Cliffhanger (mission)/Trivia




 * This was the first level of the game revealed, played by Infinity Ward's Jason West back at E3 2009. Early reports gave the mistaken impression that the game had multiple routes through levels, due to Soap's mention of "Plan B".
 * Due to the nature of the level, the ACR may just have snowy buildup instead of a unique camouflage.
 * When Soap talks over radio, his lips aren't moving. In addition, the swarming hostiles and Major Petrov didn't even notice Soap communicating to Roach by Radio. This can be explained if Soap was using a throat-mic, so no motion of the mouth is needed, only of the voice-box.
 * In the early development of the level, Captain Price was scheduled to be with the player and the player would control Soap, rather than Roach.
 * Strangely enough, Petrov knows that Roach is upstairs when he and his men apprehend Soap. It could be possible that Roach was spotted on his way to Soap's position, or that one of the soldiers Soap and Roach incapacitated played dead then contacted Petrov. Or they only saw one man run into the hanger, but guessed that since no man fights alone (buddy system) that there was another upstairs.
 * In the intro for this level, Shepherd says that the Task Force is on a mission recovering the ACS. There were more raids, the locations of which are shown in the beginning of "No Russian". One was in a forest, another in a mine and another in a village.
 * The name of this level is a reference to the Sylvester Stallone movie Cliffhanger, which involves him as a rock climber trapped at a Ski lodge controlled by terrorists.
 * The name of this level is also an inside joke because of the fact that the player is infiltrating a hangar on the edge of a cliff, hence the name.
 * In the launch trailer for the game, Soap appears to be executed instead of Roach going to plan B.
 * Soap's M14 EBR has a sniper scope on it, rather than a Thermal Scope.
 * The ACR the player starts with has 780 rounds in the beginning. In every other level, the ACR can only have 630 spare rounds, excluding Just Like Old Times where an ACR that sports 1260 rounds in reserve can be obtained.
 * When the player meets up with Soap after planting the C4, he has an AK-47, but in the beginning of the mission, he is seen with an M14 EBR.

Climbing

 * At the start of the level the player can take out the ice picks before starting the climbing by pressing the switch weapons button/key. The ice picks can be used to melee, however the player will switch to other equipment before encountering the first enemy. If the player tries to melee Soap with the ice picks, they will just pass through him.
 * When the player has climbed to the top and is getting up from the cliff, Roach's shadow is visible. From this it is shown that he is wearing a beanie hat just like Soap MacTavish is, however the shadow will disappear as soon as the player stands up.
 * At the start of the level it is possible to pass Soap on ice by just sliding past him. He will knock the player off the mountain when he starts climbing though.
 * It is possible to see Captain Price's M1911 in Soap´s leg holster. Also, a heartbeat sensor is clearly seen on Soap's M14 before climbing, but it seems to disappear after climbing.
 * No matter where you position yourself before the first climb or where you land on the second, you'll cling onto a pre-set game path as you climb.
 * It is impossible to catch up with Soap as you're climbing. Even if Soap is directly above you, if you attempt to climb, your character will look down at the icepick before climbing, and Soap will have suddenly gotten further up the mountain than he should be if he kept his current speed. This also happens when Soap disappears over the small bump in the mountain on the climb.
 * As with other large falls, it is possible to hear Roach scream by jumping off the cliff.
 * If you miss the first jump, the quote "Nobody makes the first jump" appears, a direct reference to Crew Expendable and a reference to a line in The Matrix. You would have to miss the cliff face entirely (by jumping to the right).
 * The scene with Roach being rescued by Soap pays homage to the game's prequel, in which Soap was rescued by his commander Captain Price before falling and Captain Price catching him, in the level Crew Expendable.
 * On the second climbing portion, if you look down as Roach reaches the top, the player can see only his arms cast shadows.
 * On Veteran difficulty, the player will need to hold down both the triggers/mouse buttons (or just L1 in the PS3 version) to keep their hold after the first jump, as opposed to any other difficulty, where no buttons or triggers need to be pressed or held down.
 * Even if the player jumps before Soap, Soap will still save them from falling.
 * If the player forgets to hold the ice picks after Captain MacTavish rescues the player, instead of the usual quote, the words "Hold on for dear life" appear on the screen.
 * If the player looks down when walking the ridge you start on, it will appear they are walking on thin air.
 * If the player jumps off the cliff at the beginning of the level, you can sometimes hear Soap saying "Break's over, Roach. Let's go," even though he fell off the cliff.
 * If the player jumps right after Soap and hold on with your left hook, you will see him crouch on the ice wall, without falling. This is a glitch.
 * It is possible to put out your Icepick manually before you are allowed to climb. When MacTavish climbs, press 1 or 2 before he says : Alright the Ice is good follow me.
 * Right after you start reclimbing again ,after you almost die, if you get ahead of Soap you will fall and can see that Soap pushed you right off the picks. This was probably put in because he jumps before you and climbs before you and that you can never really get ahead of him.

