Blackout (Call of Duty 4)

"We take care of our friends."

- Captain Price

Blackout is the fourth level in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Taking place the day after Khaled Al-Asad's coup in the Arabian Peninsula, this level sees the Special Air Service team, led by Captain Price, joining forces with Russian Loyalist troops in the Caucasus Mountains to rescue a Russian informant and liberate an Ultranationalist-controlled village.

Plot
Shortly after Al-Asad makes his move and overthrows the government of President Al-Fulani, the SAS learns that Nikolai, their double agent infiltrating the Ultranationalist leadership, has been compromised and taken prisoner by the rebel forces. Nikolai provided the SAS with the intelligence relating to the nuke smuggled aboard the Estonian freighter, and Price is hesitant to lose someone who has provided and possesses concrete information relating to the Ultranationalists' plans. Realizing that the Ultranationalists intend to execute Nikolai as a traitor, Price leads a rescue mission into the Caucasus to retrieve the informant, remarking that "We take care of our friends." Landing near Nikolai's position, the team first silently eliminates several guard posts before meeting up with Russian Loyalist troops lead by Sergeant Kamarov.

It is clear from their discussion that Price and Kamarov, despite having fought alongside each other in the past, have very different objectives in this mission. For Price, Nikolai's survival is paramount and beyond all other considerations. Kamarov, meanwhile, hopes to free the nearby village from Ultranationalist control and eliminate the threat posed by their BM21s. Since both need the other's forces in order to be successful, a great deal of tension exists between the two men. As the Loyalist troops make their assault upon the village, MacTavish provides sniper support from the nearby ridge and eliminates a force of Ultranationalist helicopter troops flanking from the left, allowing the Loyalists to make greater gains in the village.

Eventually however, Gaz, frustrated with Kamarov's stalling, beats Nikolai's location out of him, a house at the end of the village. Abandoning their Loyalist allies, the SAS team makes their way to the house. MacTavish and Price enter the house as Gaz cuts the power, and the team successfully secures Nikolai. With the informant secure and the village in control of the Loyalists, the team is extracted in a helicopter that heads for a German safehouse.

Getting Started
You'll spawn in a swamp. Take out your sniper rifle and go forward until you see a dock in front of you. Go back and snipe the troop on it and a troop near a truck to the back. When they're out, keep going forward. It is also possible to shoot these men from where you first spawn if the weapon is not moved.

Eventually, you'll see a house on your right and an overturned boat on your left. Crawl past the boat on the left side, when you come out the two men in the first house will be almost lined up. You can take them out in one shot and not alert the other guards, but while the soldier closest to you can be shot anywhere with the M21 to get a kill shot, the second man requires a headshot because of the damage loss of going through the first guard. When they're out, go near the next house and look for some boards sticking out from below the window. These boards will allow you to look into the house, and well as get accurate rounds into the house without making the guards wake up due to you being too close. This next part requires accuracy and speed. In the house there are two guards, as well as one on the deck. Take out one of the guards, preferably with a headshot (one shot kill), and then quickly but two rounds into the other guard, immediately followed by rushing to the front of the house to knife the guard there, who will probably be waking up. Go up to the next house, which will be on your right. Go inside, and Price will open the door on your left to a field that has Kamarov and his men.

Sniping Fun
After you meet your allies, take a right and go up the hill. Follow your allies until you get to a ridge overlooking a very large rocket launcher. Get near the post that's between two of them, and open fire. Keep an eye out on the house to the left. Two LMG troops will start firing from it soon, so get ready to take them out. For the one on the left, you have to shoot the wall near him to get him. This is one of the few times in the game when the mil-dots on the sniper scope can be used, as both machine gunners' heads are 1 up, and 3 left of the machine gun's muzzle, and a headshot is the only way to kill the gunner through the wall in one shot.

After a while, you'll be told to move forward. Do so until you're at the bottom of a hill with a power station at the top. Troops will pour in form the top, so hide behind some debris and begin sniping them. Some may not pop their heads out, so in that case take out your Grenade Launcher and flush them out. When they're dead, don't advance yet; another wave will come from the station!

When both waves are down, go right along with your team and start sniping enemy troops along the side of the house right in front of you and the troops in the attic of a house that's right below you. If you eliminate the troops in the house right below the cliff, Sgt. Kamarov will order your team to follow him to the power station. Once you're there, take a right when you're in it. After a cutscene, you'll be told to rappel down. Find the glowing rope and press the use key.

When you're down, take a right and go into the house on the right. You could go through the field and enter a house on the other side, but that's way too dangerous. When you can see the end of the house, troops will come in from the end. You can either stun them with a flashbang or blow them up with your grenade launcher. When they're dead, go into the next house. Try to run though this house; the troops in the field will notice you here and will attack. At the end, a troop will usually come in. You can take him out in any way.

After you get out of the second house, go forward and you'll see a medium-sized house on a hill. Get to the right until you see a door, turn on your night vision, and wait for Price to open the door.

The Rescue Job
When you get in the house, go forward, then turn left. You'll see a troop, unaware that you're here. Take him out, then turn right until you see some stairs. Near the stairs, you'll see a troop slowly waling around. Take him out, then go up the stairs.

At the end of the stairs, turn left and you'll see a troop huddled in a corner. Take him out, then turn left. There's a troop hiding behind a sofa, so spray the sofa with bullets, and you'll take him out. Get to the sofa and turn left. There's a troop hiding behind a door that occasionally peeks in and takes a few shots. Fire at the door until you see his body come out. Get near the door and turn right. You'll see Nikolai, but there's a troop hiding behind right wall. Either spray the right wall with bullets or throw a flashbang in, then go in and run up to Nikolai.

