You've got one week to try Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer for free
Activision is opening some (but not all) of the game's multiplayer modes up to the non-paying public.
Clip on your weapon gewgaws, turn off voice chat, and prepare to do some things that definitely count as war crimes, because Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (the 2022 one, not the original, and yes I am still upset about how these things are named) is running a multiplayer "free access" week, giving you a chance to try out some of its multiplayer modes for no money down.
It kicks off later today, at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET / 6 pm BST, and ends at the same time on April 26. I'm unsure if the game will be smart enough to only download the parts you'll have access to, but you'll probably want to set aside 125-or-so gigs of space (the game's recommended space requirements on Steam) just to be on the safe side.
For whatever reason, Activision isn't making the entire MW2 multiplayer offering available for the duration of the free access week. Instead, you'll only get to access to the following 12 modes:
- Gunfight
- Ground War
- Invasion
- Team Deathmatch
- Hardpoint
- Domination
- Kill Confirmed
- Grind
- Gun Game
- Infected
- One in the Chamber
- All or Nothing
Gunfight is a 2v2 mode, Ground War and Invasion are far bigger and feature tens of players on each side, and all the remaining modes are 6v6.
That's not a bad offering, but it does mean you won't get access to modes like Free For All and Search and Destroy if you're taking advantage of the trial period.
Those modes are spread out across ten maps for free access players, which I've helpfully detailed in yet another bullet-pointed list below:
- 6v6 maps: Farm 18, Shoot House, Shipment, Dome, Himmelmat Expo, Pelayo’s Lighthouse
- Gunfight maps: Alley, Blacksite, Exhibit, Shipment
- Ground War/Invasion map: Santa Seña
The free access period is beginning just over a week after Modern Warfare 2's Season 03 update came out, and it's intended to give you a chance to sample the new season's offerings. If it also tempts you to drop $30 on its new super-premium Blackcell battle pass, well, I imagine Activision would be just chuffed about that.
Although Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 currently sits at a Mixed review score on Steam, PCG's Morgan Park rather liked the newest entry in the series when it released last year. Scoring it 83% in his Modern Warfare 2 review, Morgan wrote that "Modern Warfare 2 isn't the latest Call of Duty game—it's the latest Infinity Ward game. And nobody does Call of Duty better than Infinity Ward".