“No Russian” is considered the worst mission in Call of Duty history, but one developer underestimated how bad it really is.
What is “No Russian”? This is probably the worst and most controversial mission in the history of Call of Duty occurs in the gameplay of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, released in 2009.
During the mission, you take on the role of CIA agent “Joseph Allen.” Your goal is to win the trust of the terrorist Vladimir Makarov during an undercover assignment.
The mission itself takes place at a fictional airport in Moscow, where the group around Makarov carries out an attack. Heavily armed, you get out of an elevator with the villain and open fire on civilians.
Even though you don’t have to fire a single shot while marching through the airport, the mission hits you in the face with the cruelty of the crime committed and forces you to slowly watch the death of countless innocent people.
The release of the upcoming CoD MW3 (2023) is currently imminent. The villain Makarov will appear again. Here you can see a trailer:
Reveal trailer confirms CoD MW3 and shows the main villain
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Developers were shocked at how violently some testers reacted
What does the developer say? In an interview with IGN, developer Mohammad Alavi, who worked at Infinity Ward during the development of CoD MW2 (2009) and was involved in the design of No Russian, spoke about the reaction to the mission concept (via YouTube).
For example, he was shocked when a veteran who was supposed to test the game put down his controller and refused to play the level:
He comes into the level and the doors open and he immediately realizes that they are civilians. And he just puts the controller down and leaves the room. He says, ‘I’m not playing this level.’ And I was shocked. I thought, ‘Wow. OK. No. This has a strong reaction from some people.’”
Mohammad Alavi via IGN
Alavi also says that the level is also viewed critically within Infinity Ward. Some employees thought the mission was a bad idea, but Alavi thought they were exaggerating: “I thought they were overreacting, but they were 100% right. I remember one person saying, ‘This is offensive. I don’t want to play this level.’”
When MW2 came out in 2009 and players began the campaign, they were given an option to skip No Russian if they didn’t want to play the controversial level.
Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West insisted on this option, Alavi reveals, so that players can experience the rest of the game even if they don’t agree with the level.
In the interview, Alavi also explains that he never intended to do anything controversial. His thinking behind the mission was to create something that would be remembered – and the team at Infinity Ward succeeded.
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