Alone is the 13th mission in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign, and it’s a long, complicated one. Playing as John “Soap” McTavish, you begin the mission unarmed and alone, and must rendezvous with Ghost at the church, scavenging, looting, and crafting weapons and equipment as you go.
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General tips for the Alone mission
- Stay away from Shadow Company, especially early on when you’re pretty much defenseless. If one or more of them are blocking a route, find another way. If there is no other way, throw a bottle to draw them away, then sneak past before they come back.
- Look out for open doorways and doors marked by little white circles (this means you can open them). Every doorway is worth investigating, and every room in every building is worth searching.
- Search thoroughly and scavenge everything you can find. This is not a classic, run ‘n’ gun Call of Duty mission. You’ve got to play like you’re playing a survival game in the mold of The Last of Us, Days Gone, or Fallout.
- Only use the headlamp when you really can’t see without it, and always remember to turn it off when you emerge into a better-lit area.
- Until you find a weapon, do not engage any Shadow mercs. There’s always somewhere to hide, so be patient and wait for them to move on.
How to find a sharp weapon
The sharp weapon you’re looking for is a combat knife that Ghost has left sticking out of a corpse. It’s in a small room beyond the “la dulce” candy shop on the fountain square. Use a bottle to distract the merc outside, then go in and retrieve the knife.
How to get a gun
Once you have a knife, you can sneak up behind the lone Shadow merc patrolling near where you found the knife, take him down, and steal his gun.
How to get past the three Shadow mercs at the archway
Once you’ve got a knife and a gun and looted every building in the first part of the mission, you’ll find there’s only one way to get closer to the church. It’s through a narrow archway at the bottom of a curved street. Unfortunately, there are three mercs standing at that archway, and they’re not going anywhere.
You’ve only got a pistol at this point, so you stand little chance of winning a direct firefight, even on Recruit. If you try throwing a bottle, the mercs won’t go far enough from the archway to give you a chance to get through. By now you should have scavenged enough materials to craft a mine, so craft one. Throw a bottle through the arch, so that they all turn their backs to you, then drop the mine close behind them, and quickly back off. They should all get killed in the blast, and there are no other mercs nearby who’ll be alerted by the bang.
How to move faster
At the top of the steps on the left side of the first street you come to, there’s a supply crate that contains a shot of adrenaline that will make you move faster for the rest of the mission. If you need a pry tool to open it, then you’ll find the necessary materials in the building along the street (watch out for the shotgun trap).
Where to find the best weapons and equipment
The best weapons and equipment are in the two safes. The first is in the coffee shop, which you’ll come to after the darkened apartment (the one upstairs from the shotgun trap), and the second is in the garage, in the alley west of the coffee shop.
How to take the tunnels to reach the church
Between the coffee shop and the tunnels, there are a lot of Shadow mercs. Ideally, you should sneak through this whole area, using throwing knives and takedowns where necessary, and leaving mines behind you to cover your rear. However, by now you should have some decent weapons, so it’s not so difficult to go loud and take the mercs on directly. They’re tough, but not especially bright. If you position yourself with an open doorway in front of you, they’ll probably just come and stand in the doorway one by one, which makes them very easy to kill. To get to the tunnels, jump over the railing at the end of the street past the bar.
How to navigate through the tunnels
Once inside the tunnels, you’ll start encountering mercs wearing body armor. Don’t engage them from range. Instead, climb up onto the pickup truck so that you can throw a smoke bomb and then get close to them under cover of smoke. Shoot them a few times with a shotgun or automatic weapon, then take them down when they’re stunned to conserve ammo.
How to reach the church entrance
After emerging from the tunnels, climb onto the car to get over the gate into the alley, then go through the shop. When you pry open the door, there’ll be a merc on the other side. He’ll knock you down, but Ghost will snipe him and a couple of his mates. There are a lot of mercs in the plaza ahead, and we found the best strategy here was to throw a smoke bomb or two, then just run through and take cover at the far end of the church steps. From there, recover health if need be, pick off any immediate threats, then get to the church gate so that Ghost comes out.
How to get a vehicle and escape
With Ghost’s help, it’s not so hard to fight your way back across the plaza to the pickup truck that’s just waiting to be stolen. But don’t get careless. Stay in cover, check your flanks, and stay close to Ghost.
