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Like most of you, we plowed through Call of Duty 4’s single-player campaign in a day and then spent the next couple of years blasting away at multiplayer. It’s not that the campaign was horrible, far from it. The first Modern Warfare employed innovative techniques that pushed the boundaries of interactive storytelling. There are several threads that carry over into Modern Warfare 2, which takes place 5 years later, so we’ll catch you up on who’s who and how they fit into the Modern Warfare universe. Plus, it’s a convenient excuse to yet again sing the praises of Captain Price’s well-coiffed mustachios.
“Soap” MacTavish
You play as Soap for a good portion of Modern Warfare. You start as an SAS recruit and quickly find yourself embroiled in a borderless conflict revolving around a middle-eastern coup and a Russian civil war. In the dramatic climax, you stop a nuclear strike from destroying the east coast of the United States and then kill Imran Zakhaev, leader of the Russian ultranationalists and perpetrator of the attack. For the record, the picture above was pulled from MW2; you never see Soap’s face in CoD4.
Why it matters: In MW2, Soap has ripened into the stalwart Captain MacTavish and occupies a role akin to Captain Price’s in CoD4. He’s your squad leader and mentor when you play as SAS noob “Roach,” and among other characteristics has adopted Price’s penchant for stogies and burly facial hair.
Captain Price
Soap’s mentor and all around badass dude, Captain Price is the leader of an elite SAS unit that combats terrorism around the globe. His status is left unresolved at the end of CoD4 – the last you see of him, he appears to be fatally wounded though he is receiving frantic medical attention. You (as Soap) are medevac’d before you get closure on his condition.
Why it matters: Price is a man of action, so he’s naturally influenced the events of the sequel. We don’t want to say more for fear of spoiling it for you.
Next page: More lurid characters! More savory internets! More warmongering fun for the entire family!
