Takedown (mission)

"Follow the shell."

- General Shepherd

Takedown is a level set in in Rio De Janeiro in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The objective of Task Force 141 in this level is to capture an associate of Vladimir Makarov: Alejandro Rojas, an arms dealer protected by the local militia. They first injure Faust, an associate of Rojas and continue on to capture him.

Overview
The level begins with Roach, Soap, and an American Task Force member together in a car in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. They tail a white van that makes a stop in front of a hotel. An associate of Rojas named Faust is approached by two local Gunmen from the van while he is being watched by Soap MacTavish, Roach, and other TF 141 members. Faust produces a Desert Eagle from a concealed location and kills the two gunmen at point-blank range, and a third that appears from the other side of the van. Faust takes a rifle from the one of the men he just shot and fires at the TF 141 members. Roach's driver is killed, while Roach quickly dives under the dashboard.

Faust notices Ghost, Meat and Royce on the opposite side of the street and opens fire on them, causing many civilians to run away, this causes cars to also swerve and skid to avoid others causing a massive pile up at the cross roads, once the gunfire ceases, Soap runs ahead, followed by Roach and Ghost.

The five commandos chase Faust down the street and into an alleyway, where Soap instructs Roach to shoot him in the leg, after which the screen fades to black. Shortly after, the screen fades back in again to show the captured Faust being prepared for interrogation. MacTavish instructs Royce, Meat and Roach to move on and capture Rojas. The squad ends up in a residential area, where the player must distinguish between civilians and hostile militia. The area acts as a very large maze, with militiamen hiding in every nook and cranny, some even climbing on top of the low roofs and running across makeshift bridges. Meat is killed by enemy gunfire, leaving only Roach and Royce. As Roach progresses, Royce is eventually overwhelmed as the militia surround him. At one point Roach encounters an enemy machinegun nest that pins him down in an alleyway; the default weapon has an M203 attachment, allowing Roach to quickly take out the nest and advance to Rojas's stronghold.

The stronghold is a large multi-story building guarded by several militiamen on the roof. Rojas is visible at this point, with a large "capture" icon above his head. If Roach shoots even to wound him, it is a game over. Roach must pursue Rojas to the end of the level, where he runs into a building and holes himself up. Just when Roach and Ghost think he has gotten away, Soap dives out of a window, taking Rojas with him, and the two land on top of a car. Soap holds his sidearm on Rojas and reports that the target has been captured.

First intel is on the flat section after the first uphill part, as you move sideways across the hill. It is inside one of the two houses which have a cloth awning over their "yard".

Second intel is near the top of the hill. After Ghost and Soap argue about shooting Rojas and Soap insists that they'll have to carry Rojas out if he's shot. After taking out the guy ahead and atop the building who fires an RPG, immediately go 90 degrees right to the end of the rooftop. Turning back left, you'll be able to drop onto a ledge/overhang and look inside, potentially seeing a guy waiting inside the door for you. Drop down to the next level, and there's an intel next to the bed.

