Just Like Old Times

"I'll wait for you at the exfil point. Three hours." "Don't bother. This was a one-way flight, mate." "Then good luck, my friend."

- Nikolai and Captain Price

Just Like Old Times is the second to last level of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. You play as Captain "Soap" MacTavish.

Walkthrough
The mission starts with a sandstorm while the player (playing as "Soap" MacTavish) and Price are hiding in the sand. The two then proceed toward a ridge and ambush a group of Shadow Company soldiers. Soap hooks up on a bridge and rappels down with Price. The two take out the two guards below them standing in front of the cave and then head inside. They later are forced to hide as a patrol of soldiers check out what happened to the group they took out earlier. They sneak past a group of soldiers having a meeting. Price warns Soap of two soldiers with tac lights coming down the stairs. They kill them and the two continue. Upstairs, Price stabs a soldier before he notices two more are behind him. Soap and Price learn that Shadow Company soldiers are about to breach the door. The two quickly take out the group as they come pouring in. Price tells Soap to take a riot shield for cover and walk along the catwalk while Price takes out the group. They later learn that Shepherd is being evacuated. They take out several groups of soldiers before proceeding to a door that Shadow Company soldiers have locked. The duo then breach the door and kill all the soldiers behind it. After the room is clear, Shepherd notifies the soldiers in the cave that the site has been breached and that he is going to set off explosives inside the cave to attempt to kill Soap and Price. Price and Soap quickly hack the door controls so that they can get out before the explosions go off. During their escape, Soap is injured, but quickly recovers. Shepherd then calls in an artillery strike, "danger close," in another desperate attempt to kill the two, but they still manage to survive. Price comments, like Corporal Dunn, that Shepherd doesn't care about danger close. Price and Soap then proceed to the Zodiacs that Shepherd mentioned earlier.

More Detailed Walkthrough

In the beginning of the mission follow Captain Price. When he stops at the ridge, go to the very right. When the shooting is about to start, aim for a headshot at the soldier on the right nearest to you. You should be able to take the soldier and the soldier behind him out in one shot. Follow Captain Price and shoot when told. Rappel down carefully by using the Right Trigger to stop and let go to jump. There are two guys down below that you both need to carefully take out by knifing. When prompted, go close over one and hit the right stick. You'll knife him and he'll die, as Price takes out the other one.

You should automatically switch to your secondary weapon, a TDI Vector, though there is no need to do so. The Intervention, meanwhile, may be replaced, as there is close-quarters fighting ahead. Follow Price into the cave; hide from the bypassing guards, and kill the smoking soldier or not when prompted. Follow Price again, and kill when prompted. Follow Price again. You will then see a weapons rack with three ACRs. Take the one on the right as it has a suppressor, Red Dot Sight, and heartbeat monitor. You will want to keep this rifle for the rest of the level. The gun you switch out should be the TDI Vector. Clear the room and follow Price outside.

You can either switch the non ACR gun for a Riot Shield, or use the Intervention if you have kept it. If you took the riot shield, proceed along the catwalk until there is a slight bend to the left. Stop just after the bend, and wait until Price takes out the two targets behind the low wall. Price will not take out the soldier that is prone until you reach the bridge. Either go for a bash or wait for Price to kill him. Afterwards, you can keep the riot shield while another three soldiers appear or you can switch to your ACR and kill them yourself. The latter technique is faster. If you kept the Intervention and decide to use it, slowly move, while prone and scoped in, out of cover and take out the tangos when you see them. After taking out the last of the three, duck back behind cover and repeat, as a single replacement group will move in. After taking out the second group you can move up without trouble.

In the next area, you will see a squad of six soldiers fast roping down from a helicopter. There are several with shields, so killing them quickly before they can set up is advisable. Take out as many of them as you can while they fast rope and cook a grenade into them to kill the rest. Instead of going right with Price, go left with the ACR drawn. Watch your heartbeat monitor to see when the soldiers come around the bend and kill them all. Go back to Price to mop up any stragglers.