Approach

 * Should the player decide to not shoot either of the two-man guard patrols after climbing up, Soap will do it while chastising you for not helping out, saying "I guess I have to do everything?" (A possible reference to Call of Duty 4, where the player as Soap, had to do almost every major action). The second time, he is a bit more agitated and replies with "This would be a lot easier if you helped."
 * Should the player instead kill both guards, Soap will give his standard lines as though the player had taken them down together as normal.
 * If the player were to go ahead of Soap and shoot one of the enemies in the second pair, and damage but not kill the other, Soap will kill him and say "This is the reason we brought silencers."
 * If you kill a lone target before Soap snipes it, he will say "Then again, maybe not." or "Ah, you got 'em." or "Nevermind."
 * If the player picks up any dropped weapon, Soap will warn about using unsilenced weapons (which applies to every non-player weapon). "Be careful about picking up enemy weapons, Roach. Any unsuppressed firearms will attract a lot of attention."
 * This is the only mission where you can encounter a BMP, by walking deeper into base. After planting the C4, Soap will say "I'm detecting large heat signatures, could be BMPs, I'd avoid that area". The player will not be able to plant C4 on it.
 * If there are alerted guards searching for you, the game will not auto-save.
 * If you reach the fueling station fast/early, sometimes Soap's script will mix around out of order.
 * If you do not kill or alert any enemies while sneaking through the base (besides the four you kill in the beginning, and any enemies after you plant the C4), you will receive the Ghost Achievement/Trophy, and MacTavish will comment, "No kills, no alerts. Impressive, Roach."
 * If the player blows up a truck without alerting the guards (you can do this easily if you have picked up a weapon with a grenade launcher like AK-47 Grenadier), MacTavish will comment, "Wow, I wonder if they'll notice a flaming wreck in the middle of the road", and the subtitles say, "Gee, I wonder if they'll notice a flaming wreck in the middle of the road."
 * If the player heads to the rendezvous quickly enough Soap's silhouette can be seen running towards the alley.

Hangar

 * In the hangar next to the one with the ACS module in it, there are two blips on the Heartbeat Sensor. If the player looks through a small gap in the large hangar door, there is someone working on a MiG-29 and another person who is barely visible at the back of the hangar. Both of these people can be killed normally, but they will not react when wounded. They also won't react if the player smashes the rear window with his/her knife to get the intel inside.
 * If the player gets seen on the way to the hangar and leads guards to the area where Soap is hiding, he will comment, "Brought some friends with you?"
 * Once you enter the hangar, the ice covering Roaches goggles seem to wear off.
 * When Roach meets up with Soap at the hangar, the AK 47 he has is not silenced, despite him telling Roach unsuppressed weapons would blow their cover.
 * In the opening to "Wolverines!", it is seen that the ACS module is part of the US' Attack Characterization System, which would normally give accurate early warning of impending assaults based on satellite intelligence. Because the Russians were able to crack this module, they were able to spoof the rest of the system long enough to carry out their invasion. How the satellite wound up in Russian hands is not explained.
 * If Roach shoots the guard before MacTavish assaults him, MacTavish will stop and take up a shooting stance, even if the guard is dead. The sounds of Soap taking down the guard and stabbing him are still heard.
 * The guard in the hanger starts to bleed before Soap stabs him.

Cover blown

 * If Roach isn't close enough to Soap when he gets captured, Soap won't tell him to activate Plan B and he will be shot dead.


 * Soap will be shot if Roach arms a grenade, before detonating the C4.


 * When the player looks at the Heartbeat Sensor when Soap becomes compromised, the soldiers appear to just spawn in the hangar.


 * In the hangar, after detonating the C4, the player can pick up a FAMAS rifle that has the same "white tape camouflage" as the FAMAS available in the Museum level.


