In the pursuit of making Barkov out to be an almost cartoonish villain, it all tracks with Modern Warfare’s narrative. In the game’s narrative, he’s the man responsible for creating the Highway of Death, and for using forced labor, torture, summary executions, and chemical weapons to punish people in the region. It all leads up to revenge against the fictional Russian general Roman Barkov. It’s a climactic battle, and the first time that the player truly begins to spill Russian blood in large quantities. What’s pertinent, however, is how much the game vilifies the forces who gave it that name. The rebel leader’s description of the area as the “Highway of Death” is almost a throwaway line in the greater narrative of Modern Warfare. As the CIA officer, players wield a powerful sniper rifle to take down waves of enemies - including unflagged, irregular military forces as well as Russian soldiers. The ambush goes awry, and the level ultimately plays out as an Alamo-style last-ditch defense against a vastly superior force. The Russians bombed it during the invasion, killing the people trying to escape.” “If they try to escape to the mountains,” she says, “there is only one road the Highway of Death. It’s a rural road off a major highway, littered with bombed-out vehicles. During the level in question, the leader of the rebels briefs the CIA officer on the terrain they’ll be using to set up an ambush.Ī video zooms into the site of the ambush in Modern Warfare’s “Highway of Death” level. Modern Warfare’s campaign weaves together a number of storylines, including one that shows a member of the CIA embedding with a group of freedom fighters in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Urzikstan.

How is the Highway of Death portrayed in Modern Warfare? In the real world, the Highway of Death is also the name given to a section of road just outside Kuwait City, Kuwait, an open stretch of land that became the site of what some believe to be genuine war crimes committed by the American military. The mission in question is called “Highway of Death,” and it takes place about midway through the game’s second act.

But alongside that patriotic response came a pointed assertion: The developers at Infinity Ward appear to be papering over a controversial bit of the United States’ military history. Most were reacting to the simple fact that the game portrays their country’s soldiers as little more than faceless henchmen. When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launched in late October, Russian consumers cried foul in large numbers.

Real war video