Call of Duty is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and with the upcoming release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, players are excited to delve into the action. Over the years Call of Duty franchise has delivered some of the most popular and memorable experiences since it began in 2003 but nothing comes close to the “No Russian” mission.
The controversial “No Russian” mission in 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the main things remembered about the game. Although the mission wasn’t taken well by a large portion of the audience, the developer behind the mission thought that people and other developers were just overreacting.
Call of Duty Developer Discusses Controversial ‘No Russian’ Mission
The Call of Duty franchise has some of the most popular missions but nothing compares to the fourth mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, No Russian. The mission puts players in the role of an undercover CIA agent among terrorists and sees them carrying a deadly terrorist attack at a Russian airport and killing civilians.
Before the deadly attack, Makarov warns the terrorists saying, “Remember, no Russian” before they step out of the elevator and open fire, gunning down hordes of civilians at customs. The map shows players walking through the airport and killing innocent civilians and players can either participate in the bloodshed or just walk alongside other terrorists, and no matter what players do, the attack continues.
Makarov kills the player character at the end of the mission and tells that he knew his identity all along and when Russian soldiers find the body of an American soldier and determine that the mass shooting was carried out using M4s, it breaks out a war between the US and Russia.
The ‘No Russian’ mission is one of the most talked about missions and IGN recently spoke to designer Mohammad Alavi about the mission and what was going on at Infinity Ward when the mission was put together. Mohammad Alavi said that many at Infinity Ward objected to the mission and said that it was offensive.
He additionally revealed the brains behind the missions, Steve Fukuda, one of the design leads on Modern Warfare 2 and although controversy surrounded the mission, he just wanted to create something memorable for a long time. Alavi stated:
There were definitely some people at our company that objected to No Russian. I thought they were overreacting, but they were 100% right. I remember one person was like, ‘This is offensive. I don’t want to play this level.
Call of Duty was more focused on storytelling than on multiplayer in its earlier years. Infinity Ward did very well with its first three titles in the series. Alavi said that he was impressed with Fukuda’s ambitions for the game and the story and saw it as an opportunity to make an impression and make something memorable. Alavi further added,
I often got questions. ‘Did you mean to make something controversial?’ And I was like, No. That actually wasn’t my intention. What I meant to make was something memorable.
Jason West, the co-founder of Infinity Ward decided that there should be a content warning before the mission, allowing players to skip it if they wished to, however, Alavi did not agree with this at first and felt that it was like “copping out.” He said:
I felt that was almost being ‘This is not worth you playing.’ But Jason West was the one that was like, ‘No. We have to have this in.’ And he was right. He was like, This is not about it being a cop-out. This is about allowing people to enjoy the rest of the game, even if they don’t agree with this part.
Moreover, Alavi also stated that a military veteran was called to test No Russian and when the veteran got to the mission he couldn’t play it, eventually he put the controller down and walked out. Alavi said:
He gets to that level and the doors open, and he instantly recognizes that they’re all civilians. And he just puts the controller down and leaves the room. He’s like, ‘I’m not playing that level. And I was shocked. I was like, Wow. Okay. No. This has a strong reaction from some people.
The ‘No Russian’ mission has been a subject of debate and wasn’t received well by many players. The entire mission was censored in Germany and was removed in Russia. However, the mission is still one of the most talked about and memorable missions in Call of Duty history.
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