Just Like Old Times

"I'll wait for you at the exfil point. Three hours." "Don't bother. This was a one-way flight, mate." "Then good luck, my friend."

- Nikolai and Captain Price

Just Like Old Times is the second to last level of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. You play as Captain "Soap" MacTavish.

Walkthrough
The mission starts with a sandstorm taking place and you and Price hiding in the sand. They then proceed towards a ridge and ambush a group of Shadow Company soldiers. Soap then hooks up on a bridge and rappels with Price. The two then take out the two guards below them standing in front of the cave and then head inside. They later are forced to hide as a patrol of soldiers check out what happened to the group they took out earlier. They sneak past a group of soldiers having a meeting. Price warns Soap of two soldiers with taclights coming down the stairs. They kill them and the two continue. Upstairs, Price stabs a soldier before he notices the two are behind him. They then learn that Shadow Company soldiers are about to breach the door. Price and Soap quickly take out the group as they come pouring in. Price tells Soap to take a Riot Shield for cover and walk along the catwalk while Price takes out the group. They later learn that Shepherd is being evacuated. They then take out several groups of soldiers before proceeding to a door that Shadow Company soldiers have locked. The duo then breach the door and kill all the soldiers behind it. After the room is clear, Shepherd notifies the soldiers in the cave that the site has been breached and that he is going to set off explosives inside the cave to attempt to kill Soap and Price. Price and Soap quickly hack the door controls so that they can get out before the explosions go off. During their escape, Soap is injured, but quickly recovers. Shepherd then calls in an artillery strike "danger close" in another desperate attempt to kill the two, but they still manage to survive. Price then comments like Corporal Dunn that Shepherd doesn't care about danger close. Price and Soap then proceed to the Zodiacs, that Shepherd mentioned earlier.

More Detailed Walkthrough

In the beginning of the mission follow Captain Price. When he stops at the ridge, go to the very right. When the shooting is about to start, aim for a headshot at the soldier on the right nearest to you.& You should be able to take the soldier and the soldier behind him out in one shot. Follow Captain Price, and shoot when told. Rappel down and kill the soldier.

You should automatically switch to your secondary weapon, a TDI Vector, though there is no need to do so. The Intervention, meanwhile, may be replaced, as there is close-quarters fighting ahead. Follow Price, then either kill the soldier or not when prompted. Follow Price again, and kill when prompted. Follow Price again. You will then see a weapons rack with 3 ACRs. Take the one on the right as it has a suppressor, red dot sight, and heartbeat monitor. You will want to keep this rifle the rest of the level. The gun you switch out should be the TDI Vector. Clear the room and follow Price outside.

You can either switch the non ACR gun for a Riot Shield, or use the Intervention if you have kept it. If you took the riot shield, proceed along the catwalk until there is a slight bend to the left. Stop just after the bend, and wait until Price takes out the two behind the low wall. Price will not take out the soldier that is prone until you reach the bridge. Either go for a bash or wait for Price to kill him. Afterwards, you can keep the riot shield while another 3 soldiers appear or you can switch to your ACR and kill them yourself. The latter is faster. If you kept the Intervention and decide to use it, slowly move, while prone and scoped in, out of cover and take out the tangos when you see them. After taking out the last of the three, duck back behind cover and repeat, as a single replacement group will move in. After taking out the second group you can move up without trouble.

In the next area, you will see a squad of six soldiers fast roping down a helicopter. There are several with shields, so killing them quickly before they can set up is advisable. Take as many of them out as you can while they fast rope and cook a grenade into them to kill the rest. Instead of going right with Price, go left with the ACR drawn. Watch the HBM to see when the soldiers come around the bend and kill them all. Go back to Price to mop up any stragglers.

Another squad of soldiers will fast rope down, about the same composition as the previous fast rope group. Take them out the same way. There will be enemies to your left. Get behind the crates and chose to either switch out your ACR for a SCAR with thermal scope (If you have two weapons with the same basic function, one will never be used), or keep the ACR. Go towards the marker and take out the enemies using a flanking maneuver. Go with Price and plant the breaching charge. Clear the room. When prompted, go to the keyboard, activate it, run out the door. You will then be knocked down.

When you are able to move again just before the artillery strike, go where Price is. Switch out the non ACR gun with the AT4 at Price's feet. Keep the AT4 out. When you near the beginning of the tents, you should be able to see a blackhawk coming into viewing the distance. It will fast rope down troops. Shoot it down with the AT4 to thin out the resistance. If you are fast enough, you can do the same with the Little Bird. If it is already taking off, then it's already displaced it's troops. You can still shoot at it with the AT4 if you like. Take out the remaining soldiers. The HBS on the ACR will help with locating them, or, if you still have the Intervention, you can lag behind Price and take out the tangos with less risk, but it requires more accuracy on your part. Follow Price, take out the soldiers that run out of the cave. You can take them out with an AT4 again if you don't feel like shooting at them. Go into the cave and begin the briefing for the next mission.



