By now most gamers are not only sick of hearing about the “No Russian” level from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, but have also played it for themselves. To most it’s no big deal. It’s artistic, not tasteless. Or something like that. All that matters is that, in the context of the game, it makes sense.

Ok, sure, I guess I can buy that. But I’m still not convinced it was artistic or necessary.

The concept of making your audience uncomfortable with something is not a new one. Many film makers have sought to disturb the audience with something horribly obscene. Typically this is done through violence, watching someone suffer. No one whoops and cheers at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. It’s not fun to see young men holding their innards in while crying for their mother. The reality of warfare was not glorious, it was horrible. Yet the emotional reaction generated by the film is what keeps people coming back. While you may feel terrible watching the soldiers die for a change, you like that you feel horrible. It reminds you how human you are (theoretically).

Then there are directors like Alfred Hitchcock who disturb in a more twisted manner. In his film Rear Window nearly all the shots are taken from one man’s home. You peek in on several people’s lives, watching snippets of private moments not intended to entertain others. Yet it does entertain, and that is what becomes disturbing. We should feel wrong viewing the intimate and sometimes sad lives of others, but instead we become just as addicted as the protagonist himself.

I found the “No Russian” level to have a similar effect on me in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I wasn’t uncomfortable playing a character shooting up civilians. They were all digital. I knew in my mind that I would never do this in real life, so pulling the trigger on unarmed innocents was an easy decision. Even the wounded crawling across the floor caused no remorse as I finished them off.

Yet the entire time there was some sort of knot in my stomach, something that made me feel rather nervous. I wondered if shooting digital civilians was troublesome after all, but pulling the trigger never became more difficult. Later I realized what the real problem was. It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable at shooting fake people, I was uncomfortable at my lack of discomfort.

Wait, hold on, that technically counts as a double negative. To rephrase, I felt as if I should have felt uneasy shooting fake civilians, and it bothered me that I wasn’t. I have a list of movies with one scene that keeps me from watching it repeatedly, or even at all, because an innocent bystander or fun character faces their gruesome end. It triggers the empathy nerves in the brain and I can’t stand it. It’s kind of like the rules of the Predator. If they are an armed warrior, then fine. They knew what they were getting into. Yet if they are unarmed, pregnant* or a child, they should be spared.

So let’s go back to the intention of the level. Activision wanted players to witness and feel the sort of evil these criminals had first-hand. In other words, they wanted to pull a Saving Private Ryan, not a Rear Window. You weren’t supposed to enjoy the level. Unfortunately, I think their plan worked all too well. Just as the terrorists felt nothing for the civilians they killed, neither did the players. Could that have been the intent all along? To reflect how cold we gamers truly are?

Nah.

The way I see it, the better method to get the point across would have been to have you play as one of the civilians. Seeing all of these men with these huge guns walk out of an elevator, taking aim and firing off. Laying on the ground with a fatal wound, trying to back away, only for the man to stand over you and plug a couple of extra bullets into your brain.

Even so, the inclusion of the level may have been viewed as tasteless because civilians are dying, no matter the perspective. People are still touchy about 9/11 despite how much commercial success the media has been looking to make off of it. So let’s take it into context. What importance does this level have in the game? Well, it is used to frame the Americans for a major attack on Russia and thus acts as a catalyst to America being invaded.

...hrm. So, in the future, the act of an individual will represent that of an entire nation? Last time that happened was 9/11, and last time I checked people still loved making fun of that President for his political choices. Something makes me doubt that’s enough to catalyze a war between two madly powerful nations with nukes.

So what we have is a scenario of America being invaded requiring a catalyst. That catalyst is a horrible terrorist act used to frame an entire nation. The level’s existence is justified based on artistic integrity and the fact that Russia has no reason to invade America otherwise. Yet do they have a legitimate reason to invade America to begin with?

You know what? Infinity Ward, regardless of attempts at being artistic or not, you should have just rewrote the whole scenario into something much more plausible. I mean, once the invasion happens the story starts to improve, but you got nothing on your first game. All you have here is a lot of experiences and atmosphere that are totally awesome, true, but they are the equivalent of Doom. A cheap back bone plot that is more of an excuse to throw all of this cool stuff at you.

And you guys are better than that (as if anyone from Infinity Ward is actually reading this).

*The exception to this rule is Watchmen, where a pregnant woman is in fact shot. However, you’re not supposed to like it. You’re not supposed to like most of what you see occur in the film. The point is how horrible it all is, similar to Saving Private Ryan. Therefore it does not bother me on the same level as various other films. Instant death with guns is also not bothersome. Because it’s instant.

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