Another squad of enemy soldiers will fast rope down, about the same composition as the previous fast rope group. Take them out the same way. There will be enemies to your left. Get behind the crates and chose to either switch out your ACR for a SCAR with thermal scope (If you have two weapons with the same basic function, one will never be used), or keep the ACR. Go toward the marker and take out the enemies using a flanking maneuver. Go with Price and plant the breaching charge. Clear the room. When prompted, go to the computer keyboard, activate it, run out the door. Do it quickly before the rigged room explodes on you. Somewhat the debris will hit you, and you will then be knocked out for a little while.

When you are able to move again just before the artillery strike (VIA Shepherd's Careless "Danger Close"), go stand where Price is. Swap your non-ACR gun for the AT4 at Price's feet. Keep the AT4 out. When you near the beginning of the tents, you should be able to see a Black Hawk helicopter coming into viewing the distance. It will fast rope down troops. Shoot it down with the AT4 to thin out the resistance. If you are fast enough, you can do the same with the Little Bird. If it is already taking off, then it's already unloaded its troops. You can still shoot at it with the AT4 if you like. Take out the remaining soldiers. The heartbeat sensor on the ACR will help with locating them, or, if you still have the Intervention, you can lag behind Price and take out the tangos with less risk, though this requires more accuracy on your part. Follow Price, take out the soldiers that run out of the cave. You can take them out with an AT4 again if you don't feel like shooting at them. Go into the cave and begin the briefing for the next mission.



Intel Items
(1/4 Intel) After you shoot the smoking enemy in front of a security monitor, head east, the intel is on a gray crate.

(2/4 Intel) This intel is located inside the breached control room with explosives. There is a table located on the left of Capt. Price as he is using the terminal.

(3/4 Intel) As you engage in the firefight through smoke and riot shields (before breaching the control room), head north; the intel is on a crate with a MG4.

(4/4 Intel) Inside the breached control room with explosives.

Trivia

 * In the beginning cutscene when Soap MacTavish says, "We've got one good UMP, and they've got a thousand." he probably means how out-gunned they are compared to Shepherd's men.
 * During the cutscene, you can see Price and Soap's "inventory": a suppressed Intervention (x2), a suppressed Vector, a Colt .45, flashbangs, frag grenades, and a combat knife. Soap takes an Intervention and the Vector, however before abseiling down and stabbing the two guards Price will now have a SCAR on his back, the weapon is never mentioned in the cutsecene and Price isn't seen picking it up.
 * In the room that Shadow Company has rigged to blow up at the end of the level, before the player breaches the exit, a table with a map of Shepherd's areas of responsibility can be seen. On the table lies X's and O's as if it where a game board, showing how radical Shepard's plans ultimately were.


 * In the beginning, if you kill the first group without an alert, and kill the dog before Price does, Price will say "Just like old times," referring to when he and Soap worked together in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.


 * Early on in the level, when Price talks his lips do not move.
 * In the beginning of the level, if you alert the guards Price will say " Soap, these aren't your average muppets" Referring to Blackout when you have to snipe the Ultranationalists.


 * In the beginning of the level, Price is using a Cheytac Intervention sniper rifle just like Soap. Just before entering the caves, he will put it away and draw a silenced SCAR-H with a thermal sight. He will not use the Intervention again for the rest of the level, even in situations that would tactically warrant its use.


 * When Price wants to kill a particular guard, he will say, "He's mine." If the player kills the guard before Price does, he will say "Never mind, then." Sometimes he won't respond if the player kills the guard quickly enough. In the level "Cliffhanger," MacTavish responds the same way.


 * The Little Bird that arrives (after leaving the cave near the end of the level) with Shadow Company troops can't be killed until its soldiers disembark from the side of the vehicle.


 * At the beginning of the mission, the player can see civilian cars driving on the road across the canyon. Although they obviously can't see the cave system itself, the large flights of Little Birds do little to preserve the secrecy of the Site. Later on during the mission after Shadow Company acknowledges Soap's and Price's presence, they're forced to traverse the rock bridge. When moving across the bridge the player can see tanks and Humvees moving across instead of civillian vehicles.


 * Toward the end of the level, right before the first breach, it is impossible to kill the Shadow Company soldier before he closes the door.


