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Canwest News Service
Videogames have grown up. Gaming is a mainstream form of entertainment now. We know the average age of a gamer in Canada is in their late 30s. So, it's time for grown-up gaming.
Enter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. In the first week of release alone, Modern Warfare 2 racked up more than $550 million in sales. More than The Dark Knight, Shrek 3 and Spiderman 3 movies all made in their first weeks.
Videogames and violence are intertwined when it comes to mainstream media. But in all the years of playing games that involved guns and blood, nothing has made me as uncomfortable as MW2.
This is an incredibly thought-provoking game and, as a piece of "art," it will foster debate in the realms of pop culture. There's a realism to this game that mimics some of the tragic circumstances we find in the world in today.
This isn't a cartoonish and cinematic depiction of a historical war with feeble weapons, or a fantastical battle against an alien race with plasma cannons and energy swords. This is real-life graphics in actual cities with cutting-edge weaponry and gadgets. When you get hit, droplets of blood splatter the screen, and in one scene errant bullets fly through your car while grey matter from your driver gets smeared all over the dashboard in front of you.
But there's one level in particular that's taken this game to, well, another level. In fact, it's so controversial, publisher Activision actually gives you the option to skip it.
Much like the chainsaw scene in the movie Scarface, or the ear scene in Reservoir Dogs, this level drags MW2 into virgin territory.
During the course of the game you play as several personalities battling a Russian terrorist who has unleashed chaos by creating a war between U.S. and Russian forces. Along the way, you fight extremists in the Middle East, invading Russian forces on American ground and drug lords in the slums of Brazil.
But the central point to the plot is the level where you play as a C.I.A. undercover operative in the Russian warlord's gang. As you are trying to prove your loyalty to the terrorist, you have to behave like one.
You begin the level within a small group of terrorists including the big boss bad man himself, Makarov. You casually stroll through a crowded Russian airport and just begin shooting. Not to scatter people, but to kill, indiscriminately. Lots of killing, lots of people, all of them innocent, none of them central to the plot.
You calmly walk through the airport laying waste to hundreds of screaming people, some lying on the ground begging for help, only to be shot in the head. Armed police rush to the slaughter, and then the riot squad. What happens at the end of the episode is central to the plot of the game, so I won't spoil it here, but there is a purpose for the sake of the story. It is this execution that sets MW2 apart.
Is this gratuitous violence for hype, reaction and publicity? Or is it provocative storytelling in a groundbreaking interactive form?
It's one thing to cringe as you watch Al Pacino's character in Scarface take a chainsaw to the head of a rival, to understand the man's desperate ruthlessness to reach the top. It's another to pull the trigger on a crowd of innocent people, digital or not, and watch them writhe, dying on the floor. Once the scene moves on to facing the riot squad, it's back to standard videogame fare, you with a gun on one side facing a foe with a gun on the other.
Once the level ended and it was back to a briefing from the narrator and on to the next mission, it was business as usual. But I felt a knot in my stomach and though I'd completed the "nasty" level, something felt wrong. I wasn't sure I wanted to keep playing.
I did, and it must be said, the game is excellent. The graphics are realistic, detailed and gritty, the levels and missions well thought-out and challenging. The core gameplay, which is modern combat, is unrelenting, gripping and unforgiving. Whereas a lot of first-person shooters will give you puzzles to solve, this is out and out chaotic combat.
There's wonderful variety in the gameplay. Most of the levels are full of claustrophobic combat at close quarters, there's stealth fighting and some amazing vehicle sequences. The Russian chase through the woods on snowmobiles is soaked with adrenaline and the sense of speed and danger as you careen over blind hills in a desperate search for safety is something that will leave you literally on the edge of your seat.
There's tremendous value in MW2 as well, as there's a spec ops mode that lets you play levels co-operatively with a friend either online or split screen. Then there's the multiplayer online mode that has a load of rewards for your achievements — the difficulty is earning them. While there are supposed to be measures put in place to help the less talented, it's still a huge challenge not to get pummelled after a handful of seconds. It's still addictive, still loads of fun, but incredibly challenging.
This is the must-have game of the moment for good reason.
I'm still not sure what it means that playing MW2 made me uneasy. Is that because of the realism and it gives me a better understanding of what's happening around the world at the moment? That's something quality art is supposed to do.
Or is it manipulative violence trying to evoke a visceral reaction to gain sales? I'm not sure what it means to me, so I can't preach to you what it is. But if you like realistic videogames and action movies, this is certainly a cultural juggernaut worth checking out. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
Rating: M for Mature.
What's right: Realism, tension, pace and online play.
What's wrong: Story is convoluted, campaign mode is a little short.
Numb Thumb: Graphics A; control A; Gameplay A; value B. Overall an A
pchapman@theprovince.com
