Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Multiplayer Killstreaks Revealed Amid Controversy

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will bring back killstreak rewards in multiplayer, publisher Activision has confirmed, though one of the weapons revealed has caused some controversy. The three killstreak rewards announced so far are a juggernaut care package, an armored assault vehicle, and the chemical weapon white phosphorus.

All three have been seen in some form or another in past Call of Duty titles: Juggernauts were used extensively in the Modern Warfare subseries, as were light armored vehicles. White phosphorus was previously used as a tactical grenade in the Black Ops series–where it caused “a small amount of damage on detonation”–but the framing of the weapon as a “reward” this time around paints it in a somewhat different light. GameSpot has contacted Activision for comment.

In real life, the use of white phosphorus–also known as “Willy Pete”–against civilians and in civilian areas contravenes the Geneva Convention, thereby classing it as a war crime. Some Modern Warfare multiplayer maps take place in civilian areas, albeit without civilian characters present.

Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward told GameSpot recently that it doesn’t want to shy away from hard-hitting issues in the upcoming shooter. “Today, modern warfare means that the war isn’t just over there,” said the studio’s narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki. “The war is everywhere. It’s in our own backyards. It’s in places that can suddenly become a battlefield at a moment’s notice. It’s about enemies who don’t wear uniforms. It’s about civilian collateral damage kind of being, unfortunately, part of the equation.”

Later in the same interview, Kurosaki said the game will punish you for making mistakes on the battlefield: “If you were a soldier and you actually deployed into a theater of war and you shot down a bunch of innocent civilians, you would be arrested and court marshaled. The game kind of does the same thing. The game does not allow you to get away with going rogue. You have a command structure that you have to follow and orders that you have to follow and if you try to just be a bad apple, the game is going to smack you down for that.”

However, Kurosaki was talking about the game’s single-player campaign–which also depicts child soldiers, among other serious topics. It’s unclear if the multiplayer mode will treat the use of white phosphorus as harshly as it sounds as if the story mode will treat “mistakes.” It’s this that is the root of some of the latest controversy.

For more, you can read our full Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single-player interview. A full reveal of Modern Warfare’s multiplayer offering is coming on August 1, but we’ve been given a sneak peek already with the new 2v2 Gunfight mode. Modern Warfare launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 25.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-multiplayer-killstreak/1100-6468754/