- Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10 [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 18 [760]
- Online: 6 [240]
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 12-18 hours [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 for campaign [2 is recommended], 1 for Co-op
- Missable achievements: None
- Does difficulty affect achievements: Yes, you must play on Veteran difficulty for Cutting Heads off Snakes (100G)
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No
Introduction:
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II drops players into an unprecedented global conflict that features the return of the iconic Operators of Task Force 141. Infinity Ward brings fans state-of-the-art gameplay, with all-new gun handling, advanced AI system, a new Gunsmith and a suite of other gameplay and graphical innovations that elevate the franchise to new heights. Modern Warfare II launches with a globe-trotting single-player campaign, immersive Multiplayer combat and an evolved Special Ops game mode featuring tactical co-op gameplay.” - xbox.com
You play as members of elite Special Forces team Task Force 141 tasked with apprehending terrorist leader Hassan Zyani before he carries out his revenge against the United States. Along the way, you work with Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas and even the Mexican cartel in hopes to locate Hassan and bring him to justice.
The game also includes a co-op mode, Raids, traditional PvP online multiplayer, and the revamping of the popular battle royale mode, Warzone.
Returning in 2022 with another installment in the Modern Warfare series, Modern Warfare II brought along with it a brand new achievement list to work our way through. While the previous two Call of Duty releases before this, Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard, came packaged with over 40 achievements to unlock, Modern Warfare II takes a leaf out of the book of 2019’s Modern Warfare, reducing the number to a more manageable mid-twenties. This makes getting 1000 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II a much shorter experience, but not necessarily a less difficult one.
For XBA’s coverage of this game, including a review by Richard Walker, refer to THIS LINK.
Walkthrough:
There are 17 missions in the campaign. Only two achievements are story-related; Time for Pints (100G), for completing the campaign on any difficulty, and Cutting Heads off Snakes (100G), for completing it on Veteran or Realistic. 14 of the 16 remaining campaign achievements are earned in specific missions with the last two unlockable during a few missions. As with every other Call of Duty game, each mission is available to play again once you complete it.
To get all of the achievements as quickly as possible, it’s best to make sure you play through the campaign on Veteran on your first go, just to avoid having to go through the game a second time on this higher difficulty setting. Veteran difficulty, while not as difficult as some of the earlier Call of Duty games, can be difficult at some points during the story, so if you’re struggling on a mission, you can always reduce the difficulty and come back to it later, but you’ll probably be making more work for yourself than if you just powered through the more challenging difficulty setting. The checkpoint system, while generous, can sometimes trigger at inopportune moments, often leading to frustration and constant reloading. If you are experienced at playing these games, you can start on Veteran difficulty right away, but newcomers might want to start on a lower difficulty to become acclimated to how the game works. Take note that if you are attempting all of the campaign achievements while playing on Veteran difficulty, you may find that a few might be easier on a lower difficulty.
Many of the achievements within each mission are significantly easier to get on a lower difficulty. Because of this, you’ll actually save time by playing through a normal campaign on Veteran, without worrying about most of the achievements, and then picking up the extras in each mission using Mission Select. You don’t even need to complete the majority of the missions on this second run, since once you get the achievement, you can just quit out and move onto the next one. There are still some achievements that aren’t all that much harder to get on a Veteran playthrough, so see below for our suggestions on which ones to try on Veteran, and which ones to save for Recruit.
For completing your first playthrough on Veteran difficulty, you will unlock Time for Pints (100G) and Cutting Heads off Snakes (100G). The remaining 16 campaign achievements are unlocked in these missions:
- Mission 2, ‘Kill or Capture’ - Daredevil (20G) (first of many opportunities)
- Mission 3, ‘Wetwork’ - Crocodile (30G), Nessie (30G)
- Mission 9, ‘Recon By Fire’ - Nobody Was There (30G)
- Mission 10, ‘Violence and Timing’ - Test Drive (20G), Keeping this One (30G) (Recruit recommended for both)
- Mission 11, ‘El Sin Nombre’ - Gentleman Thief (60G) (1/3), Ghost-in-Training (60G)
- Mission 12, ‘Dark Water’ - A Crappy Way to Die (20G), Don’t touch the deck! (30G)
- Mission 13, ‘Alone’ - Gentleman Thief (60G) (2/3 and 3/3), Gunless (60G)
- Mission 14, ‘Prison Break’ - No Time to Lose (30G), Wall of Duty (20G) (first opportunity; Recruit recommended), Backpack Guy (30G)
- Mission 16, ‘Ghost Team’ - Wall of Duty (20G) (second opportunity), Practice Makes Perfect (30G) (Recruit recommended for both)
- Mission 17, ‘Countdown’ - Must be Wind (60G)
There are six achievements related to the cooperative mode in this game. This is an online-only mode for two players (although they can be done solo by one person quitting out at the beginning, but it is not recommended).
First, complete any of the three missions (Low Profile, Denied Area or Defender: Mt. Zaya) at your leisure to earn one star and unlock Only the Beginning (40G).
Next, you need to replay each mission and earn three stars in each by meeting certain parameters. This will take practice to learn enemy placement and the best way to tackle each objective, so be prepared to play each mission multiple times. As you earn three stars, you’ll unlock Night Fight (40G), Hellride (40G) and Kings of the Mountain (40G).
Finally, you need to complete the mission Low Profile without raising any alarms. This one is going to take a while because it needs to be done in one go, so you’ll need to keep replaying the mission to learn enemy patterns and find the best route to each objective. Once you’re successful, you’ll unlock Going Dark (40G).
You also need to collect 20 intel fragments from any of the missions or a combination of them for Full SSE (40G). As always, refer to each achievement for tips and strategies.
If you need assistance with these achievements, feel free to post in the Official XBA Friend and Co-op Finder thread.
Mop-Up:
If you missed any of the mission-specific campaign achievements, now is the time to complete them. Along with Modern Warfare 2019, this is one of the rare Call of Duty games that don’t have any achievements for simply completing a mission, so you may have missed a few specific ones without even realizing it. You can replay any mission needed and it is advised you play on Recruit difficulty. Refer to the achievement(s) that you are missing for more information.
Conclusion:
Continuing from Modern Warfare, this entry in the franchise is equally impressive with both its visuals and gameplay mechanics. Compared to the 2019 game, however, the story is somewhat unoriginal with much of it taken from previous installments. Regardless, all of the achievements are pretty straightforward and not too challenging, but you will need to plan ahead or else you can complete the campaign without unlocking any. And although co-op is limited to two players, it won’t take too long to unlock those six achievements with some practice. Good luck!