The Elitist's Favorite Video Game Moments.

          Intense firefights, plot twists, photo realistic cut-scenes, and revolutionary game play; these are the things that made Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 & 2 two of the best First Person Shooters on the market. Both CoD4 games had campaigns that did what really no other FPS campaign, save for maybe Halo, has ever done (for me anyway). It connected me to characters and settings that truly tapped into my emotions. When characters died, I was angry at the man who killed them, when civilians were killed, I was shocked and appalled, when cities were destroyed, I watched the mushroom cloud caused by the detonated nuclear missile from my crash-landed helicopter and wondered how such a thing could happen. I was completely immersed into these games, but there are two specific moments I wish to highlight.

This is just a really cool picture, and I needed to share. 

           

          Because the plot line the CoD MW1 and 2 is fairly… involved, I will just have to assume that every single one of you has played both games all the way on the hardest difficulty!!! Maybe not… but I will assume that you know the story (if not, here.) Now that we are all caught up and happy, let us continue. As you obviously know, because I gave you a wiki article, Shepard betrays Task Force 141, killing Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson and Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley. Both are characters who have given all they have to stop this crisis in the world, and are... well... heroes! These are characters that you interact with (or control) throughout the entirety of the game, and then to watch one of the few men you knew you could trust, slaughter these men after they put their very lives in danger to help this dirt-bag, made me absolutely livid. The guys not even real, and I wanted him brought to justice, my way.

Skip to about 1:40 to actually see the betrayal (cause the guy playing is trash, probably on purpose)



          The human in me is sick and angry every single time I watch this, but the gamer in my realizes just how perfectly done this cut scene is. The music is absolutely perfect, the way Ghost's, your friends', your partner's, lifeless body is thrown carelessly into your face (cause Roach apparently is a resilient little tike) adds more layers to the drama. In the background, as the music reaches its climax, you can hear Price yelling not to trust the man to whom you pledged your life, because he has betrayed you all. The fire engulfs Roach and Ghost, and Shepherd's walk just announces how little he cares for the atrocities he has just committed.  It is all is so meticulously done to cut straight to the players heart. And it works, brilliantly.

          So, Shepherd is in league with those psycho Ultranationalists for who knows why.. so people will, admittedly still die... but at least the world will notice they die... I suppose (he's a loon). This is bad. So you, now you are controlling the one and only John "Soap" MacTavish and, being the loyal lad that he is, he teams up with Captain John Price once again to avenge your brothers in arms, and deal with that low-down-dirty-no-good-murderin-son-of-     you get the idea. He is not a nice man, we don't like bad men. You chase him down (if you are on the hardest difficulty, that boat chase scene is stupidly difficult) and as he tries to escape, Blam-o! Thought you could escape in a helicopter eh? Well too bad Price blew it out of the sky! Luckily there are RPG's in these rafts! He crash lands, and you fall down a waterfall. This is my favorite part. I chase him down, I watch the dirty bastard run, and think “run, but you will not leave here alive.” I line up my knife to end this decrepit scum’s life.. BAM! A façade, he is not injured, he beats the snot out of Soap, and then, before I know what to think…!!



          He knifes Soap MacTavish, your remaining HERO, the one character left to whom the player relates, right in the heart. he Then pulls a gun, and at the last possible moment, WHAM Captain Price comes out of nowhere to initially beat the devil out of Shepherd. Then, well, Shepherd starts winning.... You have goosebumps now don't you? Awesome, am I right? Of course I am right. Soap is such a freaking bad-ass that he tries to crawl for the gun (with a knife still in his CHEST), and when that fails, and as he watches his friend, mentor, and father-figure get the ever-livin-hell beat out of him; he pulls a the knife out of his chest and throws it into Shepherds worthless skull... straight in his eye. You cannot make a more epic cut scene, I don't believe it can be done. The ambiance, the environment, it's chilling, your are in this dusty, cloudy wasteland seemingly devoid of anything pleasant or resembling life. The sound effects of the scuffle, of Soaps heart beating, of his breathing, and his screaming put you into this emotional trance like I couldn't believe. The way the screen turns read and shakes so violently as Soap rips the knife from his chest; and the first person view putting you as close to being inside Soap's head as a gamer can be. All of these things made this moment the most intense interactive cut-scene I have ever seen or experienced. It was truly a perfect climax to a simply stellar game, and that, was one of my favorite video game moments.