This weekend I played the new Call of Duty game at a friend's house. Like the last one, it looks and plays great. That's not what this post is about. I want to discuss a specific mission called "No Russian." In this mission, you are playing as a CIA agent in a Russian terrorist group. You and your crew are in an elevator and everyone is packing some heavy firepower (It's a Call of Duty game so that's a given..). As the doors open, the leader says to everyone, "No Russian," and before your eyes is an airport terminal filled with people. I think it is obvious where this situation goes... it does go there, and you are given full discretion to shoot a bunch of unarmed people. I didn't (which is kind of boring in a game where your only method of input is with a gun). I kind of walked around horrified for a bit. I tried to shoot my bad guy friends, but the game doesn't let you do that.
I'm a bit conflicted on the whole thing. First, I think this is an interesting step for video games. The medium is maturing. The fact that a developer and publisher put this in is a big step. This kind of content is for a very mature audience and it's a risk to put that kind of content in a game (also, this is Activision's largest game this year... so a bit of an extra risk). On the other hand, I'm not sure this is the right game for this content. As stated earlier, the only method of interaction is with your weapon. That is all. That isn't a criticism... that's just what a first person shooter is... You aren't given the luxury of stopping the terrorists... I think you should be... On top of all that, the next mission of this game features a comical Russian invasion of the U.S. that reminds me of Red Dawn... I get confused over what tone the game wants to have..
On another Nintendo related note, New Super Mario Bros. Wii comes out this week. Apparently it is very similar to Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World which are two of my favorite games ever. It should be good.
No comments:
Post a Comment