How All Ghillied Up Changed Call of Duty Forever - Art of the Level

ign.com:

Developer Infinity Ward changed first-person shooters forever when it launched Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007. Set on the frontlines of a politically murky war, its adrenaline-fueled action set pieces redefined campaign design for an entire generation. But while levels like Crew Expendable and Charlie Don’t Surf channelled the trademark intensity of Call of Duty’s World War 2 days, one mission set the series’ rulebook ablaze and threw it out of the window. It was called All Ghillied Up.

Unfolding amongst the ghostly remains of post-Chernobyl Pripyat, All Ghillied Up is a sniper mission that embraces patience and precision. Its Metal Gear Solid-inspired stealth sensibilities mark a significant shift in gears not just for Modern Warfare’s story, but the entire Call of Duty franchise.

To find out how All Ghillied Up was put together IGN spoke to designer Mohammad Alavi, who created the mission alongside colleagues at Infinity Ward. With his insight, we examine how All Ghillied Up makes use of custom artificial intelligence, combat puzzles, and tense scripted sequences to create a heart-stopping mission behind enemy lines.

For the first few games in the series, Call of Duty was pretty much all action, all of the time. Developer Infinity Ward built its first game in the Quake 3 Arena engine, and it’s not hard to see traces of Quake bleeding through in those rapid-paced 1940s shootouts. But by Call of Duty 4, Infinity Ward was exploring new methods with which to deliver its trademark intensity. By filtering the story through a more cinematic lens, the studio was able to shift the atmosphere of the campaign from mission to mission. The first clear example of this comes with Death From Above, a chillingly detached aerial