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[Exploratory]

I was watching a video on this and I hadn't played No Russian since 2011.

What the fuck? This is wildly more controversial than anything I can remember in any major AAA franchise in years. Do you think with the rise of social media, seemingly constant gun incidents in America and a 24 hr news cycle something like this would be a lot bigger today?

Also for those who played this back in 2011 what did you think of that level as you played it? Did your opinions change after you finished the level? The game? And do you feel different today?

 

[Htown]

it was definitely controversial at the time.

I thought it was lame as a video game level.

 

[13ruce]

I thought it was okay did not care when i played the game back then it's just a video game.

The secret agent killing people too is fucked up tho should just have let us play as another terrorist.

The game warns you about it.
But yeah it's pretty crazy if you think about it insane even.

 

[OrlanisWorks]

I felt it didn't make any sense and was used for shock value.

 

[Bronetta]

It was definitely controversial back then. I think there's even a disclaimer which lets you skip the level out right.

 

[astroturfing]

wasn't it 2009? or am i crazy

 

[LionPride]

It was controversial as hell at the time

Would be controversial as hell now

 

[Tecnniqe]

Six days in fallujah was bigger

And this mission was pretty meh for all its uproar

 

[kitsuneyo]

I found it distasteful and didn't shoot anyone.

 

[joecanada]

what happened again? I can't make it through SP modes in COD... (cod 4 was pretty good) and I never did watch movies of it... did it let you kill innocents or something?

 

[JohnnyFootball]

The entire scenario made no sense.

 

[Jalen]

To people who always comment on this mission saying "it was dumb to have a secret agent kill all those people"...

...

The game doesn't make you shoot anyone except the police near the end. You don't even have to shoot them either. The Developers stated that even though the instructions were just to follow Makarov's lead, most people shot the crowd anyway. Player choice led to that, not the game's instruction.

 

[13ruce]

what happened again? I can't make it through SP modes in COD... (cod 4 was pretty good) and I never did watch movies of it... did it let you kill innocents or something?

You (playable character) a undercover secret agent + russian terrorists raid a airport and shoot innocent people and swat officers.

It's pretty graphic and in the end the american agent gets killed by the russian terrorists.

 

[Boylamite]

what happened again? I can't make it through SP modes in COD... (cod 4 was pretty good) and I never did watch movies of it... did it let you kill innocents or something?

You ONLY kill innocents on that level. Well I guess you don't have to? Says a lot about me I guess.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I felt it didn't make any sense and was used for shock value.

It didn't make any sense on what level? Because the purpose of it was to trigger WWIII as you were playing an American soldier working undercover as Russian operative. Makarov ends up killing you at the end and leaves your body at the airport for Russian officials to find, which is what sets the war in motion. So, it's quite critical to the path that MW2 was taking.

 

[MassiveNights]

I still don't understand it really. It barely makes sense in the story.

 

[RaptorGTA]

They tried to hard to capture the feeling after the bomb detonated in COD4. I think what was done in the MW3 was the worst. Just trying to be shocking.

 

[Forerunner]

what happened again? I can't make it through SP modes in COD... (cod 4 was pretty good) and I never did watch movies of it... did it let you kill innocents or something?

 

[Ladekabel]

I found it distasteful and didn't shoot anyone.

In the German version that was the only way to beat this level. As soon you shot a civilian you had to restart the level (or skip it).

 

[Woorloog]

Poor mission. Forced slow walk, and the whole thing is built upon shock value, which, in my opinion, didn't really work because of the nonsensical story in the first place. Yawn.

You ONLY kill innocents on that level. Well I guess you don't have to? Says a lot about me I guess.

Actually, you get attacked by police near the end, i think. Though i guess they count as "innocent" given the context of the mission.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

It would be a lot more controversial and actually distasteful if you were forced to kill people.

The fact that they have that stupid warning and even give you an option to skip the level was absurd.

 

[Fata1moose]

I still don't understand it really. It barely makes sense in the story.

The entire story was absurd, little made sense.

 

[joecanada]

You (playable character) a undercover secret agent + russian terrorists raid a airport and shoot innocent people and swat officers.

It's pretty graphic and in the end the american agent gets killed by the russian terrorists.

You ONLY kill innocents on that level. Well I guess you don't have to? Says a lot about me I guess.

ah okay so you are posing as a Russian terrorist and you have to decide whether to keep up the disguise?


pretty intense and for the time it occurred I'm surprised it was allowed. but it should be it is kind of a reality in this day and age and should be discussed.

 

[CountAntonius]

No way would it fly today.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Shockingly not as controversial as I had expected it to be. I was expecting nightly news segments with Activision pulling copies level of outrage but no. It just came and went.

