Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was one of the best games to come out in 2007. The problem was, with so many things to play, both good and bad, it got bumped down The Queue until I was finally able to pick it up and play it last week. For those of you who have also let this game slip down your list, I suggest two things:
a) Go Play It
b) Skip This Article…but come back and read it once you’re done.
So with that spoiler alert now covered, I’ll move on to the one moment in the game I would like to discuss.

It comes at the end of Act I, in the level titled “Shock and Awe”. I’m sure this title is meant as both a reference to the real-life name of the 2003 U.S. campaign in Iraq but also as a precursor to what happens in the level itself.

Sergeant Paul Jackson, one of the two main characters you control as the lead character of the game, dies. While attempting to rescue the pilot of a helicopter downed by rebels, in a scene that could just as easily appear on CNN as in a video game, the leader of the rebel group sets off a nuclear device which wipes out the city. As an unfortunate consequence, Sgt. Jackson is killed in action.

In a final act of desperation, you must control Sgt. Jackson as he exits his grounded helicopter and, in slow motion, guide him through the devastation until he ultimately succumbs to his injuries. In this final depiction of the carnage left by the bomb, bodies are scattered throughout the sand covered wasteland. The buildings are essentially reduced to rubble. The bodies of your fellow soldiers are strewn about like rag dolls.

It was that point that I just sat back in my chair in…well…awe. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing emotionally. I wasn’t particularly attached to the sergeant. After all, the Call of Duty series has never been big on getting to know the protagonist. Instead it tries to make you feel as though you’re just another soldier in a battle that is just one part of a much larger war.

I have played games before where the protagonist doesn’t survive. For some reason, though, I was upset by the death of this soldier. I’m not a particularly emotional person, either. In fact, Julie has been known to describe me as a cold robot man. I’ve had a lot of fun playing most games, at times I’ve even been scared, frustrated, angry, even remorseful. Still, this one moment made me feel something that I never have before while playing a game: sadness.

I guess congratulations should go out to the game’s developer, Infinity Ward. They have advanced the emotional spectrum that I now know video games are capable of evoking in their players.

I don’t believe a word of it. Robot.