не русский

***WARNING: Major Modern Warfare 2 Spoilers***

Starting up the Modern Warfare 2 campaign, I was confronted with the warning that parts of the game might offend me. I think I'm a pretty level-headed guy, so I pressed forward unafraid. I was just too interested to to find out what could happen in the game that I might find unbearable.

As the lights came up on the No Russian scene, I admit I was a bit slow on the uptake. By that point in the game I was already accustomed to shooting people, so I was ready for more, especially if I got to use a really big gun. After realizing that I was gunning down unarmed civilians, I played the rest of the scene just going through the motions: shooting at the floor or stone columns, trying not to clue in the terrorists that I didn't want to participate anymore.

No Russian is unquestionably one of the major setpieces of Modern Warfare 2, but I'm still not quite sure what the scene ultimately accomplishes. It's emotional, but I don't think that it changes anyone's mind as to how they feel about terrorism and mass murder. The scene's flaw is that it's wide open to metagaming: when the player knows he can get through the airport terminal regardless of their actions (as long as they don't shoot their comrades) then those actions become trivial. Some people do like I did and avoid shooting, and I've heard that some of the game testers shot everybody in sight because at the core it's just a game. In the end, how you play No Russian says more about how you feel about video games than how you feel about war.

No Russian didn't even come close to what I had predicted would be worthy of a precautionary opt-out message. When I tried to think of what was the most distasteful thing I might be asked to do in MW2, something that I might feel strongly about and would be relevant to current world conflicts, I was sure that it would be a scene about torture. When moral choices are a hot topic for game designers, the choice whether or not to torture a prisoner would have fit perfectly within the fiction of Modern Warfare 2, and would have truly pushed gamers to show where they stand. Instead, the game takes an all-too-brief glance at torture as Soap closes a door just as one of your teammates is brandishing a set of hot jumper cables in front of a prisoner. There's already plenty of shocking imagery in MW2, but I wonder where Infinity Ward could have gone if they had chosen to present something truly controversial.

What I'm Playing:

• Main Campaign: Modern Warfare 2 (online), Valkyria Chronicles
• Side Quest: Forza Motorsport 3
  

Eliminate Pro

Eliminate was first announced by ngmoco at the Game Developers Conference, and at the time it was touted as the next step in mobile gaming on the iPhone and iPod Touch. It would take advantage of the horsepower in Apple's newest devices, as well as the new policies that allow apps to offer paid in-app downloads. The game is now at the forefront of the App Store, but for me it has fallen seriously flat.

Eliminate asks a valuable question of the iPhone gaming audience: if a game is given out for free, will people pay money to play more of it? The business model is similar to other free-to-play, pay-to-improve MMOs where you can play as much as you like for free, but can always pay a small sum to get little advantages like experience points, better gear, or other in-game advantages. Eliminate applies this to a first-person shooter, where you're given a set amount of play time per day, and can pay to gain extra play sessions beyond that daily allotment. You can have unlimited practice time against AI-controlled bots, but only by playing against live human opponents over the net can you gain credits that can be used to buy new weapons, armor, and other buffs.

The problem with this experiment is that it has to be attached to a game that one might want to play. Eliminate has real gameplay and presentation flaws that keep me from wanting to stay with it for more than a few minutes, let alone over multiple daily sessions. The textures are cold and flat, character models are lifeless robots, and the arenas are claustrophobic. The bland narrative of employees in a weapons testing facility builds no connection via a storyline. In all, the game design aims for a Quake 3 benchmark and still falls below that. The virtual thumbstick controls feel mushy and slow, and while auto-firing when a valid target is in the crosshairs helps, it doesn't turn the game around.

All of this is especially disappointing given ngmoco's pedigree. I'm proud to have played many of their games, and it's sad to see a publisher known for smart innovation shove out something like this. If the company wanted to see what could be come of a microtransaction-based mobile game, it should have been something that takes advantage of the iPhone's unique capabilities. I really don't know who Eliminate is meant to serve: it's overcomplicated for the casual gamer, it lacks the features and precision that would attract someone likes to commit to a strong FPS, and there's no sense of coolness in the presentation. If anything can be learned from this experiment, it's that publishers, even ngmoco, really can't rely on old game mechanics that aren't suited to the iPhone platform.

What I'm Playing:

• Main Campaign: Forza Motorsport 3
• Side Quest: Splosion Man