Trivia

 * Faust has to be shot in the leg. Hitting him in any area above the legs results in a message stating that you have killed Rojas' right-hand man and a reminder to use a non-lethal take-down. However, you can shoot him anywhere you like after you shoot him in the leg. Also, directly after that, when he is sitting in the chair, you can shoot him several times but nothing will happen.
 * The militia in the level appears to be based on local gangsters, as the city of Rio is known to have a serious criminal element. They are supposed to be armed civilians, though their political affiliation with the Ultranationalists is unknown other than that Rojas does business with Makarov.
 * The militia are mostly armed with FAL battle rifles, which are locally manufactured, though being phased out for more modern rifles. Their other weapons are imported, popular 'criminal' weapons such as the AK-47 and Mini-Uzi.
 * The nature of the slums allows for very dynamic vertical gameplay; players will need to watch enemy movement from every direction, including from behind. There are a few opportunities for sneaking up on enemies lying in wait.
 * Dogs appear briefly within the slums, they are first visible behind a wire fence. The player can easily kill them to avoid having them jump on him.
 * The chase sequences of this level are reminiscent of the level Sins of the Father, where you had to pursue Victor Zakhaev.
 * This mission can be extremely challenging on higher difficulties for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it is one of only a few levels in which you are alone for most of the intense combat. Also, enemies can come from almost anywhere and can easily take the player by surprise unless they are paying very close attention to their surroundings.
 * At the beginning scene where the two men come out to Faust, the scene comes from the Worldwide trailer.
 * In the trailer, Faust was using a Desert Eagle to kill the first two people he sees; two shots for the first guy, three for the second, and two shots to the head on the third guy that comes from behind the van in the game. He then fires eight more shots towards the player's car, killing the driver. A Desert Eagle only has a magazine of seven bullets, somehow he fires a total of 15 shots. The Desert Eagle could however be a M9 which would make the larger magazine size more feasible as there are only 3 extra shots fired, which could easily be explained by an extended magazine.
 * Oddly enough, the driver is seen having an Australian flag on his cap while he has an American flag on his shoulder.
 * While are pursuing Faust you have unlimited sprint. It is then removed for the rest of the level.
 * After Faust runs away and before the player catches up with him, he can be heard firing upwards of twenty Desert Eagle rounds very rapidly. The only ways he could do this are by using two Desert Eagles with extended magazines, or by carrying several of them and throwing them away when they run out of ammunition.
 * If you reach Rojas too early before he is tackled by MacTavish, the intended script and its timing can be mixed up.
 * The manner in which MacTavish tackles Rojas may be a reference to the film Fast and Furious, in which Paul Walker's character tackles a fleeing enemy onto a car in a similar fashion.
 * If you fire your gun before Meat jumps down, you can scare away the civilians before Meat does.
 * If the player looks up when they reach the favela, they can see the famous statue Christ the Redeemer, a statue of Jesus Christ, standing upon a hill far off in the distance. In Portuguese the statue is called O Cristo Redentor, which is also the name of one of the Special Ops missions.
 * The hot weather gear that Task Force 141 wears in this operation looks almost civilian, i.e denim trousers and a short sleeve t-shirt, the only parts of the clothes that are militaristic are the vest, the kneepads, and the various holsters.
 * In the area of the level where you encounter dogs, after clearing all enemies, you can look up at a window to the left and see a Brazilian civilian gesturing at you and waving you in the right direction. Strangely, if you shoot him, the game won't penalize you and you can still continue on.
 * Both Faust and Rojas are armed with AK-47s, but strangely enough, they will make no attempt to defend themselves with the guns.
 * Although Ghost says Rojas was carrying a duffel bag, when you see him for yourself, all he has is his rifle. He may have dropped the bag to make better speed, or was carrying the rifle in the bag to begin with.
 * When chasing Rojas, Ghost offers to "put one in his leg," similar to how Griggs offered to shoot Zakhaev's son in the leg, in the first Modern Warfare.
 * The double doors close by themselves after you get out of the car at the start of the map,though you can go round the back past a swimming pool to get inside.
 * This mission and The Hornet's Nest is considered one the hardest missions to complete on Hardened and Veteran as enemies pop up from rooftops, windows and basically everywhere with little cover.
 * After you shoot Faust in the leg and capture, Ghost is seen getting ready to extract info from him but strangely if you let the game go into idle and play the "trailer" you will see someone else doing this. This person doesn't look like anyone in the strike team - it is thought that Roach and Ghost would go as a team through the slums making it much easier to pass this level. It is also possible that this person was simply a placeholder for Ghost, as the person they are interrogating in the trailer is not Faust. Even more, in the trailer soap throws faust into the car.
 * If you don't shoot Faust when Soap tells you to "take the shot", he will continue running toward the favela. When he gets to the chain-link fence the player will receive the message about him getting away. However, since the player has unlimited sprint, it is possible to chase him all the way to this point and still receive the message that he escaped, despite being only a few feet away from him.
 * Because the player has unlimited sprint, and because Faust (like all NPCs) must slow down to climb the stairs, it is actually possible to catch up with him and knife him in the back. This will, of course, result in failure.
 * If you look in either of the rear-view mirrors in the car at the beginning of the stage you'll see they are actual just still frames, not true mirrors. The image does not change from the moment the level begins. It's strange that effort was put into making the hula girl who dances on the dashboard but no mirror effect was added to the rear-views.
 * This level ends where The Hornet's Nest starts but a few things that are different are noticeable. The car that Soap attacks Rojas, is a different car, but is the same Green color. The trail you walk up has much less plant life than the next level, and the only thing past that trail is a Radio Tower and a shack. The shack is actually a building in the next level. Also, the staircase you walk up is blocked off now. Everything seems to be the same.
 * At the start of the level when you get out of the car you can shoot civilian cars with the M203 and not get penalized for it.
 * Oddly enough,once Soap has captured Faust and orders you,Meat,and Royce to pursue Rojas,you can see Ghost preparing his equipment to torture Faust.The wires Ghost has in his hands if you move closer to them are connected to nothing,only thin air.