Modern Warfare 2's No Russian level discussed by designer

Mohammad Alavi, the former Infinity Ward employee who crafted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2′s controversial No Russian level, discusses for the first time what he hoped to achieve with it.

[matgrowcott]

I'm not sure how what he says "proves" that the level had no reason to be in the game. Quite the opposite. They wanted to make the player feel uncomfortable, they wanted to show how evil the bad guy was and they wanted to show a reason why Russia would attack the US. All of those things are achieved.

Opt-out option or not, all those points are valid. The problem is that you're presuming because Infinity Ward believed in what they were doing, they should have forced the viewer to watch a terrorist attack instead of letting people decide if they have the right mindset to view something like that. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

[Moby-Royale]

I suppose everybody is entitled to their own opinion, which explains your disagrees. I, however, completely agree with you.

I wonder if your disagrees are the classic "someone just clicks disagree because you aren't saying that COD is the devil" kind of thing, or if they genuinely don't agree with your view.

This is one of those times where a reply and a disagree would go better hand in hand.

[matgrowcott]

I think people like to disagree more than agree. I don't think a single comment (except for yours) has more agrees than disagrees in this thread.

[Autodidactdystopia]

The level was good, It made me feel what they wanted to get across, which was remorse and confusion and hatred for the team and leader.

It worked. Its art, and its theirs to decide what to put in the game.

Cod still sucks, but what it lacks in vision it makes up for in terms of consistency.

what i mean by that is that it is easy to play and get into no matter when i play it. no matter how generic.

but cod still sucks.

[HelloHowAreYou]

Here we go again making US to be the good guy again and Russia too be the world threat. Remember US = the world; they can do no wrong.

[matgrowcott]

If the whole thing had been the other way around, the argument he presented would still be valid. Especially considering that Russia was provoked into war, not just "let's take over the world today."

[TekoIie]

Except that a US General is actually the enemy at the end of MW2....

[Eske]

I totally agree matgrowcott. Based on what was said in the interview, they completely achieved their goals (which were sound, logical goals to have, at that).

The level made me strongly dislike Makarov. It was shocking, and it made me make a tough, interesting decision (I couldn't bring myself to fire any bullets, even just to miss).

It also made me think about military structure a bit. Intentionally or not, it says a lot about patriotism, jingoism, and empathy. It's appalling to me that your character can go along with (or stand by and watch) mass murder in the name of protecting US interests.

He can kill Makarov right there, he can stop the massacre, but he chooses not to.

Seems pretty effective to me, even if the rest of the game isn't nearly as memorable.

[matgrowcott]

That's it exactly! The fact that that single level made you go through all those things means the job of the developer was well done.

Whether it was tacked on, made for controversy or any of that, it doesn't matter - that it could do all of that to even a small amount of the audience (and I find it hard to believe that it would be exclusive to a small part of the audience) means that it works and deserved to be in there.

[12345bnm]

The level was only in the game to draw attention from the media. Why waste money on advertising when you can get the media to do it for you.

[StayStatic]

Modern Warfare 2 will be released when Rewspan Entertainment say so , not that garbage Bobby Kotick forced them put out causing all the talent to flee.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Straightupbeastly]

Cod is dead without all those amazing designers