“No Russian” is considered the worst mission in the history of Call of Duty, but a 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, occurring during the gameplay of the 2009-released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Within the mission, you take on the role of CIA agent “Joseph Allen.” Your objective is to gain the trust of the terrorist Vladimir Makarov during an undercover operation.
The mission itself takes place at a fictional airport in Moscow, where Makarov’s group carries out an attack. Heavily armed, you step out of an elevator together with the villain and open fire on civilians.
Even though you don’t have to fire a single shot during your march through the airport, the mission slaps you in the face with the cruelty of the act committed and forces you to slowly walk and witness the death of countless innocent people.
The release of the upcoming CoD MW3 (2023) is currently just around the corner. Once again, the villain Makarov will appear. Here you can see a trailer:
Developer was shocked at how intensely 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
, talked about the reactions to the mission concept (via YouTube).
He was shocked, for example, 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. Okay. No. That had a strong reaction on some people.’
Mohammad Alavi via IGN
Alavi also mentions that the level was critically considered within Infinity Ward. Some employees thought the mission was a bad idea, but Alavi thought they were overreacting: “I thought they would overreact, but they were 100% right. I remember a person saying: ‘This is offensive. I don’t want to play this level.'”
When MW2 was released in 2009 and players started the campaign, they had an option to skip No Russian
if they did not want to play the controversial level.
Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West insisted on this option, Alavi reveals, so players could experience the rest of the game even if they disagreed with the level.
In the interview, Alavi also explained that he never intended to make something controversial. His thought behind the mission was to create something memorable – and the team at Infinity Ward succeeded in that.
CoD Modern Warfare 2: Makarov returns – Who is the “new” villain?
