One of the ironies of Call of Duty’s long-running success has always been its campaign mode: while it’s a world-class spectacle that delivers a first-person shooter bombast that’s becoming increasingly rare in the genre, it’s also easily the last reason for many players to get even the game. Call of Duty Modern Warfare II (not to be confused with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2), hopes to remedy the situation by offering multiplayer rewards like cosmetics, weapon schematics, and XP boosts for diligent players who play through the campaign, in a bold attempt to beg players not to ignore them.
A Update on the Call of Duty website lays out these rewards in detail, in addition to an extra catch: those who pre-order the game now will get early access to the campaign “up to a week” before the game’s official October 28 release date (the site, oddly enough, doesn’t indicate when the “Early Access” begins). The appeal is simple: players who pre-order can unlock all of these campaign benefits and have them ready when multiplayer goes live on release day, and Activision gets your money faster, making the game’s launch weekend even bigger.
The rewards are:
- Business card: “Soap’s Determination”
- Emblem: “What is done is done”
- 30 Minute Double XP Token
- 30 Minute Dual Weapon XP Token
- Business card: “Chainlinked”
- Base operator: Chuy
- 30 Minute Double XP Token
- 30 Minute Dual Weapon XP Token
- Business card: “Gaz”
- Base operator: Nova
- 1 hour double XP token
- 1 Hour Dual Weapon XP Token
- Calling Card: “Ops of the Shadow Society”
- Base operator: Reyes
- 1 hour double XP token
- 1 Hour Dual Weapon XP Token
- Base Operator: Hutch
All of these rewards can be earned piece by piece as players progress through the campaign, with famed Call of Duty hero Captain Price’s Union Guard signature weapon blueprint as a reward for completing the whole thing.
It really seems like everyone involved here wants you to play the damn Call of Duty campaign just once. As Modern Warfare hero John “Soap” MacTavish likes to say before committing a war crime: Eat your damn vegetables.
