Let’s get the controversy squared away where it belongs; down a dark and rather stupid hole. There are those that will tell you that it’s a disgrace. That games have no right to be tweaking your socio-political discomfort levels. No right to force you to see through the eyes of a terrorist – or at least a person who by whatever circumstance of fate is implicit in their actions. They will tell you that this is not the kind of material we should willingly place in the hands of our youth and on that count, they would be mostly correct. Modern Warfare 2 may be an 18-rated experience, but the volume of players encountered whose balls are yet to drop has hoisted even our own liberal brow clear into startledom.

But it could and should also be argued that beyond receiving an adult rating, it is neither Activision’s nor Infinity Ward’s responsibility to place a sentry at every retailer to lecture on the dangers of irresponsible parenting. This is indeed a game; a piece of entertainment for adults, all of which can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. There’s a wealth of arrogance at play in assuming that when it comes to the ‘abhorrent slaughter of innocents’ (patent applied for) we ourselves are able to understand the difference between digital entertainment and real life, while the rest of the world can’t and shouldn’t be trusted to make that same sane judgement.

Such bogus filibustering is beyond reproach. We need to check our attitude before pointing the finger at the general populous; a hoi polloi that, based on no evidence whatsoever, apparently cannot be credited with even the most basic of human faculties. The truth is that the number of people out there who believe the concepts of entertainment and fact interchangeable can be counted on Bigfoot’s pudgy toes. Stashing the debate in the box marked ‘worthless toss’ then, we can now let you in on how we felt about the scene in question.

It was dull. That’s it. No discomforting pangs of guilt at our forced implication in the digital atrocity. No shocked gasps or redundant scoffs. No sabre rattling. Just muted, dull boredom made that little bit more bearable by firing guns at stuff that moves. So the problem is one of inevitability. Whether you choose to open fire on the unsuspecting airport patrons or not, they are all going to die anyway. We found ourselves in murderous competition with our temporary terrorist NPC comrades just to pass the time. Ultimately it doesn’t matter how many rocks you hoy onto the boat with the hole in the deck.

It’s going to sink anyway.

When Modern Warfare appeared in 2007, we’d be prepared to award a fair number of superlatives. Miraculous. Masterful. Take your pick. It had a huge amount of impact in gameplay terms because on the mountain of FPS design that was Call Of Duty 2, Infinity Ward had built a five-star luxury hotel with en-suite saunas and a pool. It delighted, shocked, thrilled and surprised us every step of the way. It left an imprint. A series of moments that are still remembered, talked about and loved to this day. We simply can’t vouch for Modern Warfare 2 in this respect.

… continued