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| Barry Sloane as Captain John Price |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a "first-person shooter," a very untechnical way of saying that you, the player, play through the game from the eye-level perspective of a character in the game's world, whose primary tool is the gun you hold and point and shoot at the bad guys. This is the trademark video game "genre" of the Call of Duty series, which is as close as one can hope to get to starring in their own war film, short of becoming an actor. The original Modern Warfare made quite the splash when it released back in 2007. I played it, the kids at school played it, everyone, it seemed, played it. As the player, you hopped between control of various characters as you sorted out a conflict in the Middle East between the United States and an ultranationalist sect in Russia in the then-near future (I believe that game was set in 2011). As players moved between playable characters, we were introduced to numerous non-playable characters with whom we formed attachments akin to those formed when watching our favorite movies or television shows. These characters would return in later sequels, completing the Modern Warfare trilogy, a story that began with a relatively small-scale conflict in the Middle East before escalating into, literally, World War III.
This reimagined story introduces us to new characters, and reintroduces us to old favorites. The most important of these is Captain John Price, once voiced by Billy Murray, now played by and modeled after actor Barry Sloane. In a series that has featured both Academy and Emmy Award-winning actors in various roles, Sloane might seem a peculiar choice to headline as the most iconic character of the series. Yet he proves himself more than up to the task, reinventing the traditionally grizzled, mustachioed British vet into a character that practically simmers with quiet fury. "Keep your moppets on a short string, Colonel," he growls at a superior officer later in the game. "Or I'll hang you from it."
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| From left to right: Alex, Price, Kyle, and Farah |
Call of Duty is simultaneously one of the most successful video game series of all time, and one of the most lambasted in terms of story, characters, and theme. The stories told are frequently waved away by critics as being steeped in sentimental rah-rah patriotism and action movie cliché. While some of these criticisms are certainly warranted, I do not think we can simply write off what has clearly caught the imaginations of millions of people. In January of this year, the game's publisher, Activision, announced that the Call of Duty series has generated more revenue than the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and nearly doubled the collective revenue of the Star Wars films. If we are looking just at numbers alone, this series is clearly just as important as the other major cultural tentpoles of modern America—if not more so. So, I do not think critics can get away with handwaving any sort of deeper reflection as to what these stories are about, and why they appeal to a vast audience. More to the point, I believe that Modern Warfare demonstrates very clearly why people are drawn to this series beyond just repetitive multiplayer and competitive gaming outlets.
Contrary to the original, which was set just a few years into the then-future, the reimagined Modern Warfare begins on the very day before the game's release—October 25, 2019. The point is clear: this is a story about the here and now. This is, truly, "modern" warfare. The plot is jumpstarted when a team of Marine Raiders—accompanied by CIA liaison Alex (likely not his real name)—fail to secure a shipment of chemical weapons in the fictional Verdansk, Kastovia. The weapons are intercepted by an unknown party, prompting Alex's handler at the CIA, Kate Laswell (Rya Kihlstedt), to bring in SAS Captain John Price to find the weapons and deescalate rising tensions with Russia.
A day later, suicide bombers affiliated with the terrorist group Al-Qatala launch an attack on Piccadilly Circus in London. SAS Sergeant Kyle Garrick finds himself caught in the middle of the attack, only to be rescued by Price. Garrick's valuable intelligence on the terrorist group makes him an important asset, and he joins up with Price in pursuit of the chemical weapons. Meanwhile, Alex is dispatched to the fictional country of Urzikstan, where the Al-Qatala leadership is based, in pursuit of the weapons. There, he meets up with Farah Karim, the leader of the Urzikstan Liberation Force, a group of rebel freedom fighters seeking to end Russian occupation of the country. She agrees to help him locate the weapons, if he agrees to help them in their fight against the Russians.
