Modern Warfare 2: Co-op, more detailed, open-ended, and longer than CoD4

New Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 details are beginning to leak onto the internet following the short teaser trailer released earlier in the week.

One of GameInformer's 'year defining' games is Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2, which is featured on the front cover of their latest issue.

If you want to know the low-down on the game we suggest you go and buy the magazine, but we've selected a few juicy bits of information from the extensive 10-page feature.

Modern Warfare 2's gameplay will be a little more open-ended than Call of Duty 4; stealth can now be used if the player so chooses. Despite this, the story itself will still be linear.

Infinity Ward has taken note of the criticisms of CoD4's enemies (they would constantly respawn unless a player crossed a certain line) and are looking to fix this. The game's single-player will also be longer than CoD4.

Although there will be no co-op in the game's story mode, a series of separate missions in the spirit of CoD4's Mile High Club will include cooperative multiplayer.

As for the game's ice sections, it's unclear whether the player will drive or shoot from the snowmobiles, but they'll certainly be used as a form of escape. Moreover, ice-walls can be climbed by alternating between the two triggers.

Infinity Ward will also implement a live-patching system for the game's online multiplayer, meaning updates won't require a full-blow downloadable patch.

The game will of course run at 60 frames-per-second, with detail being ramped up over CoD4. The GameInformer article also mentions riot shields, movable turrets and customised weapons for single-player enemies. It sounds like the game might just raise the bar again.

You can watch the first snippet of in-game Modern Warfare 2 footage by following this link.