20 Iconic Gaming Moments You Must See Before You Die

11. No Russian - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Infinity Ward
Infinity Ward

Why bother putting your own life at risk battling it out with other military-trained soldiers when you can just mow down a whole airport's worth of civilians? You get the satisfaction of killing digital people, but without the hassle of risking a game over screen. Clearly the perfect video game stage designed by bloodthirsty heathens for bloodthirsty heathens. Right?

Okay, so that's not really why Modern Warfare 2's No Russian mission has lodged itself in every gamer's temporal lobe for a permanent stay, but you'd think that were the case if you paid any attention to the sensationalist media. Ignore all of that tripe.

No Russian deserves its lasting legacy for actually making the player take a step back and think about the implications of what it is they're doing. Yeah, they're not real people, but the very fact that gamers reacted differently to the killing of innocents rather than armed grunts says a lot about our own psyche.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.