 * The Hangar part of this mission is possibly a reference to Goldeneye, when your partner (Soap/006) gets captured by Soviets in an Arctic air base, and are to be executed after a countdown, resulting in a very large explosion as the hero/good guys escape over a large ravine.


 * It is impossible to kill the Russian soldier on the snowmobile that Soap eventually kills with his ice pick.


 * Even if Roach shoots a silenced weapon Soap will be executed.
 * This is the only level where the player's silenced weapon does not become unsilenced after you execute "plan B." E.G. The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday their M4A1 SOPMOD and SCAR-H w/ Thermal Scope & silencer lose their silencers.

Snowmobile

 * If the player gets on the snowmobile and just so happens to hit Soap with it when driving off, the message "MacTavish was run over." is displayed.
 * When the player takes out two of the three snowmobiles that appear on the hill, another one spawns just as the player sees Soap kill the third.
 * The player is able to reload their Glock 18 on the snowmobile with one hand while driving away from enemies with the other.
 * When the player is close to jumping over the giant gap at the end of the level, they will hear the music from the level Crew Expendable of the first Modern Warfare, when Soap was about to jump into the helicopter.
 * If the player were to hit the brakes on the snowmobile hard just before the large jump, it is possible to end up in a spot inches from the end of the cliff in which the player cannot move.
 * While driving the snowmobile down the large hill at the end, hitting Soap's snowmobile from behind will kill the player and send them flying.
 * If the player is killed when driving up a large hill, the camera will still go over the jump.
 * The player does not seem to have a Glock 18 until he gets on the snowmobile.
 * When at Extraction, Kilo Six-One will say "We're at bingo fuel," but the subtitles say, "We're getting close to bingo fuel."
 * It is possible to drive the snowmobile up the extracting helicopter. After jumping over the chasm, drive towards the left side of the field instead of going straight. You should come across an area of tree stumps. Drive over the tree stumps and then aim towards the helicopter and you should be able to enter it.
 * Just before boarding the helicopter the player can see that the extraction teams character models are that of the Marines in Russia in Call of Duty 4.
 * In EA's Battlefield: Bad Company 2, there is a reference to this part in the 10th level: No One Gets Left Behind during a quad-bike race.

=== Miscellaneous===

Oddly enough, the players ACR has 3 attachments, instead of the 2 limit as in Multiplayer. The player has a Red Dot Sight, Heartbeat Sensor, and Suppressor.

"Time Trial", "Acceptable Losses" and "Race" are Special Ops missions are based off of this level, where the player must race on a snowmobile to a finish line or plant different explosives around the base.

This is one of two campaign levels the Mi-24 appears in, but in this one, it cannot be destroyed.

In the intro, General Shepherd says the Task Force are retrieving the ACS, but only Roach and Soap are in the mission, along with a small team to cover the extraction helicopter.

In the E3 2009 demo, your objective is to download data from a computer, in the final game it is to retrieve the ACS module which are both on the same table.

When the player and Soap split up, Soap should technically not be able to see any hostiles through his Thermal Scope considering that heat signatures come out white, just like the snow making Soap's sniper support very difficult. thermal scopes have to types of heat though, black heat and white heat. As this mission is at night/daybreak, the black heat would make it much easier to see the Russians.

This is one of only three times the player can see the CH-46 Sea Knight in Modern Warfare 2, and the only one where it is used as an extraction vehicle.

How the Sea Knight got so close to the airfield without being noticed is not specified. In addition, the Mi-24 that assaults Roach and MacTavish ceases to chase them down the ravine, when it would much more likely follow them and subsequently discover the CH-46.

Tian Shan, the location of this level, means Sky Mountain in Mandarin.

When you get to the CH-46 for exctraction you can see the Spec Ops S.A.S soldiers from CoD4 coming out of the helicopter.

Many comparisons can be drawn between Crew Expendable from Modern Warfare.

Both missions begin with the team leader (Price and Soap respectively) smoking a cigarette, then flicking it away, in Price's case into the water, in Soap's over the cliff's edge.

As mentioned above, the scene in which Roach loses his grip with the ice picks can be compared to when Soap nearly falls out of the helicopter in Crew Expendable

Soap shares a notably similar appearance to Price in this mission, and is markedly different than his appearance in the rest of the missions in Modern Warfare 2.