All Ghillied Up

"All Ghillied Up" is a level in the 2007 first-person shooter game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Set in Pripyat, Ukraine, in 1996, the player assumes control of then Lieutenant Price and along with Captain MacMillan they must deal with enemies stealthily or overtly or avoid engaging them. It was designed by Mohammad Alavi, and is unusual for its stealth gameplay in a game that is otherwise action-oriented, and the choices it offers the player. During development, its enemy artificial intelligence was secretly added to the game due to its unusual complexity. "All Ghillied Up" has since been recognized by critics as one of the greatest levels in video games, being praised for its atmosphere, pacing, and player freedom. The level is also included in the remastered version of the game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (2016). The name refers to the ghillie suits worn by the characters in the mission.

All Ghillied Up
First appearanceCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
Last appearanceCall of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (2016)
Created byMohammad Alavi
GenreFirst-person shooter, Stealth
Information
LocationPripyat, Ukraine
Notable charactersCaptain Price, Captain MacMillan

Level content

"All Ghillied Up" is the thirteenth level in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's single-player campaign.[1][2] Set in Pripyat, Ukraine,[3] the player's character, with the assistance of Captain MacMillan, proceeds through a timber building within a field, past a house, and through an abandoned church whilst taking out enemies. The player proceeds to another field where they encounter a platoon with tanks advancing across it, and hide from the enemies in the foliage using their ghillie suits in prone. They proceed past further areas containing inactive tanks, helicopters and shipping units, whilst dealing with enemies. They encounter another platoon with a helicopter and military vehicles, and in stealth crawl under a series of these vehicles. Soon after, they traverse several buildings, encountering wild dogs, culminating in them setting up in the abandoned Polissya hotel to prepare for an assassination.[1][4]

Throughout the level, the player is presented with numerous choices, to which MacMillan responds appropriately. Near the start of the level, once the player passes the abandoned churchyard, he will warn of an enemy helicopter flying above, telling the player to "get down". However, the player can choose to shoot the helicopter down using a FIM-92 Stinger found in the church, causing MacMillan to say "now you're just showin' off." In other instances, MacMillan will criticize the player character when he ruins their cover, and correct them when the player aims at the incorrect target.

Plot
"All Ghillied Up" is set in Pripyat, Ukraine. Polissya hotel (right) is featured at the end of the level where Price and MacMillan setup for the assassination attempt.[1][4]

"All Ghillied Up" is presented as a flashback in which the player assumes control of Captain Price, as a lieutenant.[5] Set in 1996, fifteen years before the events of the game, Price has to sneak across an irradiated wasteland in Pripyat, Ukraine, with Captain MacMillan.[5] Pripyat is a town near Chernobyl which was abandoned after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The mission ends with MacMillan and Price setting up in the abandoned Polissya hotel preparing for an assassination.[1][2][4] The next mission, "One Shot, One Kill", concludes with a failed assassination attempt, a hurried retreat, and a final stand-off in front of the Pripyat amusement park ferris wheel.[1][2][5] "All Ghillied Up" introduces parallels between Captain Price and the game's main player character Soap MacTavish.[6]

Development

"All Ghillied Up" was designed by Mohammad Alavi, who also designed "Crew Expendable", another level in Modern Warfare, and "No Russian", a controversial level in the sequel Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.[7][8] The level was based on game mechanics used in Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid.[7] In it, non-player characters react differently to the player based on distance and angle, rather than a simple proximity trigger.[7] For example, a player might lie prone in the grass and an enemy will not notice them.[7] This code was created in secret by Alavi due to the difficulty of explaining its intricacies to the artificial intelligence (AI) programmer, who was already swamped with work.[7] Alavi called the internal code "garbage", but said that it still "did exactly what [he] wanted it to do", and that he did not "have to compromise on the feel of the gameplay".[7]

It took Alavi three months and more than 10,000 lines of code to make the first minute of gameplay for the level.[7] The lead designer, Steve Fukuda, played the first minute ten different ways and had fun each time, making Alavi consider it a success. The script was later used as the basis for the AI in Modern Warfare 2.[7]

Reception

Initial reception

Official Xbox Magazine's Ryan McCaffrey praised "All Ghillied Up", opining that it was the best level in the game, and one of the best stealth levels in gaming. He commended the section where the player has to lie in a grassy field while a platoon, including tanks, walks past, for its high tension.[9]

Retrospective commentary

G.B. Burford of Kotaku called "All Ghillied Up" one of the best levels in video game history, citing its heavy freedom of choice in approaching the level.[10] Comparing it to the game's previous level, "Safehouse", he remarked that, while the player could obey their commanding officer to get through the level successfully, they could also win by disobeying the officer's orders, and they would still back up the player, rather than simply killing their character for failing to obey. Burford also complimented the "incredibly tense" prone section as implementing the mechanic in an interesting way.[10] PC Gamer said that "All Ghillied Up" was one of the strongest levels in Modern Warfare, and that it "demonstrates the real craft of a linear story-driven first-person shooter". They went on to compare it to DayZ, with its equally dramatic scenarios, and how it allowed for "personality and freeform set pieces".[11]

