With its newest release of the Call of Duty series, Infinity Ward has stirred emotional response from gamers worldwide. The response varies depending on the platform used to play. Console gamers rejoice at how the game is challenging and exciting, where PC gamers lament the fact that they can no longer have control of their online experience. However, since its launch, Modern Warfare 2 is on pace to out sell any game in the history of Console and PC gaming.

For the sake of those who have yet to dwell deep into the game, I won’t talk about the plot lines. One would rather stir the emotions of those who have yet to experience this game first hand rather than confirm a well known fact to those who already know. This game has pushed the boundaries of what would be deemed acceptable in any shape or form. The first modern warfare did away with the usual battlefield and took the war to the streets. This installment brings the war to your very own backyard, and even closer…

When first beginning the game, the player is asked if they would be offended by a certain mission, deemed ‘No Russian.’ We are informed that completion of said mission would have no bearing on one’s ability to complete the game, but would however further define the plot lines. Of course, due to curiosity alone, one is tempted to say they will not be offended or disturbed.

The following is what happened, and to most that have a sense of decency, even in virtual reality, it shakes you to your core, as it’s all too familiar and all too real. Modern Warfare 2, in an attempt to make the plot lines more deep and in an effort to involve you on a more emotional level, developed this level to shake even the coldest of hearts.

The scene cuts to black. A zipper can be heard and soft spoken Russian fades into the background….
The black dissolves to an elevator filled with men. Heavily Armed men….. The Character and his compatriots step out of the elevator to the concourse of a Russian airport. Lines of travelers, young and old, male and female, prepare for their journey ahead of them.

Your character takes a breath, and all together they open fire into the group.

At this moment, as a player, I don't even know how to process whats going on. Mowing down everyone in sight. Women and children, dragging their bloodied love ones to only have their virtual lives cut short by your own virtual hand. You are, for a moment a terrorist. Together the group moves slowly, taking aim at civilians as well as security. Each body that moves is taken down, and those who by some miracle are alive, have their lives finished as the group moves deeper into the airport. Bodies and blood cover the floor... I feel sick to my stomach, and it’s all over as quickly as it began. I take a deep breath and attempt to quality what has just transpired. My blood is boiling, my head spinning. Half expecting C.S.I.S. to rope in at any moment, to throw you in plastic cuffs and haul you off, I step away to reflect. The realism of such a mission has taken me by surprise. I'm not an emotional person either. Part of me wished i didn't select the 'I won't be offended' option. The other part is even more into the game, because of how real it felt. Yet, I'm more reflecting on everything that has gone on in the past few years. Reflecting on the state of the world and how a game can do this to me. I just committed an act of terrorism, all be it in a game.... Nothing feels right, It left me to wonder, Was this too soon? Was this mission even needed?



Am I being over sensitive in assuming that this is not even remotely acceptable in any shape or form? It’s one thing to have a scene in a movie where lives are taken in a terrorist act, or in a Tom Clancy book, but it’s entirely another to have it happen in front of you, and you’re the unwilling trigger man. It’s not real. You know it’s not real, yet somehow it still affects you as if it was. You feel the same renewed hate and anger you felt on that one autumn morning in 2001. That same stricken feeling you once had during the Munich Olympics. How can a virtual world evoke such emotions? How can something such as this affect you as deeply as it is now? With the ‘mission’ over, your character gone…. We are just left to reflect on what could possibly be the most controversial mission ever implemented in a video game ever.
A game that promised to deliver an experience that was second to none. A realistic view on the global political conditions, and what could potentially happen if it all went wrong…

Do i personally believe that this game pushed the envelope? Yes, a resounding and concrete Yes. Do I believe that this was needed to make the game better? No. Does this mission develop the plot line? Yes however a simple cut scene would have sufficed. However in saying that this mission does add to the game in regards to the development of the plot as well as elicit an emotional response from the gamer, should have IW attempted to deliver the same response in a different way? Could have it been more tactfully executed? Do you think the warning was sufficient considering?



So, I pass this on to those who have, and have not played this game….
What is your opinion? How do you feel about this being implemented in the game? How did you feel when playing it?