Modern Warfare 2

Okay lets talk about the "No Russian" mission.



The whole arguement is that this mission is apperntly "training young minds to be terrorists" but all in all I think this mission does have a few advantages.

Firstly its gives people a perspective of how real life terrorists work and what inhuman acts they do to get their point across. In actuality I hope this will make people say "hey terrorism is more serious than we think", hopefully getting people motivated to help out in some way or form. When I saw this I was OMG every 2 seconds simply because it was an unexpected act that really shook me to the core; but then again it also made me rethink the whole Irag-Afgan situation in a sense of we need to get these guys fast. Before something liek this happens in RL.

Secondly I will talk about what the media say. From me to them fuck you. Its a computer game, get over it. Some movies have entire cities that get blown to little bits and what gappens to the movie? It gets an Oscar or Emmy or something for realism, so this is by far No Russian is mild. Additonally the game is rated 18 for a reason, parents should monitor the what their kids buy and play, it's not the gaming comminty nor the game developer's fault if some 8 year old kid plays the mission, gets shocked for life and then has to go for therapy. The only people to blame are the parents and possibly the guy who sold the game to him/her.

Finnaly, did Activision go over the top?

No. It was an excellent plot filler that would have caused a real life response depicted in the game. I mean sure you have to shoot civilians but would do you think Russia would have invanded America if only the security guards were killed? I dont think so, and I'm sure nor did the game developers. In a sense it was real but still just a game.

And for all the haters who still think I'm wrong then hear this:
1. YOU agreed to see the level! No one forced you to say "yes i want to see the sensitive material" at the checkpoint 3 times. YOU made the choice!
2. You dont need to pull a trigger for the entire "gutsy" part of level. Simply duck behind cover and Makarov's lackies will do the rest
3. Look away when they shoot. Its not that hard. When you see civilians then look away.
4. Skip the level. Nuff said.

Discuss.

This post has been edited by L3g3nd4ry: Nov 18 2009, 06:28 AM

I've not played the game yet, I plan to buy it, but this is what I think:

- This is virtual violence, no one should get excited or grossed out because of it. If you do, then watching some peons getting massacred and thinking anything about it other than entertainment is already a sign of some mentality problems.

Besides, the game is a shooter, you don' make a game about having family and kids and the next level is about killing them. You make a game about killing and the next level is more killing, just that.
There are movies for shedding tears, and movies for pure action (say, 2012 - did you actually CRY or felt shocked that the whole world just went wtfbbq, felt sorry for the people who died in the movie? If anything, only the religious people might get shocked, but I don't even know why they should anyway)

Besides, (you might correct me on that) people get biased towards shooting civilians, but when there's a whole frikken nuke blown over a town, it's all okay?

In any case, I still think this is a nice reaction, where not so long ago, to get a reaction like this you had to just show a female breast nipple to find lots of offended people and up the age to, say, 21 in a game where you kill stuff (I think Dead Rising was like this, lots of violence but with a t-shirt with naked breasts that upped the age)

Well tbh, I didn't really enjoy the mission. I can't see the point of it really as it just wasn't fun or interesting to me.

That said, the media reaction was overblown. It is only a game and it is an 18 certificate!

Regarding whether Activision should have put it in (or went 'over the top') if it had a real use then it would of been fine. But for me the storyline was so bad anyway that it just seemed like some pointless excuse for a war. Yeah right - Russia finds an American dead body, they know their police didnt shoot it, and they have about 500 CCTV cameras showing Makarov killing people. Even if they did think it was America they would not just invade. It just seemed so ridiculous that it was almost pointless - like Activision had thrown it in just for fun.

So I agree that the media took this out of proportion, but I didn't enjoy it or see any point to it.

All I can say is if you can't distinguish between reality and fantasy, you should be restrained.

The mission is definitely an indicator for who is a little... wacky, if someone actually enjoys mowing down these people. However, the scene is meant to not be enjoyable but to be engaging so the player gets more incentive to track down Makarov in the story. It also allows the player to wonder how some people's (terrorists) minds think to be capable of such criminal acts.
Realistic games like this are also a form of escapism and a 'reality' in which you can try things you would not like to face the consequences for, or could never do in real life. This is why it's so interesting when people make the choice to shoot rather than watch (when there is no consequence for doing either, it must be some other factor).

