Modern Combat: Shadow Operations (2003) (PS2/XBOX/Gamecube/J2ME)

Modern Combat: Shadow Operations is a third person shooter video game developed by Mojang Dallas, released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube & J2ME, focusing on two mercenaries fighting through war, political turmoil, and a conspiracy from 2001 to 2017.
Focusing on cooperative strategies, Army of Two's main feature is the necessity to use coordinated teamwork to accomplish the game's goals. While the game is meant to be played with another human as a partner, a "Partner Artificial Intelligence"(PAI) is also included and programmed to follow the player's strategies. Dependence on a partner (whether human or PAI) is so pronounced that most objectives are impossible to complete without it.
The Xbox version of Army of Two is the first game for the console to be region-locked for online play. EA claims that the region-locking is to prevent network lag caused by players from multiple regions, and to prevent the Asian region console owners from playing the US and European version of the game, as the Asian version has been censored to meet certain requirements (notably, the shooting of already dead bodies in the game).
== Plot ==
=== Kosovo (2001) ===
The story begins in 2001 in Kosovo when Jason Grebin and Iroquois Salazar (the protagonists of the game) are in the U.S. 75th Ranger Regiment. They are tasked to work with Carl Tanner, private military contractor with the National Security & Strategy Industries (NSSI), tasked with carrying out the assassination of powerful local warlord Kovac Nevolic. Tanner's overly condescending attitude and behavior disgust Grebin and Salazar. Tanner makes Grebin and Salazar pull off the assassination themselves and clear out the extraction point without his assistance. After this mission, Carl Tanner invites Lieutenant Colonel Michael Seager (CO for Grebin and Salazar's Ranger squad) to join the company for a desk job. He agrees, asking to bring Grebin and Salazar with him as contractors, and in the following year, the three enter the private sector. Grebin and Salazar begin work as mercenaries.
=== Darfur (2007) ===
Grebin and Salazar are now working for National Security & Strategy Industries. After a dirty bomb explosion in Chicago they are sent to Darfur to kill an Sudan Revolutionary Front terrorist named Yousuf Al-Sharia who seized a missile facility with North Korean Cheonan-18 missiles. They also need to blow up these missiles, destroy a chemical weapon stockpile, and find and rescue Ishmael West, another NSSI contractor who failed the same mission. They find and destroy the missiles then find themselves in an area filled with nerve gas. Grebin comments on how poorly they are equipped for missions and Salazar sees conspiracy in this. They find West beaten and poisoned in his cell and carry him to a safe area. They get back into the elevator and fight Yousuf over a missile station. After the fight Salazar asks Sarah, his hacker contact to unlock a door to the chemical weapon stockpile. They blow it up and finish the mission.
=== Kashmir (2009) ===
2 years later, Grebin and Salazar are sent to Kashmir. Their objective there is to rescue former squad mate Lt. Col Sullinger, whose U.S. Army base was under siege by the terrorist leader Narnmand Chalpati. They secure Sullinger, but before the chopper arrives they are ambushed. Sullinger bids them farewell before the chopper takes off, but it suddenly explodes in mid-air. Narnmand Chalpati makes a radio transmission claiming responsibility for blowing up the chopper. Salazar suspects a conspiracy behind Sullinger's death, thinking he was singled out – Grebin dismisses this, saying he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just before entering Narnmand Chalpati's oil facility, Salazar asks Sarah to investigate the ambushes and try to find their source. Grebin and Salazar eventually reach Narnmand Chalpati, and kill him at his helipad.
=== Aircraft Carrier, East China Sea (2014) ===
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Bill Clinton, has been seized by the "New Eden's Army" terrorist organization. Returning from an unspecified mission after Kashmir, Grebin and Salazar are redirected by NSSI and tasked with liberating the aircraft carrier from terrorist control. They parachute onto the deck and meet up with Carl Tanner. They clear the deck of hostiles and disable the remaining jets to prevent escape. Grebin notes that the crew left behind one life boat, which could be useful. Grebin and Salazar soon stumble upon Tanner and a Terrorist collaborating by a computer. Tanner flees, but Salazar retrieves his USB flash drive. He sends the information on the drive to Sarah for analysis, and refuses to tell Trish what's happening until he hears back from her. Sarah tells Salazar that Tanner was responsible for leaking U.S. Troop positions to Terrorists. Grebin and Salazar then stumble upon the Captain. He tells them that there are stolen nuclear warheads on board, the engine room is booby trapped, and they are on a collision course for the city of Shanghai. Grebin and Salazar sink the ship and escape using the lifeboat they had discovered earlier.