 * Occasionally there will be a soldier with an MP5K silenced w/red dot sight, much like the one in The Enemy of my Enemy.


 * When the player is in the tunnel system and the two soldiers come through the door with the stairs and the red light, if they can kill them both, Price will say "Impressive" (easier to do so with a suppressed automatic weapon).


 * After avoiding the first patrol and then taking out the guard the patrol passes, the player can stealthily follow the patrol to where they are headed. The patrol walks to the entrance of the cave and then stops. One soldier in the rear of the patrol will turn and spot the player, alerting the rest of the group. If the player listens to their comms, the patrol does indeed find the bodies of the guards at the cave entrance. Oddly, this does not put the whole base on alert.


 * As Price lays under the camouflage at the beginning of the level, he raises his hand to Soap to tell him to wait. He does this much like how Captain MacMillan motions to Lieutenant Price at the start of All Ghillied Up from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 * The above is VERY ironic, because in Call of Duty 4 MacMillan holds up his left hand and turns his head left to talk to Price, even though Price was to his right.


 * During the cutscene at the beginning of the level, when the weapon inventory is being shown, there is an M1911. This is most likely Price's.


 * Price seems to carry three weapons: a SCAR-H with a thermal scope, suppressed Intervention and an M4A1 Grenadier in this level and Endgame altogether.
 * It is odd that even after the airstrike on the final area, there are still red, explosive barrels that are apparently completely untouched.


 * It is possible to get past the troopers firing at the player with MG4's without taking a riot shield.
 * If the player looks at the CCTV footage in the cave it is actually showing the inside of The Gulag.
 * After the artillery strike, there will be Shadow Company troopers wounded and on fire. Shooting or knifing them will extinguish the flames.
 * If the player alerts the guards at the beginning, they can run up the slope while the player can only slide down.
 * This is the first mission that the UH-60 Black Hawks are used by characters besides Ramirez in Modern Warfare 2. It is also the first time in the series that that the Black Hawks are used by enemies in the series.
 * When Soap and Price are rappelling down the cliff, Price's shadow is visible on the ground near the guards. One will look at Price's shadow, but will not react to it. The guard below Soap will also look up, but does not see Soap.
 * While the player is rappelling down, if they wait too long before stabbing the guard, rocks will fall down from above. This causes the guards to react and shoot on Price and Soap.
 * On lower difficulty levels the game will brake automatically upon reaching the bottom as the player rappels down. On higher difficulties the player will fly off the cliff if they do not brake.
 * For some reason, the two guards that Soap and Price knife after rappelling carry silenced weapons. The soldier that Soap knifed has a Vector Silenced ACOG Sight, the same secondary weapon that you start out with, while the other has a MP5KSD Red Dot Sight. This may be due to the fact that if a civilian is killed because of suspicion, other civilians may not raise fears of an enemy base, due to the lack of firearms being heard.
 * The two guards model appearance are always the same; the one Soap knifes wears a head balaclava, while the other guard wears goggles over the balaclava eye space.
 * When taking out the first group of guards, Price fires his Intervention semi-automatically. This is impossible as the Intervention is a bolt action rifle. However Price could be firing at a faster rate of fire than Soap.
 * It's strange that Price or Soap didn't make it their objective to find intel implicating Shepherd, such as the DSM, as one of the perpetrators of the war in order to clear their names. This is most likely because they didn't know Shepherd took the DSM from Roach, or that Shepherd sets off "Directive one-one-six Bravo", not giving them time to look for intel.
 * It is strange that the heartbeat sensors on the ACRs detect the Shadow Company soldiers as unidentified people rather than allies, since the ACR is in the enemy base. This was probably done to help the player.
 * Some ACRs that have Silencers, Red Dot Sights, and Heartbeat Sensors on a rack in the cave that Shadow Company breaches have a unique black paint job and a max ammo of over 2000.
 * In the briefing at the beginning of the level when taking "inventory" a combat knife is shown while at the same time Price says "We. Will. Kill him (Shepherd)." This is a foreshadowing of how Shepherd was killed.
 * The guard which Price tells you not to engage when you first enter the cave seems to be smoking and blowing smoke through his balaclava