Modern Warfare 2: behind closed doors

It's 4.30PM at the LA Convention Centre, and as Activision AU exec Jeff Wong jokes, I might just have saved the best for last. About 20 minutes ago, I joined a small group of people in a very comfortable (but small) room to check out Modern Warfare 2 from infinity Ward.

On the board is a Guinness Book of Records certificate for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, just in case you didn't realise the new world order of FPS: where DICE and Valve lag behind Infinity Ward in terms of mainstream recognition.

Drew McCoy from Infinity Ward is doing the driving. We're repeating the initial elements of the press conference level, "Cliffhanger". The controllable player is "Roach", while MacTavish is your superior officer and partner.

Checking out the game on a conventional HDTV reveals some exquisite detailing. Frost ghosting appears on the periphery of your goggles, tags on your gloves flicker in the stiff wind. About the only thing that makes you realise it's a game is thhe flat angled texture edges on the ice wall you're hauling yourself up.

MacTavish promises to "see you on the other side" and takes a running leap over a crevasse. You follow suit, but fall short. You slam your icepicks into the wall and the ice squeals as you regain traction...suddenly a chunk of ice breaksdown and you're clinging on with one hand. You lose your grip just as MacTavish's arm comes over to grab and haul you to safety.

So far, it's been exactly like the conference demo. Things change up from here on in. You're rolling with a silenced rifle with a heartbeat tracker module attached to it. We approach a runway just as a MiG screams to a touchdown. macTavish tabs two targets for you. You take out one each.

The storm picks up as we approach the compound. Snow is reducing visibility drastically. MacTavish orders you to use the blizzard cover to inflitrate while he sits overwatch. A truck comes in, and you take cover. MacTavish takes out enemies for you and warns in advance. You can still kill them before he does if you want, something that he will dryly acknowledge.

We're now on the runway and have locatged the fuel station we're meant to blow up. C4 gets planted. MacTavish orders us to a satellite located in the hangars. He meets us en route. Roach folds the beartbeat sensor back into the rifle as they enter the building. MacTavish tackles a bad guy, charging into him and slamming him into a locker, then throwing him to the ground and killing him. It looks so lifelike and smooth.

You get ordered to find a target upstairs, and suddenly MacTavish is warning you his position has been compromised. A squad assembles outside, the leader giving him five seconds to come out.

Chaos as Roach tosses a grenade from his vantage point into the firing party. We're back on the runway amongst hangars, MiGs are exploding as snowmobile borne attackers and enemy infantry stream in to kill the invaders.

We're officially on the ruin. macTavish and Roach slide down a snowy embankment with half a brigade in hot pursuit. We liberate a pair of snowmobiles from their gun wielding drivers, and seek to make our escape. We are travelling very fast, shooting at enemies while taking massive airs. We plunge headlong through explosions, plough through the middle of an alert patrol on foot, and barrel down a massive downhill slope strewn with trees. After a rollercoaster-style downhill plunge, we make an Evil Knievel-style soaring air across a monster gap - cruising up to our extraction chopper and freedom. Breathtaking.

Even after three days of E3, the room is transfixed by the visual quality and adrenaline-inducing spectacle we've just seen. Infinity Ward's Vince Zampella adds some detail:

Modern Warfare 2's improved looks come courtesy of a revamped rendering engine, HDR lighting and new detail maps on the characters. Any weapon that has made the journey from Call of Duty 4 to Modern Warfare 2 has been redone to reflect the higher level of detail the game operates at.

The engine now can throw larger maps at the players - such as our huge snowborne chase we were on - because the engine now supports streaming.

The inevitable question about how long single player will last is asked. Zampella says the single player game hasn't been balanced yet, so no estimates exist oyet. He implies the larger maps will mean a longer play time but really - single player duration is kind of beside the point. The focus is on making an interactive experience that wrings every last drop out of the hardware.

As for multiplayer, they're not talking about it. Like every other developer, Zampella assures us it will be "awesome". We're inclined to believe him on this one.