Several levels from the game's campaign were shown, including a nighttime raid on a large ship, an assault on one of Al-Asad's coastal encampments orchestrated by a dozen-strong helicopter force, infantry combat on brutally open desert terrain, and dark, chaotic fighting in the corridors of a heavily wrecked city. The clear centerpiece of the demonstrated levels was the AC-130 gunship level, as introduced by longtime Call of Duty military advisor and decorated retired Lieutenant Colonel Hank Keirsey, which puts the player in the role of a gunner manning the impressively destructive power mounted on the heavily-armed craft in order to take out enemy personnel surrounding a church--but not to harm the church itself. The largely point-and-shoot level is both extremely visceral in the sheer destructive power afforded to the player as well as somewhat eerie and ethereal in the muted, disconnected way the player is raining death upon tiny enemies far below. Well-implemented in-game post-processing effects create the ruggedly high-tech look of observing the targets through electronic surveillance equipment rather than the naked eye, adding a further layer of abstraction to the already indirect rain of fire.

Modern Combat's multiplayer mode features an experience-based system with unlockable equipment that essentially allows players to create their own classes. While every player has access to several preset class roles, such as assault, heavy, special ops, and so on, players who have accrued enough experience from racking up kills and achieving objectives will be able to customize their primary weapon, sidearm, and grenades to create classes tuned to their own styles. The team was sure to note that the preset classes were configured with the same system used for custom classes, so there is no actual disadvantage to using the preset classes.