 

[RoKKeR]

It was very controversial at the time, but with the way the world is now I imagine it would be even larger now.

 

[MCN]

The entire story was absurd, little made sense.

Well, yeah. You don't play CoD for the story, you play it for the HOOAH AMERICA FUCK YEAH GUNS AND LOUD NOISES WORLD POLICE RAMIREZ SAVE THE FUCKING WORLD AND BRING DEMOCRACY TO EVERYONE MOTHERFUCKER

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

might be controversial but i thought it was a cool to move the story and actually put the player in an awkward place

 

[13ruce]

ah okay so you are posing as a Russian terrorist and you have to decide whether to keep up the disguise?


pretty intense and for the time it occurred I'm surprised it was allowed. but it should be it is kind of a reality in this day and age and should be discussed.

You can actually skip shooting innocent people but you are kinda forced to kill the police tho cuz the AI terrorists are pretty bad so you can't really skip killing those by hand on higher difficulity levels.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

No way would it fly today.

I don't see why not. If anything, this type of mission would be far more acceptable today.

Let's not forget that there was that one mission is GTAV which forced you to torture someone, and it was all done in the most distasteful way possible. And that barely generated any kind of controversy.

 

[Hidden One]

If that level came out in 2017 it would be on a whole different scale of controversy with how big social media is now.

 

[mitch1971]

killed the lot - because it's a game.

 

[MassiveNights]

Well, yeah. You don't play CoD for the story, you play it for the HOOAH AMERICA FUCK YEAH GUNS AND LOUD NOISES WORLD POLICE RAMIREZ SAVE THE FUCKING WORLD AND BRING DEMOCRACY TO EVERYONE MOTHERFUCKER

That's why playing an American who purposefully kills hundreds of innocent civilians is kind of weird though, even if it means 'getting close' to Makarov.

 

[nowhoney]

wasn't it 2009? or am i crazy

You're right, it was 2009. Modern Warfare 3 was 2011.

 

[Bizazedo]

I appreciated it for both what it was trying to do and the history I was witnessing. I love when people push an envelope.

 

[WrenchNinja]

The story for this game was so stupid.

 

[jon bones]

jesus

 

[Forerunner]

You're right, it was 2009. Modern Warfare 3 was 2011.

MW3 they tried to do something similar. They have a kid getting blown up.

 

[ActWan]

Really memorable mission, they had huge balls to put it there and it made it's impact perfectley (too bad they made it skippable with a future update IIRC)

 

[Einchy]

I don't see why not. If anything, this type of mission would be far more acceptable today.

Let's not forget that there was that one mission is GTAV which forced you to torture someone, and it was all done in the most distasteful way possible. And that barely generated any kind of controversy.

Terrorism is way more relevant in today's world than torture.

 

[13ruce]

MW3 they tried to do something similar. They have a kid getting blown up.

Holy shit

 

[Inkvoterad]

I liked it. Teenager me found it gut-wrenching in a way not a lot of games had done for me yet at that time.

 

[arturo2666]

To people who always comment on this mission saying "it was dumb to have a secret agent kill all those people"...

...

The game doesn't make you shoot anyone except the police near the end. You don't even have to shoot them either. The Developers stated that even though the instructions were just to follow Makarov's lead, most people shot the crowd anyway. Player choice led to that, not the game's instruction.

Yep, would have been interesting to get a telltale style "this many players shot and killed innocent people" thing at the end.

 

[MCN]

EDIT: Never mind. Not the place.

 

[eshwaaz]

I hated this level. Not because of the subject matter, but because it felt completely unearned. You get some voice over exposition in the loading screen, then you're in the airport and innocent people are getting mowed down. No proper setting of the scene, no build-up, no establishing of your undercover relationship with the terrorists. It made the whole thing feel manufactured and exploitative; put in the game for controversy first and foremost.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

MW3 they tried to do something similar. They have a kid getting blown up.

holy shit the red mark showing which direction he got hit lmaooo

 

[Disgraced]

I appreciate it; it's interesting, and I kind of dig MW2's whole campaign. But I think the nuke in 1 and Shepard's betrayal in 2 itself are better "shocking moments."

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

The mission itself was shocking but it didn't really impact the story overall with the twists and turns they throw in the game.
It's funny when you think about that level and the towards the end you control another character that get's killed.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

Terrorism is way more relevant in today's world than torture.

Massive kill sprees involving guns are way bigger now. Even with that, GTAV and other similar games are far less controversial these days than they were a decade ago.

I don't really see why MW2 would be worse today. Especially when you aren't even forced to participate in the act of killing civilians.

 

[Prismo]

Just putting this out there, but I think it is pretty obvious that this was a false flag operation perpetrated by the liberal games industry in order to demonize the noble Russian people.

Wake up.