Thursday, November 12, 2009

Modern Combat 2 - We're A Sick Nation

Modern Combat 2 - We're A Sick Nation

This post is about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (in stores now) and the rather surprising racism contained within it highlighted by a section of game play. So that you're in the loop, early on in the game you take the role of a CIA operative who has infiltrated a Russian terrorist cell and, not wanting to risk your cover, you go along on a terrorist raid to an airport in Russia (in mother Russia, airplanes fly you!); Your crew of terrorist pals walk out of an elevator and open fire on a group of unarmed civilians murdering all of them. Tally that up to the cost of freedom.

The people scream, bleed, twist and die in a way that is frighteningly realistic. The player is expected to shoot at the civilians because, if they do not, their cover is compromised. The player is given free reign to walk through the airport terminal and pick off fleeing, wounded civilians at their leisure - it is not until you cross a checkpoint do local law enforcement officials arrive.

Activision, the publisher of COD:MW2, have said though that there will be a checkpoint where the game stops and says to the player "the following sequence has content that some players might find distressing." I have played a lot of very violent games and I feel I can say that this section of MW2 takes things to a whole new level of fucked-up. But it's okay because you can skip it...



No wait. That's exactly why it's terrible. Why give the player the ability to kill fucking innocent people in such a sick manner to prove they're with the terrorist? I've played GTA for as long as I remember, running over hookers is one thing, this is something else entirely. Take a look at this video clip of the airport scene if you can stomach that sort of thing...



As you can see, if you waited for the ending.. you did all that blood shed for absolutely NOTHING. Perhaps this is what makes it brilliant. The CIA dude gets shot in the head by the terrorist leader, basically showing that the CIA is evil, incompetent and actively elped the terrorists' cause. Just like in real life. Though, if it really was a CIA agent his gun would jam or something, the CIA is not competent enough to do these kinds of things.

But then again, most of the gamers playing this aren't going to realize this, even with this ham fisted message in their face. They'll consider the CIA agent as the protagonist and any game that the CIA agent is the "Hero" is a shameful game. If not for the before seen game play where he goes along with mass murder for the sake of information or to get in good with the terrorist. But hey, want to see that part again?


Those scenes are entirely brutal not just in concept, but the sound. That Youtube video doesn't do it justice on how sick and over the top this is. It's beyond scary. Then you have to remember that there are people who would willing do this in real life, for either faith or politics or just because they are crazy, and that real bodies, real blood, real screams, and real guns are much messier and louder respectively. Personally, I'm glad video games aren't all that realistic in the grand scheme of things. But the fact that you're numbing someone to these really just screams bad taste. There should be a game where you play as a CIA agent and do actual CIA agent stuff like checking in to a Moscow hotel room, waiting around until you are paralyzed by ennui after your 49th hour of Russian state tv, and then being informed your mission has been canceled due to bad intel



Why can't I just kill Makarov in the elevator during the airport level instead of mowing down hundrest of Russian citizens? Sure, I'll die.. maybe, but I mean, what the fuck. Are you not suppose to value the life of Russians because they aren't Americans? I think you could definitely kill all three of those dudes before they ever fired a single shot. Forcing you to go through with it would make sense if General Voldemort and Makarov were in cahoots to start the third world war, but apparently they hated each other since the beginning. So the story doesn't even make sense.

It would be an interesting social experiment if they would keep track of the average number of civilians killed in the airport level and post it on the internet. I'm pretty curious as to how horrible our youth really is.



Then again, this isn't new to Modern Warfare. The first game had a bit where you are in a bomber a few thousand feet up and you can shoot and kill people that run back to their homes from a mosque. Again, killing civilians from the safety of a bomber is OKAY AS LONG AS THEY ARE MUSLIMS.. or brown people. Hooah!

Just think of the "enemy infantryman's" last moments as they are spent in absolute terror as hell rains down around them, but to you it just looks like you're shooting at ants on the screen while you circle thousand of feet above free from any threat of harm. You and your bro share a chuckle as a tiny ant torso flies across the screen. God bless you, America.


"Hey roach, imma torture this towelhead in shorts, you go shoot someone or something"

I mean, look at that image. The black guy is just staring into space. They clearly already worked him over and got essential information out of him that we all know torture provides. In the original modern warfare, the player takes on the role of the president of an unnamed middle eastern nation. You are dragged through the streets of your former capitol city, beaten with the stock of an AK, watch unarmed prisoners be executed and are powerless to stop it. You are then knocked out and dragged to a pole in the middle of town square, tied to it and executed.

In another sequence the villain of the game detonates a nuclear bomb in the middle of a the aforementioned middle east city. You are playing the role of a Marine at this point who has confirmed his status as a hero by rescuing the pilot of a downed troop carrier helicopter when a nuclear bomb goes off. Your evac chopper crashes and you crawl through the destroyed city bleeding out until you are dead.