Intel Items
(1/4 Intel) After you shoot the smoking enemy in front of a security monitor, head east, the intel is on a gray crate.

(2/4 Intel) Just before the caves exit, face north, it's on a table.

(3/4 Intel) As Capt. Price engage in firefight through smoke and riot shields, head north, it's on a crate with MG4.

(4/4 Intel) Inside the breached control room with explosives. On a table, left of Capt. Price as he is using the terminal.

Trivia

 * During the cutscene, you can see Price's "inventory": a suppressed Intervention, a suppressed Vector, a Colt .45, Flashbangs, Frag Grenades, and a Combat Knife. Normally people in the series would carry only two weapons (regardless if they're primary or secondary weapons), in this case Price carries three. In the first, the player could have two weapons and a sidearm, however.
 * In the room that Shadow Company has rigged to blow up at the end of the level, before the player breaches the exit, a table with a map of Shepherd's New World Order can be seen. On the table lies X's and O's as if it where a game board, showing how radical Shepard's plans ultimately were.


 * In the beginning, if you kill the first group without an alert, and kill the dog before Price does, Price will say "Just like old times," referring to him and Soap working together again like they did in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.


 * Early on in the level, when Price talks his lips do not move.


 * In the beginning of the level, Price is using a Cheytac Intervention sniper rifle just like Soap. However, just before entering the caves, he will put it away and draw a silenced SCAR-H with a thermal sight. He will not use the Intervention again for the rest of the level, even in situations that would tactically warrant its use.


 * When there is a guard that Price wants to kill, he would say "He's mine", but if you kill the guard before Price does, he would say "Never mind, then." Sometimes he won't respond if you kill the guard fast enough. In the level "Cliffhanger," MacTavish would respond the same way.


 * The "Little Bird" that arrives (after exiting the cave near the end of the level) with Shadow Company troops cannot be killed until they disembark from the side of the vehicle.


 * At the beginning of the mission, you can see civilian cars driving on the road across the canyon. Although they obviously can't see the cave system itself, the large flights of Little Birds do little to preserve the secrecy of the Site. However later on during the mission after Shadow Company acknowledges your presence. You're forced to traverse the rock bridge. When moving across the bridge you can see tanks and Humvees moving across instead of civillian vehicles.


 * The area where the Artillery strike is called on Shadow Company looks very similar to the ammo dump outside of the cave of the "Ten Rings" terrorist group from the movie Iron Man.


 * Towards the end of the level, right before the first breach, it is impossible to kill the Shadow Company soldier before he closes the door.


 * Occasionally there will be a soldier with an MP5K silenced w/red dot sight, much like the one in The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday.


 * When you are in the tunnel system and the two Soldiers come through the door with the stairs and the red light, if you kill them both, Price will say "Impressive".


 * After using the knife to kill the two guards at the front of Site Hotel Bravo, Captain Mactavish and Price hide off to the left because a patrol is coming. It is odd that the patrol would not see the two corpses up front, as they have more than enough time to make it to the entrance before Mactavish and Price start moving again. It is possible nearby sandstorms blew the bodies off the cliff.


 * At the start of the level, Price muses about the decryption code for the Shadow Company comms being "worth the price [they] paid". This is an almost direct lift of a line from the movie Return of the Jedi, where one of the characters wonders the same thing about a code to de-activate the Death Star-II's defenses to reach the shield generator on the planet below.


 * In the intro of the level when it's showing all your weapons, it will show a M1911. This is most likely Price's.


 * Price seems to carry three weapons: a SCAR-H with a thermal scope, suppressed Intervention and an M4A1 Grenadier in this level and Endgame altogether.
 * It is odd that even after the airstrike on the final area, there are still red, explosive barrels that are apparently completely untouched.


 * It is possible to get past the troopers firing at you with MG4's without taking a Riot Shield.
 * If you look at the CCTV footage in the cave it is actually showing the inside of the Gulag.
 * If you alert the group of enemies on top of the ridge at the beginning, they can climb up when you can only slide down.
 * Lambert (who the guards inside the cave mention with Vinsent) is actually the name of one of the main characters in the Splinter Cell series, possibly being a reference to it.
 * This is the first mission that the UH-60 Blackhawks are used by other characters besides Ramirez in Modern Warfare 2
 * When you are rappelling down the cliff, you can see Price's shadow. Near the bottom of the cliff, before you knife the guards, you can see one guard look directly at Price's shadow, but does not react to it. Also, the man directly under Soap will sometimes look up. It is strange how he did not see Soap or Price.
 * Also when you are rappeling down, if you wait too long before knifing the guard, rocks will fall down from above you, alert the guard below, then he will shoot you.
 * On lower difficulties you brake automatically when you are rappelling upon reaching the bottom. On higher difficulties however you would fly off the cliff if you do not brake.