Modern Warfare 2 Manual: WASD Movement, Aim Down Sights, and Co-op Special Ops

WASD Movement and Sprint Controls

Movement in this first-person shooter uses a four-key layout on the keyboard. The W key moves the character forward, while the S key moves backward; the A key shifts the character left and the D key shifts right. Holding the Shift key engages sprint, giving a faster way to cover ground between positions. These default bindings sit alongside the wider control scheme, which assigns the left mouse button to attack and the right mouse button to aiming down sights, so moving and shooting stay on separate hands during play.

The movement keys and sprint do not exist in isolation. The same layout places stance changes on the Space bar for standing up or jumping, the Control key for going prone, and the C key for crouching during a firefight. Sprint lets a player cross open ground quickly, but the stance keys let them drop low when they reach cover, since sprinting and crouching are separate inputs rather than a single toggle. The manual presents these as the default button assignments, the baseline from which a player coordinates forward, backward, and lateral movement with sprint to cross a map.

Aim Down Sights and Close-Quarters Attacks

Aiming down sights is assigned to the right mouse button, keeping a precise sighted view separate from the left mouse button that handles attack. This pairing lets a player move with the WASD keys on the left hand while the right hand either fires or raises the weapon to aim. The manual lists both mouse buttons as default bindings, so aiming and shooting are distinct inputs rather than a single action, and a player can transition between hip fire and a sighted aim without leaving the keyboard layout used for movement.

Close-quarters fighting is bound to the E key, which performs a melee attack. Melee sits apart from the left mouse button attack, giving the player a dedicated strike for when an enemy is near. Because movement, aiming, firing and melee all occupy separate keys or buttons, the player can hold a direction, aim down sights with the right mouse button, and then switch to the E key for a melee hit. The manual presents these as default assignments on the control scheme.

Frag Grenades and Secondary Throwables

Frag grenades are thrown with either the middle mouse button or the G key, giving the player two default ways to perform the same throw. This throw binding is kept apart from the other weapon inputs in the control scheme: the left mouse button handles attack, the right mouse button aims down sights, and the number keys cycle or select equipment such as the grenade launcher, C4, claymore, and the next or previous weapon. A separate Q key covers smoke and flashbang grenades, so the frag grenade and those secondary throwables sit on distinct inputs rather than a shared throw key.

The heads-up display pairs the player's grenade supplies with a warning about nearby explosives. The ammo count shows the remaining bullets for the equipped weapon as well as the remaining grenade supplies, so a player can check how many frags are left before deciding to throw. A separate on-screen grenade indicator appears when a grenade is nearby, with an arrow marking the location of that grenade. Together, these readouts give the player both a count of their own throwables and a directional cue about incoming explosives.

Health Recovery, Cover, and the Damage Marker

Enemy fire registers on the heads-up display as more than a simple loss of health. Blood splatter appears on screen when the player is hit, and a red damage indicator marks the direction the fire is coming from. That directional cue matters because the health system is built around recovery rather than permanent depletion: if the player can reach cover and avoid further enemy fire, the character eventually regains full strength and can continue the fight. Breaking contact and moving out of the firing line is therefore the practical response to taking hits.

The damage marker and the cover-recovery rule work together. The red marker shows where incoming fire originates, giving the player a direction to move away from, while the health system rewards getting behind cover and staying out of the line of fire long enough to heal. Because the marker persists as a signal that damage is being taken, it points toward the same action the health system requires: find cover, break the enemy's line of fire and wait for strength to return. The manual presents both as part of the standard campaign and Special Ops display set.

Campaign Checkpoints and Mission Replay

The campaign uses an automatic checkpoint save system to record progress, so players do not manually save mid-mission. From the pause menu, a Save and Quit option lets a player exit while preserving the current checkpoint. The Story menu offers two starting paths: resume the most recent campaign or begin a new one. After completing a mission, Mission Select becomes available for replaying that mission at any difficulty, separate from the automatic checkpoint flow that governs progress during a mission.

Mission Select is distinct from the checkpoint system: checkpoints save progress within a campaign, while Mission Select reopens an already completed mission at any chosen difficulty. The campaign itself continues the single-player story from the end of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the main menu tracks completion percentages for Story, Special Ops, and Multiplayer separately. A Steam product date for this title is 2009, but that is a store record rather than proof of the original game release.

Special Ops: Co-op Missions and Unlock Progression

Special Ops is a co-operative mode separate from the single-player story campaign, built for two-player play online or locally. Rather than following the campaign's linear path, it drops the pair into a gauntlet of time-trial and objective-based missions. Some scenarios draw on high points from the single-player campaign, others revisit favorite missions from the earlier Modern Warfare title, and the rest are exclusive to this mode. The mode therefore mixes recognizable settings with tasks shaped around timed runs and concrete objectives.

Progression in Special Ops runs on unlocking: as the player ranks up, new missions become available, and each newly opened mission is more difficult than the last. This makes the mission list a ladder rather than an open menu from the start. Difficulty is also adjustable within Special Ops, so a mission that proves too hard can be lowered instead of abandoned. The unlock rule and the difficulty setting interact directly: advancing opens harder scenarios, while the difficulty option lets the pair dial a scenario's challenge to what they can handle. A Steam product date for the title is 2009.

First published Oct 21, 2026.