Heat

"Every Ultranationalist psycho in Zakhaev's pocket is about to show up on our doorstep, and come to claim Al-Asad." "Or what's left of him."

- Captain Price and Gaz

Heat is the fifteenth campaign level of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In gameplay it's both a redux and a reversal of Safehouse, while in story it is the SAS team's fight to survive against Imran Zakhaev's supporters after the capture (and execution) of Khaled Al-Asad.

Plot
The level starts off with Captain Price, Soap (once again controlled by the player), Gaz and Arem charging down to defend the hill, with Mac providing machine gun covering fire.

The original plan is to deploy charges (antipersonnel explosives) at "Phase Line Alpha" near a church, and "Phase Line Bravo" near a tavern, then to hold out until extraction at a landing zone (LZ) at the top of the hill. However, after the simultaneous detonations at Alpha, the enemy (mistaking the S.A.S. team for a much larger force) eventually restore the mortars to force them back. MacTavish then mans a Minigun inside a crashed Black Hawk helicopter, holding off the enemy until enemy helicopters start deploying troops. Once Soap and the rest of the S.A.S. soldiers reach Phase Line Bravo, he has to use four detonators (one in each of the four windows of the second floor) in the tavern to manually detonate the Bravo charges. They retreat up the hill once more toward the same barn where they found Al-Asad the night before, after which the team holds off the enemy and allow Soap to use a Javelin missile system to take out four enemy tanks.

However, despite the clearing of enemy armor the evacuation helicopter pilot deems the LZ "too hot," with multiple SAM launchers across the mountains, and the team is told to get to a new LZ at the bottom of the hill by a lake within four minutes or be left behind. Despite Gaz's anger at having to go back down the same hill just ceded to the enemy, Soap takes point and leads the team down the hill. SSgt. Griggs and his fellow Marines cover the S.A.S. as they board the helicopter; all successfully evacuated except for Mac who is presumed to have died providing sniper support for the squad.

Tips

 * Instead of going to the edge of the cliff at the start of the level, the player can go up into the church tower and pick off the enemies with their M21. There is also a large quantity of RPG-7s up there. Don't stay there too long, however, as the mortar will eventually blow up the church and automatically kill the player. When the Ultranationalists start using mortars to bombard the hill, it is best to evacuate the tower before the player is killed.
 * If the player picks up some RPG-7 in the tower and waits to use them at the point where Soap must man the Minigun, when the helicopters arrive it is a fantastic time to gain the Xbox 360 achievement 'Bird on the Ground'.
 * Or, immediately man the Minigun as the player is still able to kill some of the enemies and they also are able to destroy the helicopters that airdrop more enemies, as they only take a burst each.


 * The tavern in which the player uses the detonators has an AK-47 Grenadier with about 5 GP-25 grenades, a G36C and a M249 SAW lying on a bed.


 * The barn has RPDs, P90s, Dragunovs, G36Cs, and of course, the Javelin.


 * After a certain amount of time at the barn, after destroying the enemy tanks with the Javelin, the enemies stop spawning, leaving the player with the ones that are already there. If the player is fast enough they can take advantage of this, especially on Veteran.


 * When running down to the final LZ, go down through the field to the west and keep to the west while running down as it has less enemies. Only shoot enemies which are an immediate danger - just keep running fast and utilizing cover when appropriate.


 * Using smoke grenades is vital to the player's survival on Veteran difficulty, in order to provide much needed cover.


 * When heading to the LZ, don't be afraid to use air support, as it has 10 uses, and is very useful for taking out many enemies very quickly.
 * Airstrikes can be called in in multiple places at once. For example, three airstrikes can be called-in in one area within two seconds of each other. This is best as it can annihilate large groups of hostiles at once.