But the kids keep on eating this shit up. Why hey, what do you know, Modern Warfare 2, Guitar Hero 5 Among 'Tweens' Most-Wanted For Holidays
A survey published by U.S. video game specialty retailer Game Crazy this week found that 86 percent of teens and "tweens" will ask for a video game this year, with Guitar Hero 5 and the M-rated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 among the most wanted.

AHHHHH, MOM. I WANNA PLAY SHOOTERMAN 5: FALL OF FALLUJAH!

This game is going to sell over 10 million copies and at least, AT LEAST 1/10th of those people are going to fist pump or go "Hell yeah!!" at the torture scenes. Let that settle in your mind a little. Then again, the percentage that will fist pump their arm at the airport scene is more frightening.

Then there's those that are angry that this game comes out 2 days later on steam. Which I suppose is justified question. Why should people want the game on demand without the need of putting on pants not be able to play it on the day of release? All it does is make them want to pirate the game.

Besides, who will want to play multiplayer on this piece of shit game? The multiplayer feature really is awful. Not as awful as playing as a piece of shit CIA agent killing hundreds, but still pretty bad. But for those who don't have the game in hand now and numbing themselves to the problems of their fellow man, they are playing the first mission, which is a lot of teaching Iraqi's to be self sufficient. The entire first mission is Generation Kill, The Video Game.



As much as I dislike farmville, It's not teaching people to be completely numb to the deaths of innocents or pushing the marine/military mentality. The idea that as long as there's no naked titties or dead children, people aren't going to have that much of a hard time with it.

The whole plot of this game is tons of people getting murdered because the CIA fucked up. And really, that's what the CIA does. You know, like how they'll be captured and tortured before they even get dinner because they had known the CIA agent was coming for about 3 weeks thanks to intel gathered from spies and communist sympathizers.

It's games like this that make us completely ignore the fact that ARE troops, post serving their time and without any other sort of option for career, join "security forces" like Blackwater and, well, if the news have showed us anything, they're pieces of shit. Take for example what Former Blackwater execs said: "So we killed 17 civilians and tried to cover it up."
Blackwater Said to Pursue Bribes to Iraq After 17 Died

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The idea of executives at a private security firm like blackwater resigning over ethical concerns is so unbelievably bizarre to me I don't know what to make of it other than these are clearly some of the most hate-able whistle blowers ever. Black Water is one of the few cartoonishly evil things in the world. There's little ambiguity about it. But I should stop referring to them as Blackwater. If I keep doing that, then their name change t XE will be a success as that name is currently not as reviled and associated with murder and corruption.
At midday on Sept. 16, 2007, a Blackwater convoy opened fire on Iraqi civilians in the crowded intersection, spraying automatic weapons fire in ways that investigators later claimed was indiscriminate, and even launching grenades into a nearby school.
Blackwater is the Soviet invasion force from Red Dawn.



Then again, I could write an entire blog the size of this one dedicated to the evils that is Blackwater/XE, let's get back on the subject here.

If you play Modern Warfare 2 unironically, you're a piece of shit. Any game that has Dick Cheney quotes when you die is something you shouldn't play. But for the sake of the argument, I played a little of it so I can complain about it with some insight on seeing evil first hand.

I was on the first mission and just got onto some mounted machine gun as a grunt in the desert. My troopmates were all cheering over some explosion and clearly they programed them to act just like military douchebags and I couldn't help it and I just fucking shot them all. I failed the mission, but left my mark. Ft. Hood. Oooooorah!



The scary thing is that apparently there were Army Recruiters at various midnight release lines. This fucking country, I tell you. Cause what the military really needs are the kind of people that line up at midnight for an Xbox game. Let this be a reminder that the army literally uses call of duty to entice kids to sign up.

Who the fuck plays this game and thinks "Hmm, yes, I'd like to do this in real life." How exactly is this any good in promoting the army? You die like once every five minutes in these video games. I hope that anyone who really feels the need to join after playing this game falls cock-first on an IED.



Video games that recreate the horrors of actual historical conflicts and attempt turn them into fun point grabbing adventures are morally abhorrent. I could just picture the young grandson sitting the living room with his grandpa with the xbox on:
"hey gramps remember when you stormed the beaches and watched your best friend die? Well if you weren't satisfied with only being dragged back to that terrible event in your nightmares you can now watch me play it on the big screen during the day. Did your buddy die on this part of the beach or that part? Where was it the shrapnel gave you a permanent limp? Watch me stab that guy in the gut, oh I know he's on our side, but I'm just having fun"
Modern Warfare 2 is neocon American flag waving piece of shit that puts the show 24 to shame in terms of ridiculousness. Basically the story is 50% red dawn and 50% kill-random-brown-people served with torture sauce. With moralistic quotes from kleptocrats such as Dick Cheney and Donald motherfucking Rumsfeld, this should be banned for more reasons other than "it'll turn your kids into terrorist."

This game is seriously terrifying. So much so that it's hard for me to accept this as anything but parody. But that's the sad part. It's not parody. It's not any sort of satire. It's really scary to think that anyone would have fun playing a game like this. I can only wait for Modern Combat 3 for when we get more Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Featuring actions such as Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

No comments: