The recently releasedCall of Duty: Modern Warfaredoesn’t shy away from controversy, and it instead embraces it. One of the game’s most controversial missions is called Clean House, and in it, players clear out a townhouse occupied by a terrorist cell and some innocent people. The controversy stems from the fact thatCall of Duty: Modern Warfareplayers are able to kill civilians in this mission, including a baby.
At one point in theCall of Duty: Modern Warfarecampaign missionClean House, players come upon a room with a crying baby. The baby’s mother rushes over to protect her child, though players are led to believe that she may be reaching for a gun instead. The purpose of this is to test players' ability to make the right call under pressure and avoid killing people for no reason. The game lets them shoot the mother and continue playing, but something else happens if they shoot the baby.
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IfCall of Duty: Modern Warfareplayers shoot the baby or shoot at the mother after she’s grabbed the baby, they will be treated to a message that says, “Children are non-combatants.” This message will repeat itself a few times, but if players keep shooting the baby, eventually they will be booted out to the menu with a new message that reads, “Are you serious?”
Prior to launch,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s depiction of violence against civilians, especially children, was one of its most controversial elements. However, in the final game, it’s not quite as intense as we were led to believe. For example, in this mission players don’t see the baby being harmed as the screen cuts to black immediately. And later on during the much-talked about child soldier mission, there aren’t nearly as many dead kids lining the streets as some YouTubers who played before launch claimed.
While the violence involving children inCall of Duty: Modern Warfareis toned down compared to what we heard about before launch, this is still content that some people may find disturbing. On the flip side of that, others may be upset by the game’s depiction of children committing violence. In the aforementionedCall of Duty: Modern Warfarechild solder mission, players have to repeatedly stab a man and shoot others.
Outside of the campaign,Call of Duty: Modern Warfarehas drummed up controversy for other reasons as well. One of the biggest controversies has been theWhite Phosphorus killstreak inCall of Duty: Modern Warfare’s multiplayer mode. White Phosphorus is a highly controversial weapon in real life military conflicts that has been used to devastating effect on civilians, and some feel as though it is in bad taste to include it as a reward in a video game.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfareis out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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