Call of Duty 4 Debriefing.

Note: If anyone is actually reading this, then I ought to warn there are some significant spoilers throughout. So, you know, best to not bother if you want to play Call of Duty 4.



You know, despite assertions to the contrary, I think that that I'm a pretty normal guy. Sure there's the negative disposition and tendency to get emotional over the smallest things, but apart from that I'm pretty much an average guy.
As an average guy, I've had my delusions over not only the role that war plays in society, but the role that people play in a war.

Of course the obvious candidates would be television and video games, as for every anti-war sentiment displayed on a show there are 10 more that show it in a positive light, but that doesn't really cut it. Kids played war games way before television, and indeed war was glamorized in entertainment millennia ago.

I've seen most war movies of notoriety, be them anti-or-pro, and yet the absolute horror of war never dawned on me. Sure, there were was powerful imagery, and I found myself idolizing men who where no older then myself, but I still felt an odd sense of disconnection.
Of course, I still don't have any idea what such an experience would be like, and chances are I never will. There's no doubt that much of this bewilderment comes from the age that we live in. Given just how far the world has progressed since the last significant war, 'tis hard to relate to even the time period.

Firstly there is World War , is something that I try not to even think about. I mean, I've seen All Quiet on The Western Front , that whole four years that were terrifying for everyone involved.

And as much as I love Saving Private Ryan the events happened 60 years ago. There is nothing that I could see that could demonstrate just how terrible Nazism was, or how much the whole incident sucked in general (what an eloquent way of summing up WWII...)

Similarly, from what I'm able to gleam the Vietnam War involved lots of Hendrix, lots of alleged drug use, and lots of alleged cowardice.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I still respect the soldiers who fought in these wars for us more then almost anyone in the world, but it's almost impossible to comprehend how hard war must be today, let alone decades upon decades ago.
But that's enough of the after school special, it's time to talk about Videogames, something I can (sometimes) comprehend.

It's with no lack of irony (given my recent tirade against video games and narrative) that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the first media text in some time that really demonstrated the intensity of war. Now obviously, I'm not an idiot (okay so that's not really obvious at all) and I'm quite capable of differentiating a video games to the slaughter of men on an unprecedented scale, but COD at times feels absolutely insane.

Before I get too ahead of myself, the story still isn't great. It fact, from the significant amount that I've played today, it would be fair to say that the story is like Elliott Smith's guitar*. That being said, it's probably more interesting than anything Infinity Ward did previously with World War II, and well, kudos for doing something original.

The more important thing is the way that the story is told, not the story itself
The prime example of this is the semi interactive cutscene directly after the wonderful Cold opening (which seems to be a trend we are seeing more and more often these days.).
Without spoiling anything too drastic, this portion of the game is not only genuinely affecting and moving, but also handles a delicate situation with a poise almost never shown in videogames.
Furthermore, it solidifies the validity of the First Person viewpoint as being something more then a tool to achieve a mean to an end (in most cases mindless shooting). Two other cases stand of my mind as being particularly intense, but that would be saying a little too much.

Without a doubt the best missions of these kind were the C-130 and the SAS sniping mission. Sure, this might be pushing the 'spoiler line' a little too far, but I really feel the need to be talked about, as the former was one of the most most surreal experiences of my life in general, not just video games. The graphics, combined with the cold voicing of the other occupants on the place made this level feel almost too real.

Herein lies the dichotomy of COD. For every level that exudes brilliance, there are two more that aren't so interesting. This isn't to say that they aren't good, as that is almost never the case, it's just that it's the same old Call of Duty. Obviously, there's nothing terribly wrong with the game play mechanics , that it's a disappointment to be thrown for something genuinely moving or surreal to endless terrorist closets and mediocre level design (Hey Infinity War, I'm sure as hell not a nuclear scientist, but Nuclear Fallout doe not the way you think it does).

As such it continues in the tradition of dividing time between different armies, in this case the British SAS and the Marines. Both of their respective mission are easy to differentiate between, something that hasn't always been the case with the series (I mean, Europe just kind of blends together after a while right?) . The SAS ones feel like something like an Andy Mcnab novel set in the early 90's, and have a much more team based feel to them (the first mission in particular feels like it was ripped out of Rainbow Six). Also, extra props to Infinity Ward for capturing the spirit of those wily Brits, especially in the exemplary voice acting.
One the other hand, the Marine missions have a much more contemporary feel (both in terms of time and in COD game play, as they generally feature you being a cog in much larger conflict).






*A Step down from average. ZING!