Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been a cornerstone of the entire franchise since its release in 2009. Many regard it as the best game in the entire series as it set a new precedent for the franchise and for FPS multi-player games going forward. It featured some of the greatest maps, weapons, and gameplay, as well as one of the most rewarding and elusive killstreaks in the entire series - the tactical nuke. The nuke has been missing in action since its Modern Warfare 2 debut, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is looking to bring it back... with a few tweaks.
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 you could call in a nuke to end the entire match after reaching a 25 killstreak. Though it was hard to do, it wasn't impossible. String together a harrier strike, pave low, and AC-130 to reach the promised land. When the words 'tactical nuke inbound' were announced during a match, everything was over. In a few seconds the match would end with the team who had the nuke winning but everyone died in the process.
For Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a player can call down a nuke and the same thing happens as it did before. The key change is how many kills are required to reach the nuke. In Modern Warfare a player will need to obtain a 30 killstreak to activate the nuke, but the kick is players can't use their killstreak rewards toward those 30. This makes the nuke even more elusive than it was back in the day, but it also makes getting it even more rewarding.
Another change to the tactical nuke is the presentation of the entire spectacle. The nuke was announced and there was a ten second countdown before the entire map was enveloped in a blinding light in Modern Warfare 2. For Modern Warfare, the player calls in the nuke and no announcement is made. Only the ten second countdown begins and nothing seems to change. This isn't as exciting as the original nuke, but it's the beta and they can easily tweak the presentation of the nuke before release.
The animation for the nuke is much better this time around, though. A player was able to capture a good view of the nuke before everyone's inevitable demise. It drops from a distance before exploding in a massive mushroom cloud as the blast quickly makes its way towards the player. It's a dramatic moment that can be made even better by someone yelling that a nuke is coming followed by radio silence or something of that nature.
It's been ten years since the tactical nuke made its one and only debut in the Call of Duty franchise. Since then, it turned into a legend with the hopes that another game would be bringing it back. Fortunately, Modern Warfare will be answering the call and once again feature everyone's favorite killstreak - the tactical nuke.