While Warzone gets most of the attention, many folks still play Call of Duty’s regular multiplayer. In Season 2, the base multiplayer is getting four new maps. Two are core maps (think the usual 6v6 multiplayer), and two are Ground War maps.
The two Ground War maps are Zaya Observatory and Al Malik International. Both maps are playable in Modern Warfare 2’s two large player modes – Ground War and Invasion. Here’s a brief description of each from the devs:
Zaya Observatory “encompasses the entire science facility and adjacent cliff sides,” and Malik International includes “the tarmac and main airport building.”
Don’t expect any changes to the maps for Ground War outside of an out-of-bounds boundary to keep all the action inside their respective areas.
I wondered if any new Ground War maps would take place on the rumored second large Warzone map – Las Almas. Since Warzone became a thing, we’ve seen Ground War maps set within the larger Warzone maps. But with Modern Warfare 2’s launch, two Ground War maps were not part of the current Al Mazrah map. Guijarro and Santa Sena both take place within the Las Almas region.
That doesn’t necessarily mean we are getting a Las Almas Warzone map, but it is curious. Until these two maps, every other Ground War map was part of a Warzone map.
What about new modes for the larger maps? Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that is happening. New modes are coming to the regular multiplayer, but they appear to be restricted to the smaller maps. Infected, Gun Game, Grind, and Hardcore are coming at Season 2’s launch with Drop Zone, All or Nothing, and One in the Chamber coming during the season.
I do hope Infected might make its way to Ground War. When Season 2 launches, it’ll be an 18-player mode on the smaller maps. But a 64-player variant on Ground War would be some crazy fun.
These new maps hit Modern Warfare 2 when Season 2 launches on February 15.