
Look Sharp	Find 15 enemy intel items.	20
Eyes and Ears	Find 30 enemy intel items.	20
Down Boy Down	Survive a dog attack. Apparently this entails letting a dog knock you to the ground, then hitting your melee button just as they bite to slit their throat. Pretty difficult to time correctly, though.	20
Roadkill	Kill two enemies by blowing up a car in the single-player campaign. Try it on the level "The Bog"; when you get to the main firefight with the enemies in the small square, hit a car with an RPG to knock it up.	10
Three of a Kind	Kill three enemies in a row with your knife in the single-player campaign.	10
Four of a Kind	Kill four enemies in a row with headshots in the single player campaign.	20
No Rest For The Weary	After shooting an enemy and wounding them, they'll attempt to crawl away. Stab them to earn the achievement.	10
Daredevil	Kill an enemy while blinded by a flashbang in the single-player campaign. This is easiest if you know where your enemies are and simply lay on the fire button while blinded. You may be able to blind yourself with your own flashbang and still complete the objective.	10