Having beaten Modern Warfare 2 last week I was left with mixed feeling about a number of things. We've heard countless takes on the airport scene up to now and, quite frankly, I'm sick to the teeth about it. I am, however, rather intrigued as to the context that the stage - and others featuring innocent people - have been placed within the world of Modern Warfare 2.
After traversing through the streets of Brasil, hot on the heels of a geezer in Adidas tracksuit bottoms and half a spliff hanging out of his mouth, I was astounded as to the level of innocent civilians around in the game. "This is next-gen" I thought to myself as I crunched down a green, blue and yellow peanut M&M and thought about maybe leaving my room for a piss at some point.
Then I landed on American soil. Finger on the trigger, I passed through a suburban town with white picket fences, nice cars, swimming pools, dog houses, the lot...
Well, maybe not "the lot". Something wasn't sitting right with me, I wasn't feeling compelled to enjoy the mission or care about what I was doing at all. But why? I'll tell you why: because there wasn't a law-abiding American citizen in site, that's why. Dead or alive, there wasn't a single person other than those carrying guns. I can only assume we are supposed to believe that these people were evacuated and that the Russian soldiers were standing around porches and bathrooms wondering whether this was some kind of huge practical joke - a disused Hollywood movie set, probably last used by Tom Hanks in The 'Burbs.
Where was the sugar-sweet American blood that would be shed in order to avenge their brothers and sisters from the Moscow airport?
Did I miss something? Were all these people evacuated while the parachutes and bombs rained down? If so, I apologise. The US Army did a stellar job with that. But I doubt that was the case. I would have appreciated the site of people running for cover around these streets, scrambling out of their houses or lying dead in their doorways.
This wouldn't make me happy in a morally ambiguous way; far from it, in fact. I just feel that within the context of war brought on by an act of terrorism, it would have been far more enthralling, powerful and... well, correct to show that these atrocities can have repercussions that may be a little hard to swallow for the more patriotic among us.
Did Infinity Ward duck out of any plans to feature American civilians in order to avoid the risk of upsetting a post-9/11 public that would most likely jump down their throats? Were they told to leave them out by the powers that be? Or are they just a bunch of jocks who love USA (USA, USA) a little too much?
What do you guys think?
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Yet they still released the game in Russia.
Para-trooping my ass. They would be falling into a giant bowl of, "OH SHIT!" while people shot them out of the sky.
maybe IW could have put us in the shoes of a civilian with a gun. Now THAT would have been fun - heading across town to find your girlfriend.
I definitely think they missed an opportunity by not having civilians in the suburbia level ( though I really dug the abandoned Capitol / Washington Mall and would rather have it be a ghost town than overrun by NPC's). Given all the GUNS GUNS GUNS mentality that dominates American culture, I think it would have been kind of interesting to be able to duck into a house, and grab a shotgun off of some yokel's gun rack, or even fight beside some civilians (surely there would be some sort of insane mandatory draft if America was invaded?).
Re: playing as a civilian with a gun; interesting idea, but I don't think it jives with Call of Duty, which is exclusively about trained badasses and whatnot.
If not, that sounds really ridiculous. There were no non-descript-arab-nation civvies in MW1, but there's less of a surprise attack element.
absolutely nobody mate. Never seen Burger King so empty.
@SuitcoatAvenger,
Good point on the mandatory drafting of civs. Would have been cool to have been joined by some fresh meat.
Just all felt a bit last-gen in a way. So used to have bustling areas nowadays.
I was an RA when 9/11 happened. None of my residents had guns, but there was one guy out of 39 residents that was ready to enlist! Call of Duty seems to be all about being duty borne and ruled by responsibility. Taking an American civilian, or several, and having them thrust into passionate obligation could have been incredibly fascinating!
However, this gives them a great way to open up MW3. Nothing is normal in this world, and playing up the civilian factor in the next game (focus on the west coast?) could really show something special.
Of course, you bring up an amazing point, and something I feel is worth discussing. Nice perspective.
Oh and yes, interesting article and all that jazz.
I'm a MW and COD n00b in a big way. I have been online, just getting into it...
Safe to say that tonight should see me making my return to the FNF craic in a big way. I hope to see you there, big man :)
Actually, you know, I think it would really, really cool if you played as a straight-up green rookie for part of the campaign in MW3. Maybe in the National Guard or something. I'm talking a dude who was just drafted in, or was pushed to enlist after the invasion. We've been playing as combat-experienced veterans for all of the Call of Duty games. Imagine playing as a rookie, straight from heartland U.S.A, as he touches boots down in Moscow during a retaliatory invasion (which was hinted as looming on the horizon at the end of MW2), knowing that if he and his fellow soldiers fail, the entire paradigm of world power would shift forever. Imagine going from backyard BBQ's to the threat of dying in a foreign land where you can't even speak the language, in the span of a year. That would be absolutely terrifying, and completely captivating to experience. Not to mention the fact that it would effectively bring Call of Duty full circle, in that it would mirror the experience of many young men who died throughout World War II under just such circumstances.
Bad jokes aside, I think one game that pulled that idea off well was Freedom Fighters. There's a bit where they make a speech about patriotism to a TV camera. At first I thought, 'oh Jesus, here we go...another USA! USA! moment' but it was done with a total understanding of the definition. That's actually really rare in videogames.
I assume they were all hiding in the basement/attics of the houses.
I had a hard time believing that the military could pull off a mobilization of that scale such that there were American troops present in large numbers with heavy equipment while the Russians were still parachuting in.
Well, not only the Yanks, the Dutch as well. Because I didn't notice it. I have to say those levels were my least favorite ones. They felt empty and surreal almost like The Truman Show but without people. It would feel more at ease with civilians around than without them. It's all about "the real thing" and stuff so why make that choice than?
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