Cliffhanger (mission)

"Break's over, Roach. Let's go."

- Captain MacTavish

 is the third campaign mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Captain "Soap" MacTavish and Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson of Task Force 141 must infiltrate a Russian airbase in the cold mountains of Kazakhstan. There, they must recover a downed satellite module before the Russians can make use of it.

Summary
The level begins with the player as "Roach" Sanderson. The player and "Soap" MacTavish are resting on a ledge on the side of a mountain. After a MiG-29 flies overhead, the player and Soap start climbing a wall of ice with ice picks. There is a harrowing moment when a pair of MiG-29s take flight overhead, nearly dislodging Soap from his position on the cliff. Once at the top the player and Soap jump a small gap. The player doesn't make it and nearly falls to his death when Soap grabs the player's hand at the last moment, saving his life. Soap brings the player up, and they climb up the rest of the mountain. Here, Roach learns to use the Heartbeat Sensor attached to his ACR which can be turned off and on, unlike multiplayer. They simultaneously down enemy patrols as they move to the airbase. Captain MacTavish climbs a nearby ridge, providing Thermal overwatch, and sniper support. Roach then infiltrates the airbase and proceeds to the fuel depot, eliminating threats, as the player can sneak by enemies using the cover of the blizzard and the usefulness of the heartbeat sensor. The player will then plant C4 on the fuel depot (which serves as a Plan B in case things go south) and travel to the hangar that Soap is in to recover a crashed satellite that contained an American ACS module. Doing this without alerting or injuring any guards the player will receive the achievement/trophy "Ghost". When the player and Soap go in the hanger, a guard walks by and Soap beats up and stabs the unfortunate guard in the neck with his knife. He tells the player to go upstairs and get the ACS module. When returning, the player hears a Russian soldier, Major Petrov, threatening to kill Soap if Roach does not surrender in 5 seconds. Petrov counts down while the player detonates the C4. There is a huge explosion and the player and Soap fight out of the airbase and go down a hill where Soap takes out an oncoming enemy snowmobile with his ice picks. The player then kills another hostile on a snowmobile, and he and Soap then get on the snowmobile and escape while shooting enemies, racing down a really steep hill and jumping across a gorge to get to the LZ where Kilo Six-One is waiting.

Walkthrough

Roach and Soap start on a cliff edge-side of a mountain. Soap claims his break is over, so they both start sliding across the edge. Be careful, because one wrong move can mean certain death. Roach and Soap will stop at one section of the mountain, and Soap will start climbing it. The ice is "good" enough so that the player's Ice Picks (or Ice Axes as they called it) can climb it. Simply target the wall, then press and hold the Right Trigger to latch on the Wall. Press and hold the Left Trigger to do the same for the other arm. If the player lets go, he/she will fall and die. Hanging on with one ice pick for too long, will result in the ice breaking, and the player will fall. The player must climb and not stop until reaching the top, even when the soaring plane goes by and nearly pushes Soap down.

When the player reaches the top, a checkpoint will be gained and have another section of mountain to climb. Follow Soap and jump over the gap. Roach will, however, start sliding to his doom. Right before he falls, Soap grabs him at the last second and pulls him up. Quickly climb up the mountain.

When they both reach the top, Roach will pull out a Silenced ACR containing a Heartbeat Sensor. The player's secondary weapon will be a silenced USP .45 with a Tactical Knife attachment. Remember, Soap is indicated blue on the sensor, but all hostiles are white, and pay constant attention toward the sensor. There are two 2-man patrols up ahead. When Soap counts to three, take down the soldier on the left (or the player can let him take them both down instead, or player can kill them both. Either doesn't matter). The storm is brewing up, so this is the advantage to infiltrate the base. Soap will leave Roach and climb up a ridge, using his Thermal Scope to take watch. Soap will then tap into the enemy's radio channel to eavesdrop on them.