This post has been edited by andysfile: Nov 19 2009, 03:04 AM

"Ima geared up to stick to this makarov chap to bring him down." by end of the mission, then

BLAM

Aw dude wtf...

isnt the only thing you do in the GTA series, is shooting innocent people for fun? why has nobody complained about those games?

and I agree with this:
"- This is virtual violence, no one should get excited or grossed out because of it. If you do, then watching some peons getting massacred and thinking anything about it other than entertainment is already a sign of some mentality problems."

maybe because in gta4 its accepted you're playing a criminal?

And i'm sorry to have to tell you this, but people HAVE complained about the gta series.

But thankfully, they haven't stopped great games being produced. And i hope it stays that way.

+1

Part of me wants to say that this is just a game, while the other says that it's just wrong to accept something like this. The game clearly states that the part might be shocking, which, in a Mature game, should ring a bell.

Video games are being more and more realistic, with that comes the risk of crossing what's real and what isn't. GTAIV gave you the possibility of killing for fun, but in the end you were punished. A single bullet as much as grazing a cop means an instant three star, SWAT and helicopters right away. It is clear that while you can perform those acts, the game isn't rewarding you for it, quite the opposite.

No Russian features a carnage, nothing less. What is the most disturbing is that you can easily notice how much effort IW put into it, anyone noticed the couple in the center of the crowd at the very start hugging right before the shooting begins? The cops that are truly shocked, yet still draws their pistols out of desperation, fully knowing that they will die (they actually can't even fire, scripted to get shot just before)? Small details such as this that.... just feels inhumane.

I think that level was awesome! And its not that I like shooting civilians, but that I'm shakeing and thinking more: omg! Than any other thing that I've seen or done.

The best about it is that you actually feel bad about the people that you shoot.. The guy who's trying drags his friend away from the fire, the police officers who're trying to stop the madness and the wounded guy who's trying to crawl away... You feel inhuman and your hands are shakeing...

It's an experiense that is worth trying in my opinion. If you feel that it's wrong your right and if you feel good your mental ill... If ever had a doubt you wont have any after trying that mission.

*cough*Jack Thompson*cough*


Humor aside. Let's discuss the issues:

Personal Response: I liked this mission. Is it my favorite? No. But I liked this mission because it did something different. Yeah, killing civilians is wrong and stuff but still it was a compelling mission.

Fake vs Real Violence: I'm gonna say the same thing other people have said: It's just a game. If you can't distinguish reality from fiction and are crazy enough to try and do this, your either insane or stupid, or most likely both.

Did Infinity Ward go over the top?: Yes, but in a good way. This mission was original and fresh and brought the game into new light.

Perception: This is something people seem to lose sight on. As Mis stated, people lose perception. In Call of Duty 4 a nuke goes off and kills countless American soldiers and no controversy about that. Countless people die each day in REAL life and people complain about pixels dieing a a video game? Again, perception.

This mission is one of the main reasons the game has done so well, that's no coincidence. When I played this mission, it really pulled me into the game no way any other game has ever been able to do. It makes you feel the evil and psychotic state of the terrorists and what they are trying to accomplish. On the flip, it also helps place you, the player, into the combat boots of all the characters especially, Roach and MacTavish as they race to stop the terrorists in they're plots to further compel the world into utter chaos. IMO just play the mission, suck it up, and just walk through. No need to shoot the civilians, just watch the game and appreciate it for its artistic and revolutionary game play.

I was immediately pretty disgusted with the level. I walked at the back and didn't shoot anyone, I only started firing when the riot police arrived and it was obvious I was going to have to shoot to finish the mission.

I can see the reason they put it in, for plot etc it's fairly essential. I agree with earlier comment, russia would not go to war because they found one american body, given makarov wasn't even wearing a mask etc ..

It was also pretty fail in the sense that I'd like to know the last time a terrorist attack was basically 5 guys walking through with heavy machine guns and enough fire power to kill an entire SWAT team.

Just doesn't happen that way, so it was a nice idea but executed very wide of the mark imo.

keep in mind this is still a video game...not a movie. I don't think they would have you hijack an airplane and fly it into a building for a more realistic terrorist attack...