15 Greatest Set-Pieces In Video Game History

7. The Destroyer Of Worlds (Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)

Call of Duty's shift into the modern world not only resulted in a series of great games - it altered the FPS genre for good. The first Modern Warfare still stands out today with a short but sweet campaign that successfully captures the harrowing nature of war while still keeping the gameplay exciting and intense. In order to do this though, it needed a moment - one moment to spark the game into life and hit home that everything that we knew about Call of Duty had changed. That moment comes at about the mid-point of the game. The U.S Forces are engaged in conflict in the Middle East and press on, despite intel showing that Al-Asad's forces are in possession of a nuclear device. You'll see it coming a mile away but when the nuke drops, it's a stunning moment. The device detonates as your U.S protagonist is escaping the city and from the back of your helicopter, you see the mushroom cloud suddenly rise up and your vehicle crashes into the dirt shortly after. It carries on though - you drag your player character through a nuclear wasteland and witness first hand the destruction nuclear weaponry can inflict in an instant before they collapse and fade to white. It's a brutal but incredible moment; one that fully cemented Call of Duty as a gaming force to be reckoned with.