20 Most Important Gaming Deaths This Decade

12. No Russian - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Easily the most controversial mission in any Call of Duty game to date is No Russian, a level so gratuitously violent and disturbing that Infinity Ward made it optional, and those with a weak stomach could simply skip it. The player controls American soldier Joseph Allen, who is undercover with Vladimir Makarov's outfit as they assault Zakhaev International Airport. Though the player is under no obligation to pull their own trigger and fire upon civilians, even if they don't, the four other gunmen will waste pretty much everyone in the airport, as you all slowly waltz through the place. Later, the authorities show up, and similarly, whether the player acts or not, they will end up being killed by Makarov's men. At the end of the level, Makarov murders Allen, aware of him being a spy, and confident that leaving his body at the crime scene will help suggest that the U.S. was behind this attack. It's an unsettling level and one that made players question their complicity in video game violence. Was the controversy blown out of proportion? Absolutely, but props to Infinity Ward for making such a ballsy artistic choice with MW2.