Another great aspect of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that's getting upgrades in MW3 is Spec Ops, the single-player or cooperative combat aspect of the game.

In Modern Warfare 3, Spec Ops gains its own progressive ranking system, online matchmaking system and leaderboards. There's also a new survival mode that plays out on the multiplayer maps; Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops missions took place on single-player maps (as will the new game's traditional Spec Ops mode).

"All that stuff really fleshes out Spec Ops and adds in a lot that we know our fans are going to love, some of the most addictive aspects of multiplayer," says Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling.

I teamed with Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin for a couple of tries at Spec Ops' new Survival mode on a map currently called Dome, a derelict Cold War-era desert radar command bunker.

As we dispatched ever-increasing waves of enemies, I discarded my pistol for a shotgun. Rubin passed me some in-game currency and I bought and installed a turret to keep the evildoers at bay, while I watched for attack dogs.

After a few waves, the attack dogs became suicide bomber dogs that exploded a few seconds after you shot them. The next wave brought the kamikaze soldiers who exploded similarly.

"You definitely have to change up your strategy as the enemy changes up," Bowling said afterward. "Obviously how you fight the kamikaze dudes is different from how you fight the normal dudes and how you fight a dog is different from a dude and how you fight juggernauts, they are not only big and armored, so they will just brute force come at you. But they each have their own way of being taken out effectively."

Yes, there are juggernauts returning from the previous games; there will be several different types of them, too. But back in the game, I took heed from Rubin on how to counterattack choppers raining fire from overhead. The game has an unlimited number of waves. "We got up to wave 8 which is really a good wave for a first-time player," Rubin pronounces afterward.

"You were certainly very animated," said Michael Condrey of MW3 co-development studio Sledgehammer Games. "That's a good sign that you were having fun."

In truth, Spec Ops was already a favorite mode of mine that I used in advance of the few times I ventured into the online MW2 multiplayer matches. The developers hope that even more players use the mode to perhaps graduate to multiplayer.

"We have all been challenged. There's such hard-core players out there in the online community and you hear all the stories about (youngsters) swearing and ruining the experience," Condrey says. "With Spec Ops, you can really get in there and hone your skills in a more confined environment. I think it's a little more of an easy entry. I don't have as much time as I did when I was 20 to be honing my twitch skills, but this certainly gives me a venue to experiment."

Adds Rubin, "We added Spec Ops as the third game mode. That is really stepped up this time. It is really a stronger leg of the tripod."

Modern Warfare 3 opens as Modern Warfare 2 closed: The United States under siege by Russian forces, ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov on the loose, Captain John "Soap" MacTavish and Captain John Price wounded and on the run with the Russian informant known as Nikolai.

Fleeing to a safehouse in Dharmasala, India, the three are attacked by Makarov's men. In this firefight players take on the role of Yuri, a loyalist who works for Nikolai. Their safehouse compromised, the group flee the area in a helicopter.

The game then cuts to Manhattan where Russia is launching an attack on the city from a fleet of ships parked in the Hudson River. (It appears the famous U.S.S. Intrepid may be destroyed.) The U.S. calls in Delta Force to repel the attack. You take on the role of Frost, a Delta Force operative under the command of Sandman. Your goal is to take out a jamming tower on top of the New York Stock Exchange to open the area for a U.S. counterattack.

Following the mission, Delta flies out of the city on a Blackhawk, gunning down enemy choppers as they make their way to the harbor where they have to infiltrate and take down a Russian sub which is coordinating the attack.

As the New York missions wrap up the game jumps forward in time half a year, thrusting players into the role of a Russian agent tasked with protecting the president of Russia as he flies to sign a peace treaty with the U.S. The plane is attacked by hijackers mid-air who attempt to kidnap the president and his daughter. The daughter manages to escape. The president of Russia in hand, Makarov vows to prevent a peace treaty by getting the launch codes out of the president and launching an attack against the U.S.

The game then returns us to Price, Soap and Yuri, now in Africa in a search for Makarov. They meet with a local South African arms dealer who tells them about a shipment of chemical weapons that Makarov is trying to buy. The group make their way to Sierra Leone to secure the weapons from African militia.

Next, players take on the role of an SAS operative who is tasked with stopping a delivery of weapons of mass destruction at a London dockyard. A gun battle ensues, and the agents are chased through the London subway. The mission culminates with a series of unmarked trucks exploding in front of the house of Parliament, releasing a deadly chemical agent.

Several other European cities and military bases are hit by similar terrorist attacks backed by Russia, and the death toll rises to the tens of thousands. The series of chemical attacks opens the door for a Russian military blitz strikes across the continent.

Price discovers that the South African arms dealer who tipped them off about the chemical weapons deceived them and travels to Somalia to find the man and interrogate him. Through the arms dealer, Price discovers that Makarov's right hand man, Volk, is hiding out in Paris.

The game's attention next shifts to Hamburg, Germany where players take on the role of a U.S. tank gunner fighting to push back a Russian advance backed by armored divisions.

As Hamburg falls, the game shifts us back to the story of Price and his crew. Now in Paris, players control Delta Force operative Frost who, with the help of the French special forces, leads an assault on Volk's location in the underground catacombs of the city. Next, players take to the sky supporting Frost's ground movements as a gunner in an AC-130.

After capturing and interrogating Volk, Frost learns that Makarov has a meeting in a Prague hotel. Players control Yuri as he and Soap slip into the Russian-controlled city and set-up an ambush for Makarov in a church bell tower. Makarov somehow catches wind of the trap and escapes. Soap, Yuri and Price then have to fight their way out of the city.

Yuri leads the team to one of Makarov's headquarters in the Czech mountains and the group infiltrates the location, looking for clues. They discover that the ultranationlist has the president and is trying to get the codes out of him. Makarov has also discovered the location of the Russian president's daughter. The group move out to Berlin to try and prevent her kidnapping. Playing as Frost, gamers must find the daughter and protect her, while making their way through war-torn Berlin. The daughter, however, is captured and flown away.

Frost next makes his way to the Kremlin where a task force of operatives attack and free the hostages, but Makarov manages to escape again.

The game's final mission occurs in Dubai, where Yuri, Price and Sandman launch an assault on a heavily guarded hotel, eventually finding Makarov and, yes, finally killing him.

Alpha
Alps
Bootleg
Bravo
Brooklyn
Carbon
Coast
Dome
Exchange
Hardhat
Interchange
Lambeth
Meteora
Mogadishu
Paris
Plaza 2
Radar
Seatown
Underground
Village