Transcript
See Heat/Transcript

Trivia
Heat/Trivia


 * There is a fairly amusing glitch in this level. Gaz will stay completely still and he will be shot at rapidly and won't move. Suddenly, several enemies will die at once that apparently Gaz "shot".
 * There is an overlooked and disregarded Gaz dialouge. When the the Ultranationalists begin to target the hillside with mortars, Gaz tells you to "get on the minigun and cover the western flank". According to your compass on the bottom center of your screen, west is to your right. However, absolutely no enemies attack from the western flank. All enemies emerge from smokescreens on the southern side of the hill.
 * When manning the Minigun, it is possible to shoot down all five helicopters that arrive to give reinforcements to the Ultranationalists.
 * The two pilots are randomly generated Marines, with ranks.
 * There is an invisible barrier in the area in which the Sea Knight lands, so there is no way the player can get run over by this one.
 * A glitch can occur in which the Seaknight just circles around the LZ, but never lands.
 * This is the only single player level in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare where the Harrier Airstrike is available.
 * During this mission the player's default M21 has a unique type of camo.
 * When the mission begins, an Ultranationalist is speaking over some sort of PA system, he says "Surrender at once and your lives will be spared, I'm sure you will make the right choice given the circumstances." he then proceeds to say it again only he says "drop your weapons at once" in the beginning.
 * If one destroys all but one tank at the farm, enemies will continually respawn until the player quits or the final tank is destroyed.
 * During the cut scene, Captain Price discusses the defensive strategy against the oncoming Ultranationalist forces and asks, "Any questions?" Gaz responds, "Let's do this." This phrase later becomes the catch-phrase for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Simon "Ghost" Riley of Task Force 141.
 * In Safehouse, the same crashed helicopter can be found, but does not have the Minigun.
 * Sometimes, when the player is looking around the Sea Knight helicopter, they might see a dead Marine in digital Desert camo. Players originally thought this was a glitch, but if the player climbs up the rotor and on top of the helicopter they will see a faded USMC logo.
 * The player can destroy all eight helicopters that appear in the mission. The first five can be shot down with the Minigun, while the other three can be shot down with the RPG-7s lying on the fence in front of the barn.
 * Airstrikes cannot destroy the Sea Knight helicopter nor kill anyone inside.
 * The Minigun is exclusive to this particular level.
 * When the player enters the extraction chopper, if they look out at Griggs, he reloads his M249 SAW, but at least twice as fast as the player can reload a SAW. Also, the player can see the blue ammo box Griggs drops, which they don't see with any other characters.
 * It is unclear why the Harriers are not affected by the nearby SAMs when they are preventing the landing of the extraction helicopter at the barn. It is possible that they approach too quickly and too close to the mountains for enemy radar to get a fix on them.
 * In this level Mac is wounded. When he is asked for a status report he is hit, saying, "Bloody hell I'm hit". Captain Price says that Mac is in trouble and tells the player to fall back. It is unknown whether or not he survived, although he probably didn't as he doesn't board the helicopter at the end of the level.
 * The player can enter the building that Mac is shooting from. They can't, however, enter the room he is in, as the door is boarded up. The player can hear heavy automatic gunfire coming from the room and when the player is outside, the barrel of the weapon sticking out of the window firing can be seen, however the window is also boarded up so Mac cannot be seen.
 * It is unclear what happened to the Russian Loyalist that was seen in Safehouse. He may have left on foot or be picked up on a helicopter (which is unlikely because then Price and the rest could've boarded, unless there wasn't room).
 * Like in The Bog, an uncontrolled mounted M249 SAW's use icon is that of an MG42. The "noclip" console command must be enabled in order for this to be seen.
 * If the player reaches the bottom of the hill with time left and the chopper lands, the squad will not get into the helicopter until the player gets in; no matter how long the player waits. They will just stand in front of the gas station and shoot at the enemies on the hill.
 * In the level Safehouse, a mounted RPD is in the window of the house with a wooden outhouse attached to it. For some reason, it isn't there in Heat, perhaps making the level considerably harder on Veteran difficulty.
 * If the player stands inside the Sea Knight, but does not go far enough to sit down, when it leaves the LZ the player flies with it but dies when the Sea Knight goes past the sealine.
 * When entering the helicopter, the player cannot be killed, even if calling in an airstrike directly at one's feet.
 * The mortar strike at the beginning cannot kill the player,even if just standing there as the squad retreats. As a matter of fact,the mortars don't even go over the fence to hit the squad, just right infront of the fence.
 * On some versions of the game, the level is called "weathering the storm".
 * Four tanks cross the river in spite of there being no evidence of bridges. Also, when boarding the Sea Knight there are no soldiers across the river attacking the player, although it is possible they all crossed over.
 * When Gaz says, "We just busted our arses to get to get to this LZ, and now we got to go all the way down?" he pronounces the 'Z' in American dialect rather than British dialect (he pronounces it zee rather than zed).
 * Like in the mission "The Bog" when using the console cheat "noclip" the player can go into the boarded windows left of one's position in the ambush and the player will see an M249 SAW mounted on the window but using the logo of the FG42 machine gun. Oddly, Since the character isn't supposed to go in there an Imaginary Mac is there. And when using the M249, it will fire 3-round bursts on its own when Ultranationalists come close.
 * There are some unused quotes for this mission also. Look through the Internal files, and one will find a Sound Folder called Villagedef. Look for a file with something like this "Villagedef_SAS_" and some numbers after. The player will hear an SAS member saying: "I owe you one mate. Thanks for coming back for me." Because Gaz also has an unused audio. It says "We got a man down!!! He's still alive!! And he just activated his transponder!!" It is possible the player will still have to save that SAS member but was probably cut due to length of the mission. It is very possible that the SAS soldier is Mac.
 * It is one of the recurring reasons of Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 that makes the player haste towards the LZ that the Helicopter is Low on fuel. Like here, Gryphon 2-7 is on Bingo fuel and the player is given a specific amount of time before dustoff.
 * In the water next to the LZ there is a dead marine in the water. This is weird becuase only S.A.S and Ultranationalits are involved in the fight.