IGN called the level one of the best stealth missions in games,[12] and Digital Trends described it as among the greatest in any first-person shooter."[13] Ars Technica's Sam White compared the level's atmosphere and tension to that seen in the Fallout series.[6] Sam Sant of Game Revolution said it was one of gaming's most iconic missions, also noting the ghillie suits worn in the mission were a fan favourite.[14] PlayStation Official Magazine – UK called the level a "stealth masterclass", considering it to be the greatest level in a first-person shooter, and likely the best video game flashback of all time. The publication particularly praised the pacing and level of player agency.[15] The Telegraph's Adam Starkey named the level as one of the series' 10 most spectacular moments, describing it as "brilliantly tense", and calling it one of the greatest levels of the genre.[16] Similarly, Sam Loveridge of Digital Spy classified "All Ghillied Up" as one of the best levels in the genre. Loveridge went on to acclaim the level's tension and described it as a "masterpiece of game design".[17]

Humza Aamir of Techspot said the level was the most intense in the entire story and described it as infamous.[18] GamesRadar+'s Leon Hurley wrote that the mission is "a masterpiece of tension and pacing", and that its recognizable setting and flow "make a level that's better than some entire games."[19] Ben Tyrer of GamesRadar+ praised the level and compared it to "The Gulag", a level in Modern Warfare 2, writing they were both the "defining moments" in their respective stories as one similarity. He opined that "All Ghillied Up" is Modern Warfare's best level for its tension in avoiding combat as opposed to embracing it, and calling it the "tense, thoughtful soul of the series" for its message of violence begets violence.[20]

In a 2019 poll of LADbible readers, "All Ghillied Up" was voted the best Call of Duty mission with 67% of the 6,180 votes, above "Vendetta" from World at War and "Vorkuta" from Black Ops.[21]

Legacy

"All Ghillied Up" was referenced in the movie Hardcore Henry, whose director, Ilya Naishuller called it one of the best levels of all time.[22] In 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a soft reboot of the sub series, players can unlock the "All Ghillied Up" pack which allows players to wear a ghillie suit and wield a bolt-action sniper rifle, in camouflage with additional netting and silencer similar to that seen in the mission.[14][23][24]

References
  1. Infinity Ward (5 November 2007). Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows). Activision. Level/area: All Ghillied Up.
  2. Raven Software (4 November 2016). Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows). Activision. Level/area: All Ghillied Up.
  3. Tavinor, Grant (2 October 2009). The Art of Videogames. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 119–120. ISBN 978-1405187893. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019.
  4. Wordsworth, Rich (17 July 2015). "50,000 People Used to Live Here: A Photo Tour of Modern Warfare's Pripyat". Kotaku. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  5. Payne, Matthew (5 April 2016). Playing War: Military Video Games After 9/11. New York, United States: New York University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-1479805228. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019.
  6. White, Sam (11 February 2016). "Modern Warfare Remastered: A flawless mix of spectacle, statement, and story". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  7. Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (13 July 2016). "From All Ghillied Up to No Russian, the making of Call of Duty's most famous levels". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  8. Shea, Brian (28 August 2019). "Infinity Ward Was Divided Over Modern Warfare 2's Infamous 'No Russian' Mission". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  9. McCaffrey, Ryan (9 November 2007). "Call of Duty 4". Official Xbox Magazine. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  10. Burford, GB (23 October 2014). "Why Modern Warfare's 'All Ghillied Up' Is One Of Gaming's Best Levels". Kotaku. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  11. "Reinstall: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. 12 March 2014. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  12. Dyer, Mitch (17 November 2015). "9 Best Stealth Missions in Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  13. Gurwin, Gabe (27 July 2017). "'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered' now available to all". Digital Trends. Designtechnica. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  14. Sam, Sant (14 November 2019). "Modern Warfare Ghillie Suit - How to unlock". Game Revolution. AtomicOnline. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  15. Dean, Ian, ed. (October 2018). "Believe the snipe". PlayStation Official Magazine – UK. No. 153. UK: Future Publishing. p. 114. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  16. Starkey, Adam (26 April 2017). "Call of Duty's 10 most spectacular moments". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  17. Loveridge, Sam (29 February 2016). "5 reasons why they need to make Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare HD Remastered". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  18. Aamir, Humza (24 November 2020). "17 Years of Call of Duty". Techspot. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  19. Hurley, Leon (4 November 2016). "How Modern Warfare's brilliant levels, characters and story redefined shooters forever". GamesRadar+. Future US. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  20. Tyrer, Ben (9 April 2020). "Why The Gulag remains Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's best mission". GamesRadar+. Future US. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  21. Hardiman, Jess (31 May 2019). "Fans Vote Chernobyl-Themed 'All Ghillied Up' Greatest CoD Mission Ever". LADbible. The LADbible Group Ltd. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  22. Peckham, James (5 April 2016). "Hardcore Henry: how the first ever first-person action movie was made". TechRadar. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  23. Khan, Zarmena (1 June 2019). "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Operator Packs Pay Homage to Iconic Call of Duty 4 Missions". PlayStation Lifestyle. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  24. Saed, Sherif (31 May 2019). "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Operator Packs are basically Rainbow Six Siege's Elite Sets". VG247. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
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