There are two primary story threads that come together by the end of the game. The pursuit of the chemical weapons drives the immediate narrative, while the larger story of Russia's occupation of Urzikstan comes to the fore later in the game. Both plots are interwoven, and the uncovering of the game's true villain and their motivations provides the central tension and dramatic conflict. But it is the quieter, more intimate moments between characters where Modern Warfare really shines. You know, the scenes that play between missions like mini-movies, rendered in excruciating graphic detail (there's a serious uncanny valley effect here), that many people will skip over, or use as an opportunity to grab a drink between rounds of running and gunning. These are the scenes that build and develop characters, that explain why what is happening in the game is happening.
I have seen this game criticized as "aimless" and "mindless." Playing Modern Warfare, I began to wonder if some critics and I were playing the same game. Modern Warfare, it turns out, actually has a lot on its mind, and it doesn't all have to do with geo-politics. When the United States labels Farah's rebels as a terrorist group due to a mid-game twist, it is Alex who steps into the gap. "These people need our support," he tells Laswell, who insists her hands are tied and that there is nothing else to do. "I'm tired of being told who my friends are," he says, defiantly. "I'm going back to Urzikstan. I'm staying with Farah's army." Hardly sounds like sentimental rah-rah patriotism to me. Instead, it sounds more like a damning indictment of how politics and wars often blur the lines when it comes to dealing with people as people, regardless of which side of the border they might find themselves. More to the point, those fifty stars seem to gleam a little less brightly when the ones who abandon the people fighting for their freedom hail from the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Now, to be clear, this is not an anti-American sentiment. In fact, it's the most American sentiment of all. But what Modern Warfare does is take a very unsentimental look at the cost of freedom in a world of tyrants and dictators, and it does not allow us to whitewash patriotism by simply saying America is as America does. Instead, it says that America is meant to stand for something, is representative of something. And if America is not willing to help her allies, then what on earth are any of the "principles" for? Deeper still, if we, as people, are willing to sacrifice our convictions just because there are a few people with more brass on their uniforms moving some pawns around on a board, then what integrity do we have? It actually calls to mind the words of René Mathis to James Bond in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale: "Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles."
The point is driven home with ruthless efficiency, as players are dropped into tense situations involving civilians. The original Modern Warfare put its stamp on the gaming world by putting players in the middle of a global conflict that played out on an epic scale. Practically every mission had the scope of the Normandy landings as portrayed by Spielberg. Not so with this leaner, meaner reimagining. Here, the scope is narrowed. Players spend more time navigating dark and constricting hallways, having to make split-second decisions to determine whether or not a hostage is actually a hostage, or just waiting for players to turn their backs to reach for the gun under the bed. The tension is ratcheted up to eleven here, as Infinity Ward transports players to what is likely to closest place most of them will ever be—mentally and emotionally—to an actual military operation in our day and age. Fingers hover over buttons much in the same way fingers hover over triggers, your mind racing to determine if the virtual person running at your character is a civilian dashing for cover or a suicide bomber rushing a target. It is a bold new direction to take a series known for bigger action set pieces, but it is an effective one that forces players to navigate moral and ethical quandaries that, for some truly brave people in the world, are all too real.
The problem, of course, is when we cease to care about those moral and ethical quandaries at all. At that point, we are no better than the ones who start designating allies as enemies. And that really seems to be at the heart of this new incarnation of the decade-old sub-series within the Call of Duty universe. These stories have never shied away from dropping players into tough situations. The dreaded term "controversy" has followed these stories—and these characters—year after year, incarnation after incarnation. I suppose for some, Modern Warfare should have left well enough alone and just been content with being another "aimless" and "mindless" video game to hit store shelves in advance of the Christmas season, a small game to be picked up, consumed with all the attention one gives to a french fry, and put back on the shelf next to all the other Call of Duty titles from years past. Instead, Modern Warfare demands more from its players than a passing glance. It dares to demand that players participate in the horrors of war and the compromises of its characters so that we emerge from those few hours spent with those characters better and more virtuous people, with our sense of morality sharpened, and our convictions firm in hand.