After that, get out of the house and you'll see the exit on top of the hill. When your allies get close to it, press the use key near it and you'll exit the level.

Tips

 * Don't go too far ahead of your team, they will (try to) assist you.


 * When sniping in the gap between the fence, be careful. You may be pushed off the edge by Kamarov walking forward.


 * In this level, there are many occasions when there are enemies in the 180 degrees in front of you so try and find cover for the area you are not shooting at.


 * When sniping, watch out for the RPGs and people who are a threat to your teammates if you find that you care about the characters or think they help you.


 * Before rappelling, you can pick up an RPG and go to the rappelling point and take out the BM21s and the tank. You need infinite ammo, though...


 * Be careful when taking care of the enemy where Nikolai is being held. The Russian has a flashlight and therefore can actually cause some damage to you.


 * For the enemy listed above, spray the right hand side of the wall until you hear him die.

Enemy Intelligence

 * Laptop 3 is located in the first shack upon a table.


 * Laptop 4 is in the house with Nikolai in, the laptop is in a toilet on the second floor.

Xbox 360 Achievements

 * Dancing in the Dark is obtained when Gaz kills the power and you successfully rescue Nikolai
 * The Rescue is obtained when you beat the level on Veteran difficulty.

Trivia

 * If decent shots are being made during the scene in this level when you're sniping down from the hedge, you can hear Captain Price say "Nice shot, MacMillan would be impressed."
 * To trigger the line above, look towards the north for the houses behind a low wall as soon as you've taken out the machine-gunner (as asked by Price). You will see enemies coming out of the said houses to climb over the wall. The MacMillan line is played when you successfully snipe an enemy before he climbs over the wall.


 * Though the pilots of the Blackhawk have American accents, if you actually look at the pilots they are random Russian loyalists, most likely placeholders. Also, the Blackhawk displays a 'Royal Air Force' badge even though the RAF does not use the UH-60.
 * The television that a couple of Ultranationalists are watching is in English even though you're in Russia.


 * Sometimes, there is a loyalist with his first name being Nikolai. Also, there are rarely loyalists with their name being Dimitri Petrenko - the main character in the Russian Campaign of Call of Duty: World at War.


 * This is one of the few non-stealth levels (if not the only level with action) that one can complete on Veteran without getting hurt at all (i.e. with the red indications of being shot at).


 * The level title is a reference to the end of the level, when they rescue Nikolai by blacking out the houses power.


 * When you get to the house where the Ultranationalists are holding Nikolai, Price tells Gaz to go cut the power. Gaz then proceeds to walk to the side of the house, and you'll notice that he won't do anything, but the lights still go out and Gaz says " Alright, I've cut the power." This issue was most likely overlooked when the game was made. After he cuts the power and you go into the house and then back to the place where Gaz stood, he wont be there anymore. He'll be on the balcony, even if it's impossible to get onto it at that time.


 * The BM-21s that the Loyalists are trying to destroy are unmanned, or in other words, have no driver or soldier in them, even when firing.


 * In the first guard post, two Ultranationalist soldiers are watching a news program on TV. If you listen to it, the program will mention that the United States Marine Corps will respond the coup d'état in a small oil-rich Middle Eastern nation with an invasion, however the date of the invasion is unknown.


 * At the beginning of the mission, a soldier is standing on a bridge, when you kill him you hear a voice saying "Enemy down". This voice does not sound like Gaz or Price´s voice meaning the level was possible meant to take place with a larger squad. Another reason to believe this is that later, when Gaz is about to cut the power, Captain Price says "Soap, get ready". However, the subtitles read "Everyone else, get ready."


 * When Price meets with Kamarov, Price says "remember Beirut?". Beirut is a city in Lebanon. During the 1980s, there was a civil war there. Kamarov and Price may have fought in the civil war together.


 * If you use a flashbang to incapacitate the soldier guarding Nikolai (the one with the flashlight) it has the humorous effect of affecting Nikolai, but only about 30 seconds later, after being identified and given an AK-74u.
 * The above can also be done to Captain Price. Kill the soldier guarding Nikolai and wait for Captain Price to walk towards Nikolai. Throw a flashbang after Nikolai is given the Ak-74u.
 * In the area where you grapple down the cliff, you can throw a flashbang, followed by a grenade, at the area in between Captain Price and Kamarov, making Captain Price and Gaz run away. This leads to Kamarov rambling on when his sentence is supposed to have stopped. He usually says "Captain Price, I have one more favor to ask of you and your men. Although my men are specifically trained for this type of situation, with your help, we could do it that much more efficiently."
 * At the end of the mission when you are to get on the helicopter, you can cook a grenade to 3 seconds, get on the helicopter without throwing the grenade and have it explode, killing you. However, you will continue to make your way onto the helicopter and sit down opposite to Captain Price even though you are dead.
 * The same face seen in The Coup that is believed to be Al- Fulani, is seen on the wall surrounding the Church in the Center of the Town which might mean that it is not Al- Fulani and be a randomly drawn face, or a picture drawn on the wall to a day or 2 ago to show about him being dead.
 * The loyalists can actually be shot and killed by the player during the heat of battle.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXg82FwpryY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XziQWYoUZ7k

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