Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has launched to positive critical reception and healthy sales, but it hasn't been free from controversy. Many fans are upset at one mission in the campaign that, essentially, casts the blame for a real-life war crime onto the Russians. The backlash has even resulted in Russian fans "review bombing" the game on MetaCritic and others voicing their disgust on social media.
In a recent interview with GameSpot, Modern Warfare's narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki, has defended the mission and notes that the mission in question takes place in a fictional location.
There will be some spoilers for the campaign below. If you haven't played Modern Warfare yet, it's advisable to not read any further.
During the campaign mission "Highway of Death," players are tasked with surviving against countless waves of enemies in the fictional country of Urzikstan. According to the rebel leader aiding you, the enemy forces only have one option for escape in the area: the titular Highway of Death. She then explains how Russia thoroughly bombed the bridge during an invasion and killed many civilians. While meant to be set-dressing for an otherwise intense shootout, the name of the location and the country blamed for ruining it are where people becoming frustrated.
In the real world, the "Highway of Death" is a stretch of highway between Kuwait and Iraq that became the site of an awful massacre in 1991. There are far more detailed accounts of the incident than I can give, but the outcome was that American, French, Canadian, and British forces gunned down and obliterated retreating Iraqi troops in what many consider a war crime. Photos from the incident are some of the most prominent images of the Gulf War and the more graphic pictures weren't even shared publically until 2005.
For Kurosaki, the fact that the game is a work of fiction seems to be the only answer he needs in defending the mission. As he told GameSpot, "I think you could probably find many instances of the words 'highway of death' being used in a lot of cases. The reason why Urzikstan is a fictional country is because we are taking themes that we see played over and over and over again over the last 50 years in countries all over the world ... and we're not making a simulation of one particular country or one particular conflict."
He goes on further to say that Modern Warfare's highway already had the name before its Russian attack and that the game isn't trying to show one side as good or bad. Kurosaki belives Modern Warfare is more concerned with the plight of civilians during war. "I think that for people who are from a more privileged background where they don't live in close proximity to these conflict zones," Kurosaki stated, "they don't think about the cost of the locals in these areas, and I think this is a thing we're really building awareness for."
There's a lot to really unpack here, but the statements given by Kurosaki ring pretty hollow. In the lead-up to release, Infinity Ward stated on multiple occasions that its goal with Modern Warfare was to portray war as realistically as possible and to avoid giving any political messages. The end result is a game that seems to misunderstand real-world conflict, and casts a message that can be read as propaganda. That's a failure on both counts.
It's fine to enjoy Modern Warfare for the game it is, but milking real-world atrocities to rile up your fanbase may not be the way to go about generating interest.
Source: GameSpot