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.

The Swamp
Take out the M21 sniper rifle and go forward until there is a dock in front. Go back and snipe the soldier on it and a soldier near a truck to the back. Snipe the soldier near the truck first. 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, there will be a house on your right and an overturned boat on the 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. They can be taken care of in one shot so the other guards won't be alerted, but while the closest soldier 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 the player to look into the house, and well as get accurate rounds into the house without making the guards wake up due to the player 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 put 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 the right. Go inside, and Price will open the door on the left to a field that has Kamarov and his men.

Ridge Sniping
After the player meets the Loyalists, take a right and go up the hill. Follow them 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 but you don't have to, and wait for Price to open the door.

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

At the end of the stairs, turn left and you'll see a soldier huddled in a corner. Take him out, then turn left. There's a Russian 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 an Ultranationalist 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 soldier 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 extraction chopper 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, as they can easily kill you or your teammates.


 * Before rappelling, you can pick up an RPG and go to the rappelling point and take out the BM21s and the tank. You need the infinite ammo cheat activated, 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, or until his flashlight falls.

Enemy Intelligence

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


 * Laptop 4 is in the house with Nikolai in. Stand in the doorway, and turn around 6 o clock. A bathroom should be there, sporting the laptop.

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.

Transcript
See Blackout/Transcript.

Trivia

 * One of the first enemies the player encounters is seen smoking a cigarette. If the player shoots him while he is taking a drag from it, the cigarette will remain hovering in the air.
 * 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.


 * 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. Then, altough Gaz has cut the power, you will be able to see an outer light still working as you go out of the house. The light is near the door under the stairs.


 * The BM-21s that the Loyalists are trying to destroy are unmanned, even when firing.


 * 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."


 * If the player uses 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 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.
 * When Kamarov tells Price the target (The BM21s) He says "The BM21s on the other side of the hill," but the subtitle says "The Ultranationalist BM21s." It is unknown why this happens
 * The Loyalists can actually be shot and killed by the player without failing the mission during the heat of battle.
 * The AK-74u that Captain Price gives to Nikolai is pulled from around his back, where his assault rifle would be slung when not in use. However, Captain Price is not seen with the gun any time before it is pulled out, and no enemies in game are seen with the gun.
 * While climbing the hill after meeting Sgt. Kamarov, if you look back towards where you started off, you can see the edges of the map.
 * Even though Kamarov says, "Follow me to the power station", Gaz actually leads the squad to there.
 * When Gaz tells you to plant the claymores, if you look closely, his mouth isn't even moving. Captain Price's is, indicating that Gaz wasn't supposed to say the line originally, but they changed it later on.
 * If you look at the subtitles when Price tells Soap MacTavish to get ready, you will notice that the subtitles say everyone else get ready, this may mean that there were going to be other S.A.S or other Russian loyalists with them in the rescue.
 * At the very end of the level (while sitting in the helicopter) if you look down as far as you can go, you will see the seat's bottom, and you won't be able to see any legs.
 * In the first guard house if you go up to the TV playing the news if you tap the action button you can turn the TV off or have it go to standby.
 * If you look closely inside the helicopter towards the pilots, you will see an RPG.


 * In the end of the level, if you look closely you can see that the pilots are Russian loyalists. However, in Hunted they will be SAS soldiers.
 * You will not be able to board the helicopter in the end until Captain Price does.

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