Infinity Ward Developer Reflects On Controversial No Russian Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Mission

When it comes to the Call of Duty franchise, most will focus on the current video game being played at the moment or the upcoming title. However, even years after its release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is still talked about today. A good reason for its discussion is the infamous and highly controversial video game mission, No Russian and this is the mission that’s brought up today when the development team at Infinity Ward explains the overall feel for their upcoming release. With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare being a game talked about relatively often as it gears up for its release, a few developers from the Infinity Ward studio started to reflect back to the days of developing No Russian.

This news came from an interview with the studio from Game Informer. For those of you who are not aware, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 released back in 2009 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was a sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that followed a few different characters and campaign missions. One of those was called No Russian which followed a CIA agent attempting to infiltrate a Russian terrorist organization. In order to do that, players are grouped with the terrorists as they go through an airport and gun down the civilians. Now the mission itself can be completed without firing a shot towards the citizens, but it was still a very controversial moment that landed on plenty of media news outlets sparking some big debates. 

One of the developers who handled the art within Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Joel Emslie, stated that there was plenty of division within Infinity Ward when it came to the game mission. In fact, there were even talks of reversing the situation and putting players into the role of a security guard during the level fighting back. Other situations came out about how much gore should be showcased. It’s a big moment in the game and one that will continue to be talked about for years to come, though it’s with this mission that Infinity Ward has found a footing to describe what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will be like when it releases this October.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is set to be a soft reboot of the series though the overall premise has yet to be unveiled. One thing is for sure, the development studio has been using No Russian as a means to describe the entire game with plenty of big and emotional moments littered throughout the campaign. Just how controversial they will remain to be seen but only time will tell if these moments prove to offer a strong narrative experience. As mentioned, we won’t have to wait long as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will be launching their game on October 25, 2019, for the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. 

Source: Game Informer