=== Volga River, Russia (2017) ===
After the Aircraft Carrier mission, Grebin and Salazar agree to quit from the company. On a special mission for their arms dealer Sergio Rodriguez in Colombia, they inadvertently make contact with Trish, and decide to pull off one last mission, because Grebin needs the money. They are told to execute a head terrorist within "New Eden's Army" by detonating a bridge as his car crosses. They complete their objective, but find themselves under attack by the Russian Military and wanted for murder. It is revealed that the U.S. Senator for Oklahoma, Levi Tyson, campaigning hard against a bill to privatize the military, was the one crossing the bridge. They assume Stockton set them up, and agree to go public with the evidence they pulled off Tanner. Trish is kidnapped, however, so they head to Los Angeles to save her and confront Stockton. Sergio Rodriguez lends them a large cargo plane and a pilot to take them there.
=== Los Angeles, California, USA (2017) ===
Los Angeles, California is a tsunami zone. U.S. Air Force air defenses pick up the radar trace of Sergio's aircraft and send up two F-22's to investigate. The two operatives notice the F-22's and then find that Tanner has murdered their pilot. They engage him in battle, but are interrupted when the U.S. Air Force shoots down the plane (due to the unresponsive dead pilot and sight of gunfire exiting the rear of the plane). Grebin and Rios survive, and assume Tanner to be dead. They enter the Los Angeles airport, where they are forced to engage NSSI Operatives. Sarah informs them of Trish's location, and they head on to rescue her. In the meantime, Sergio radios them, furious that his plane up was destroyed. They tell him it was Tanner's fault, and Sergio decides he will pay them to kill him. Salazar tries to tell Sergio that Tanner already died, but Grebin stops him, thinking it will be easy money. Trish reveals to them that it was in fact Mason who was the mastermind behind the plot, and he plans to kill Stockton. If he succeeds, the bill to privatize the military will pass, and he will be even more powerful. Trish says they need to save Stockton, as he is the only one who can clear their names. They make it to NSSI HQ, where Sergio tells them he hacked their helmet cameras, so he can see Tanner die with his own eyes. Grebin and Salazar are un-easy, as Sergio will obviously discover their lie. They eventually get to the information department of the NSSI Head-quarters, and acquire all the evidence necessary to clear their names. Ironically (and lucky for them), Tanner is revealed to have survived the crash. Grebin roundhouse kicks Tanner through a window, presumably killing him. They then head to the roof where Mason is attempting to escape in a helicopter. Salazar uses a Stinger missile to destroy the helicopter and kill Mason.
In the epilogue, Stockton is revealed (on the news) to have turned himself in and served 3 months in jail. Grebin and Salazar call Trish and tell her that they have started their own PMC, named Global Operations Corporation (G.O.C), and invite her to join them, to which she smiles at.
== HOW TO PLAY ==
=== CUSTOMIZE GEAR ===
The game allows weapon customization, bought with money earned as the game progresses. Such elements as new barrels, stocks, forend-mounted vertical grips, and extra-large magazines and ammo drums that can be swapped out to give the weapon a unique look and superior statistics. Other modifications include suppressors, a gun-shield, an under-slung grenade launcher, or an underslung 12-gauge shotgun.
A firing range feature was proposed that would allow the player to test out their newly customized weapon, however it was removed as it did not meet the developers' standards.
=== Vehicles ===
The original game boasted three different drivable vehicles: a main battle tank, and a hovercraft. Gameplay was designed so that one player would drive and the other would fire a secondary weapon like a ring-mounted XM312 heavy machinegun (jeep and hovercraft) or a 120mm cannon (the tank). The jeep and tank were removed from the final product due to "pacing issues" and the hovercraft was used only in the Russia and L.A levels.
=== Online Interactions ===
(or "Versus" mode) allows up to four players, with two on each team (similar to the co-op structure of the main campaign). Both teams will compete over objectives on the map such as assassinating a VIP or destroying an objective in order to earn the most money for their side. At the same time, they will also be forced to deal with the opposing team in order to secure their objectives.
Multiplayer for the game is currently region-locked. Players with the European, American or Asian version of the game cannot play with each other.
There are 3 multiplayer gametypes: Warzone, Bounties and Extraction.
* In Warzone, the primary and secondary objectives are randomly generated and they may vary greatly. One team might need to get to a certain place and defend it, while the other team tries to destroy it, shoot down the chopper, blow up a jeep with its gunner, transport wounded soldiers to the extraction point, assassinate V.I.P's, etc.
* Bounty has the player hunt down the leader of the hostile forces on the map in exchange for a sum of money.
* In Extraction the objective is to rescue randomly-spawned V.I.P.s or P.O.W.s to a safe location.
Also every map contains cases of intelligence documents that the player can seek out for extra cash.
