"Am I really that fragile?"
The game reloaded to the previous progress point, but thankfully it wasn't far off, about ten seconds of gameplay.
The key thing was that Zack felt a bit confused about one part: this enemy AI's accuracy was way too high, right?
This made him think right away of the realistic difficulty in Terrorist Hunt mode from Rainbow Six: Siege.
Right now, this Call of Duty: Modern Warfare felt just as tough!
After respawning, Zack didn't charge in this time. Instead, he stayed behind cover, waiting for the armed helicopter to help clear out the enemies on the second floor.
Then they could push into the cargo ship's interior.
"Griggs, Valkov, watch our backs. Everyone else, follow me."
"Got it, sir!"
After clearing the enemies on the deck, Price gave the orders.
This kind of experience gave Zack a real thrill.
Especially after entering the cargo ship's interior, Captain Price would have the team search every corner to make sure no enemies popped up behind them while they advanced.
"This is what an elite unit is like!" Zack couldn't help but feel impressed.
It was totally different from the story-driven FPS games he'd played before.
In those earlier FPS games, teammates were basically just there to tell the story and then vanished when the fighting started.
But Call of Duty: Modern Warfare so far gave Zack the feeling that the atmosphere was built perfectly.
And the teammates around him were super reliable.
The only downside, if you could call it that, was that Zack thought the Veteran difficulty was too realistic.
Based on his past experience playing FPS games, especially single-player story ones.
Zack would spot an enemy, raise his gun, and rush forward, only for his screen to turn red and then gray.
A famous quote popped up right in front of him.
Too damn real!
Just like in Rainbow Six: Siege, where two shots and you're done.
I charged! One shot down. What more to say?
Of course, if he didn't charge, the game teammates were insanely tough.
For example, in the cargo ship level, after passing through a narrow hallway, he got ambushed by enemies hiding behind crates three times in a row.
Finally, he reached a door that only one person could fit through.
He died here several times, so he hid behind the door, planning to peek and take them out one by one.
In the game, the AI didn't one-shot him instantly—it was one shot for red screen, two for heavy breathing, and with good luck, he could even survive the third.
But four shots? Definitely the famous quote flashing on screen.
With the heavy breathing health regen, it was like he had endless health in the game.
But if he lingered too long at the door, the NPC teammates in the game were brutally fierce.
Flashbangs and grenades flying out, wiping out the enemies in a flash.
He just hid behind, fired a couple shots to join in, basically like he was just tagging along.
Compared to his past life, Lucas had made some changes to the level design in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
The original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from 2007 was great in level design, like the 1-1 stage in Mario full of clever mind tricks, including question mark blocks and such.
But while the design was strong, it was held back by outdated tech that couldn't show things better.
In the original, enemies had fixed patrol zones—for instance, if you blasted away at point A.
But unless you stepped into point B, you'd never trigger the enemies there; they wouldn't react at all.
Plus, in some levels, enemies in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare respawned endlessly.
As long as you didn't push the story forward, you could stay in place and kill a whole army's worth.
So in this area, Lucas made the AI smarter, which was Nebula Games' strong suit right now.
Of course, this led to one side effect.
On Veteran difficulty, players could totally rely on their teammates.
In the game, Zack controlled Soap sliding behind a metal crate, peeking through cover to watch his teammates fight hard, while he cheered from the back.
On the action side, Lucas optimized a lot compared to the original, making the game smoother. Like the slide that's standard in most FPS games now.
"Gaz, bro, great shooting!"
"Captain's awesome!"
"Griggs, you're the best!"
Watching his teammates take out all the enemies, Zack gave them a thumbs-up in his mind.
After clearing all the enemies inside the ship cabin, Soap and Price found their target: a cargo manifest.
But right then, the game's mood suddenly got tense for Zack.
Enemy aircraft showed up, firing wildly at the ship.
He followed Captain Price and Gaz, running like mad toward the exit from the cargo hold.
Then... boom!
The ship cabin exploded open with a huge hole, and seawater rushed in, reaching waist-high in seconds.
The blast wave shattered the glass in the cabin, and the game Soap and others got thrown into the air, crashing hard onto the ground.
"Damn, what happened! Help me, help! I can't get up! Damn!"
The Soap Zack controlled lay on the ground, his vision blurry.
His ears rang from the massive explosion.
Then Gaz's voice came through as he shook him: "The ship's sinking! We gotta move! Get up!"
With Gaz shaking him, Zack felt the game's screen and sound clear up a bit.
Lucas used the remastered version's story here but tweaked it to better show the brotherhood in the game.
In the original, our bro Gaz just ran off without looking back.
At the same time, Captain Price's voice came from nearby.
"Big Bird! This is Bravo-6, we're heading out! On your feet, soldier! We need to move fast!"
Price looked at Soap on the ground and hauled him up in one grab.
That moment made Zack's heart skip a beat.
This is what comrades are like!
In past FPS games, players were always the hero saving others.
But now, he was just a rookie soldier!
With that unusual feeling, Zack quickly controlled Soap to follow Captain Price.
Along the way, the ship kept exploding, seawater pouring in from pipes into the cabin.
The whole ship was starting to tilt.
In this chaos, Zack felt his heart in his throat.
Flames and water blurred his view, explosions and waves muffled the sounds.
Plus debris from blasts slowed his steps.
On Veteran mode, the incoming water also caused a speed debuff.
So lines of subtitles appeared in front of Zack.
[You're going the wrong way!]
[You're too slow!]
But luckily, the checkpoints weren't far, so after failing three or four times from being too slow or lost.
Finally, Zack got Soap through the messy ship pipes to the deck.
The ship was tilted at 45 degrees now.
The helicopter waited ahead, ready to take off.
Gaz, Griggs, Price jumped on one by one.
In the nick of time, Zack caught up too, leaping to grab the helicopter ladder's edge with both hands.
But as the chopper lifted off, rain pelted down.
Soap couldn't climb up, slipping further instead.
"No! Help! Captain! Help!" Seeing this, Zack panicked completely.
As if hearing Zack's call.
Captain Price spotted Soap's danger, tossed his gun aside, rushed over, and grabbed Soap's hands to pull him up.
"Got you!"
Looking at Captain Price in front of him, the now-safe Zack, like Soap in the game, let out a relieved breath.
From his gameplay, he now truly got how vital reliable teammates are.
If his Rainbow Six teammates were like this, how could he not rank up!
(End of chapter)
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