Enter the base, and take heavy precautions. The player is "invisible" at a distance and try to make all shots into the head (sometimes chest-shots will not kill, especially on Veteran). Be quick on shots as well, because enemies are grouped most of the time (there's also a patrolling Jeep but they won't get out until they find anything suspicious). Note that the player is not invisible when entering a building. Don't forget any dead bodies will cause heavy suspicion. And remember to keep the Heartbeat Sensor active and that the weapon is silenced, so don't fear of making much noise. It may be a good idea to swap the USP .45 to a enemy rifle, so the player can have something powerful to defend themselves if they're spotted by enemies. However use the picked up weapon only when absolutely necessary as it will attract the enemy's attention.

Soap will then instruct the player to find a fueling station to place a C4 charge, and that they can go to plan "B" if things go wrong. Use stealth to reach the instructed area. When the C4 is placed, the player is instructed to go to a different area. Unless having alerted the patrolling Jeep, the player will have 30 seconds to reach that area before the C4 gets compromised by it. Be warned that there is an area containing a BMP (it's actually near the objective area), and avoid it at all costs because it has thermal sights. The main reason it was implanted was to prevent the player from leaving the base.

When the player reaches the area, follow Soap. He rams a guard onto the wall and then knifes him (the player always has the option of eliminating any targets before Soap does). The player will see a large machine gear which Soap will analyze. While he does this, the player is instructed to find the ACS module upstairs, inside the building. Do this, and come back out. Quickly crouch behind the boxes, and hordes of targets will crowd Soap. They tell the player to come out or, they will kill Soap; failing the mission. If the player fires their weapon, throws a grenade, or walks too close to Petrov, Soap will be killed and the mission will fail. Forced to initiate "Plan B", the player will automatically pull out the detonator. Quickly set off the C4 before Petrov finishes his countdown. When this goes into action, all the hostiles will be distracted by the explosion. Shoot everyone and follow Soap. By now the player should notice that the BMP is gone, and the Blizzard has cleared up.

Eventually the player is prompted to hop on a Snowmobile, and a chase begins (Driving controls: Forward: Right Trigger (RT), R1, or W (Default); Backward: B, square, or S (Default). To shoot G18: Left Trigger (LT), L1, or Left Mouse Button (LMB, Default)). Since the player has succeeded the mission, Roach and Soap are chased to an extraction point about 2,500m away. Keep driving, ignoring the trees and enemies, and just drive through the course to the extraction point. The G18 has unlimited ammunition, which reloads automatically when the current magazine is emptied (it can't be reloaded mid magazine). When having reached the extraction point, the mission ends.

Tips

 * After planting the C4, don't try to go across the middle of the runway. Instead, go back and find the way to Soap through the base. This will make it much easier to complete this part of the mission.
 * When going through the base, let Soap take out the single enemies, but circle around the enemy pairs. Only shoot if absolutely necessary.
 * If the player enters by going around the watchtower with the intel, kill the walking Russian, because Mactavish will not snipe him.


 * Don't try to sprint past the group of 5 because they will hear you.
 * After passing the watchtower, go left as the player will encounter the least number of enemies to get to the fuel station.
 * It is possible to just go loud and kill everybody on the Recruit or Regular level, but the player must stealth on Harden or Veteran.
 * If the player shoot the truck when it is coming, the four men will not get out, although it is unlikely that the player killed all the four men in the truck.

Found in Level
These weapons can be found with and without attachments.

Transcript
See Cliffhanger/Transcript.

Enemy Intelligence

 * Intel No. 4 is near the entrance of the base; to the right is a tower with a ladder and scaffold; watch out for the enemy patrol and climb the ladder to find the laptop.
 * Intel No. 5 is easy to miss; just before regrouping with Soap, there is a building where welders can be seen through a window working on a MiG. Smash one of the windows and a laptop is on the other side.
 * Intel No. 6 is very easy to miss, as it is found during the snowmobile chase. At about 1800-10m from the extraction point, the path will split off to the left or right. Head for the trees in the middle and veer right. Drive over the laptop to pick it up.

Trivia
See Cliffhanger/Trivia.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fxA26RBlP4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMpSsLeV5q0&feature=related