10 Moments That Literally Stopped Video Games
7. The Nuke Gets Dropped - Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
It's basically a cliche at this point that most Call of Duty campaigns feature some sort of shock value moment intended to leave players picking their jaws up off the floor.
But back when Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released, players hadn't yet come to expect such self-consciously bleak mic-drop moments.
Fans instead expected gung-ho military fetishism ad nauseum, which developers Infinity Ward terrifically subverted in the mid-game mission "Shock and Awe."
Players control Sgt. Paul Jackson as he attempts to capture the villainous Khaled Al-Asad, who may be in possession of a nuclear device.
Unfortunately the high-octane mission ends in disaster as a nuke is detonated while Jackson and his squad attempt to evacuate the city, causing their chopper to crash.
Though players understandably assume Jackson will have somehow survived, what follows is a devastating two-minute interactive cutscene as an irradiated, near-death Jackson stumbles around the levelled locale before falling over dead.
It's a rare, truly haunting moment in a Call of Duty game that let players experience something totally counter to the series' trademark jingoistic hero worship, hitting pause on the Michael Bay-inspired FPS mayhem for a strangely solemn, mournful sequence.