Sabotage is a bomb-based game type in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that is somewhat similar to Search and Destroy. Unlike S&D though, the bomb is neutral, there is only one round, players can respawn (except in Sudden Death), and both teams are simultaneously trying to destroy the opposing team's base. Whichever player is carrying the bomb is given a green marker with the word "Defend (Escort in Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3)" for friendlies and red with the word "Kill" for enemies, that updates every 2 seconds. When a player is killed during regulation, the player must wait 7 seconds to respawn. A team needs only one point to win the game, though this can take a lot if not all the 20+ minutes of regulation (clock starts at 20 minutes, though at any time the bomb is armed at one of the two attack points the main clock will be frozen). If no winner is declared by the end of regulation, the game goes into Sudden Death. At the beginning of Sudden Death, all dead players are respawned, and the mini-map will permanently show all enemy targets, with the exception of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. There are no respawns, effectively turning the game into a neutral Search and Destroy. The game then ends when an entire team is eliminated, the target is bombed, or the 90-second sudden death timer runs out (thus ending in a draw).
This tends to be one of the more unpopular game modes, especially with players looking to level up. Given that only one score is needed, games can end in under two minutes, or last the entire 20 minutes with no winner. Either result is often unfavorable for gaining XP, especially compared to modes like Headquarters. Additionally, teams may be reluctant to plant the bomb on the enemy base so that they can prolong the game as long as possible so that the players will get more kills and more XP. Whenever a talented team wins the game in the first few minutes, games become short, kills are few, and tirades of abuse are common from players more interested in EXP than winning the game. On the flip-side, the game could turn into a 20 minute Team Deathmatch. This gives the player the opportunity to rack up a large number of kills. Parties will often play Sabotage due to the fact it can be played like Team Deathmatch, but with no limit. As the spawns do not change, a well organized team can spawn trap the enemy team resulting in incredibly one sided games. However, the opposition team will often "counter attack" and will often win as the other team are trying to rack up kills, and are often out of position, or just can't be bothered, to stop the bomb planter.
Also, since no team is actually winning until the game is over, a Host Ended Game scenario can be very ruinous to a team should their victory be imminent.
Because of the short respawn and bomb plant times in this game mode, a team with a few quality aggressive players can often overcome a good defensive team. Even if a bomb carrier trips a claymore or is killed by C4, his teammates will often be close behind to continue the attack. If they should fall as well, the first player will by then have respawned and sprinted back to the attack area to take his revenge.
The Sudden Death overtime starts immediately after the clock runs out in all of the games except for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which has the player returned to their spawns and play reset for an "Overtime" round with the same sudden death rules, making the game a lot like Search & Destroy.
There is a game mode similar to Sabotage in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized called Team Sabotage. Two teams search for a randomly placed target in the level. One team defends while the other team attacks.
In Call of Duty Black Ops the announcer will act as though they just scored a point and the match is going to continue, though once a point is scored by any team, it is impossible for the losing team to win.
When planting the bomb in Call of Duty: Black Ops the number being typed into the keypad is 115, a reference to the Zombies game mode.