Character customization is not possible in the multiplayer portion of the game but the player can buy preset sets of weapons, upgrade the characters body armour and the amount of ammo he can carry. Players need to be careful while shopping though, since the team with the most cash in the end wins.
=== Veteran Map Pack DLC ===
On the May 27, 2003 edition of X-Play from G4 TV, it was announced that two new maps would be available for download on Thursday, May 29, 2008. It contains a new Co-op map (fighting and eliminating a dangerous Russian militia group based in Kiev's subway system), an expanded Versus map (China Canal Lock), a more dynamic and interactive environment, more destructible objects, and 6 new "secret" achievements. There's also an alternative ending to the game in which the players can take on Dalton in a more dramatic boss battle at SSC's Miami headquarters in which Grebin and Salazar have to lock him in a vault.
=== Co-op maneuvers ===
Implemented multi-player maneuvers include:
* Step Jump/Pull Up: One person stands up against a wall and holds his hands out while the other person gets lifted up. The second person can then reach down and pull first person up.
* Back to Back: Both players go back to back to cover each other's non-armored backsides. Unfortunately, it can only happen at certain scripted moments.
* Driving: In the Miami level the team can use a hovercraft that needs one player to drive and the other to man the machine-gun turret. The original game also boasted a Jeep with a gun mount and a Main Battle Tank, but they were eliminated by the developers because it slowed down the gameplay.
* Healing: When one player is injured, the other player must run over to him and either drag him to a safe area or heal him in that spot. Both players may shoot while one is being dragged, but during the healing only the injured player has the ability to fire at the enemies. The injured player also has a "bleed-out" bar, which limits how much time they have left before they die from their injuries. This bar decreases depending on the difficulty played at or if enemies continue to shoot them. Pre-release versions had the critically injured player's spirit running from a bright light while the still living character mashes buttons to perform CPR in an attempt to revive the wounded player.
* Aggro Meter: This is a pendulum-like gauge that indicates which player is the focus of the enemy's attention. Whichever player has the highest Aggro rating will attract all the enemies towards them. This allows the other player to become virtually invisible, and thus sneak up to enemy positions. If the aggrometer is full to one player they can initiate an "Overkill" mode, which the player with the most aggro goes into a fury doing x2, x3, x4 etc. shooting damage to the enemies, in this mode bullet time is initiated and the player cannot crouch, but doesn't have to reload either. The other player without aggro becomes transparent and moves faster, they are recommended to use hand to hand combat while in this mode. Both players have 15 seconds before all aggro is drained and both players are equal.
* Feign Death: If player one is about to die, he can fake his death. All the aggro will be transferred to the second player. Then player one can get up and attack enemies from behind (if walked past). Though this can be done multiple times, the same enemies will fall for it only once.
* Co-op Snipe: Both players get into a sniping maneuver to double their power or take out two targets at the same time. To ensure they fire simultaneously, an automated countdown will be initiated.
* Weapon Swap: Players switch weapons with each other to diversify their arsenal.
* Riot Shield: One of the players picks up a riot shield or a car door and both players hide behind it. While one player holds the shield, the other player has the ability to open fire at incoming enemies. The player that carries the shield also has the ability to hit enemies with the shield using melee attack.
* Parachuting: In some missions Salem and Rios will be traversing the skies via parachute. Then one player controls the parachute, while the other shoots targets on the ground.
== Pre-launch ==
* Army of Two was #1 on Electronic Gaming Monthly's list of "The Top 50 Original Games We're Looking Forward To."
* Pre-orderers of the PlayStation 3 version got a mini-book featuring concept art.
* Pre-orderers of the Xbox 360 version through GameStop / EB Games got special codes to download the Design Your Own Weapon Contest winners' weapons, the SAL-86 Long-Range Assault Rifle and the BST-V1 SMG. However, some customers used the codes before both weapons were fully available and were only able to unlock the BST-V1.
=== Graphic novel ===
Modern Combat: Dirty Money, written by John Ney Rieber and illustrated by Brandon McKinney, is a 2004 graphic novel which follows Salazar and Grebin through some of their earliest missions together working as private military contractors up to the War in Darfur in July 2007. The plot follows the corruption of the private military company that they work for as private military contractors. Salazar and Grebin work together as an 'Army of Two', trying to stay alive and uncover the conspiracy within the company that employs them.
=== Feature film ===
As of August 31, 2004, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has Army of Two film listed as in development with a 2006 release year.
== Sequel ==
In a recent interview with variety Mojang Dallas label president, Michael Carlson, stated that there was a planned sequel to MC:SO.
On April 12, 2005, Modern Combat: Shadow Operations 2 was announced by Mojang Dallas and was released for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Windows, J2ME and Xbox 360 in February 2006.
Category:Mojang Games
Category:Modern Combat