Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Preview

While at Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 showcase event in LA, we tore ourselves away from the multiplayer beta to have a quick chat with Joel Emslie, lead character artist. Here, we quiz him on Riot Shields, Martyrdom and "shelved" features.

VideoGamer.com: In terms of hype alone, Modern Warfare 2 is already the biggest game of the year....

Joel Emslie: It's crazy! For being as hyped as we are, we haven't really shown much. We're very secretive...

VideoGamer.com: Is success inevitable for this game?

JE: There are no guarantees in life, but I feel very confident in what we've put together. If we're happy with it, I can only hope and dream that when people play it on November 10, they feel like we do. It's our baby, we've been working on it for two years. Blood, sweat, tears, late nights. Lots of arguing, lots of heated debating on what works and what doesn't work. I look at the community all the time, as does everyone on the team. We've been asking what works, and how can we build a better, stronger Call of Duty. It really comes down to this: if we can satisfy ourselves, as our own worst critics, then hopefully it should be good enough! We'll have to see. It's all up to the players.

VideoGamer.com: That's pretty much a yes, then. I mean, you guys would be pretty surprised if it bombed, right?

JE: I would be! Yeah, if it bombed that would really suck, man. I'd hate that, I'd go away!

VideoGamer.com: I think that's pretty unlikely. But the original game was such a massive hit... Does that put added pressure on you guys? You've got a tough act to follow.

JE: It's a funny thing. When I came onto the team it was at the beginning of Call of Duty 2. I'd seen CoD 1 and I was blown away - I played it, like, five times. I was at this other company, and three of us came from that company and went to Infinity Ward together, and I was just lured by this type of magic that Infinity Ward has with its design, this kick-ass perfect storm. Coming into Modern Warfare after CoD 2, it was really the next step. We had a lot of design philosophies we wanted to hit. We don't really have a lot of turnover: it's a tight team, everybody knows each other and we work really well together. We know how to piss off the other guy and how not to piss him off, but at the same time there's a professional respect for each other. But, as you say, there's pressure on each other. There was no outside pressure on this game, for some reason. We're very sheltered by our bosses, which is great. We're in this chamber where we're taken care of and it's just about creativity and getting the project to look the way it does and feel the way it does. So no outside pressure could be as immense as what we're putting on each other. But I've never worked in a team where I feel more covered by the guy to the left or my right. They've got my back...

VideoGamer.com: ...especially if they're carrying big bulletproof shields.

JE: Yeah, it's like a riot shield phalanx! It's badass.

VideoGamer.com: Do you think this game will surpass the last one, in purely qualitative terms?

JE: I have no idea. I want it to!