Knowing how to stop the Modern Warfare 2 Countdown missile from detonating is essential if you want to complete the campaign in this FPS game, but the situation you’re plunged into is tense and the solution may not be readily apparent the first time around. It goes without saying, but because this solution is for the last mission in the Call of Duty campaign, there will be spoilers ahead.
After tracking the elusive missiles down to Chicago, you and the rest of the team are tasked with securing the weapons of destruction and eliminating Hassan. When you finally find Hassan, however, the missiles have already been launched, and it’s down to you to stop them. Here’s how to complete the Modern Warfare 2 Countdown mission and stop the missile from blowing up Washington D.C.
Countdown missile puzzle solution
After breaching, and subsequently clearing, the high-rise in Chicago, you’ll eventually get to a point where the rest of your squad is injured, and you have to go after Hassan yourself. Chasing him into an elevator shaft, you fall, losing your weapons, but you do gain a case containing the missile controls.
At this point, you have nothing to defend yourself with, so run away from the heavy soldier and into the bathroom dead ahead of the elevator. Once inside, close the door and flip open the missile control case.
Laswell will begin to feed you instructions over the radio, but here is what you need to do to detonate the missiles:
- Press CLR (F) and MODE (C) at the same time to enable diagnostic mode.
- Laswell will ask you to read out one of the cells in the table, the answer is %ESP.
- Press Left (A) and CLR (F) to begin the missile detonation sequence.
When the fourth segment of the detonation sequence lights up, press LNK (R).
Getting a weapon in Countdown
Destroying that missile is only the beginning of your struggles in Countdown, as now you have an entire room of hostiles to deal with and no weapon.
The only way to take the enemies down is to scavenge and craft tools for yourself. Climb through the vent in the corner of the bathroom where you detonated the missile and you’ll find yourself in a room full of supplies. Use these to craft a pry tool and a smoke bomb, and get ready to open the red toolbox outside.
Toss the smoke bomb at the toolbox and open it with the pry tool. Inside, you’ll find a box cutter – more than enough to defend yourself with. The box cutter has unlimited uses, and provided the hostiles in the area with you are taken by surprise with more smoke bombs, you should have no problems eliminating them.
The last playable section of Countdown sees Ghost atop the building opposite holding his trusty sniper rifle, which he uses to dispatch Hassan once and for all. If after all this you’re still wondering what actually went down with the missiles, and who on earth Makarov is, we have the Modern Warfare 2 ending explained right here. After the credits roll, check out our complete list of Modern Warfare 2 achievements, which includes walkthroughs of El Sin Nombre and the locations of the Modern Warfare 2 Ghost team targets, along with many others.