Call of Duty Modern Warfare – Why ‘Clean House’ Is Probably the Most Controversially Realistic Mission in Franchise History

When it comes to controversies, Call of Duty series is one that never shies away from embracing them. Ever since the first title was introduced nearly two decades ago, majority of the games in this franchise have ended up raising eyebrows for one reason or the other. But that’s the way COD has been. Probably that’s also one of the reasons why it has become a highly successful brand in the world. Everyone keeps talking about it no matter what.

While there have been endless moments in COD history where players came across jarring scenes, nothing can top a specific mission from 2019’s rebooted Modern Warfare. This installment from Infinity Ward was a modern take on the original trilogy. Apart from featuring an absolutely realistic FPS experience, it also had its own controversial moments. One in particular was the ‘Clean House’ mission in the single-player Campaign.

‘Clean House’ in Call of Duty Modern Warfare makes players fall in a moral dilemma

Upon its launch, Modern Warfare received a lot of praise for its technical achievements. The Campaign was widely praised for its fast-paced, well-presented storyline. However, it also faced criticism for featuring some of the most unexpected and sensitive sequences. That was simply because they came across as disturbing to some people. And ‘Clean House’ was something that consisted of a darker gameplay experience, to say the least.

In Clean House, players get to enter a townhouse occupied by several terrorists. They are required to go inside and take them down. But there are also innocent people living in this house. That’s what makes the situation look more realistic than one’s imagination.

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Now the main controversial aspect of this mission is that it also involves players killing up civilians while searching for the terrorists. To be precise, they are able to kill them, including a baby as well. There’s a sequence where Call of Duty players have to go inside a room where there’s a mother with her small, crying baby. She rushes over to protect the child. But the players are initially made to think that she may be reaching for a weapon to defend herself.

The main objective of keeping this particular sequence in the mission was probably to test the players’ ability to make the right decision. It was quite clear that they had to make sure not to kill innocent people for no reason.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare enables players to shoot the mother in the aforementioned situation. However, a surprising message pops up while taking aim at the baby. It reads: “Children are non-combatants”. This message shows up repetitively for some time. But if they keep shooting the baby, another message pops up and reads “Are you serious?”

One can say that the team of developing studios at Activision really wanted to present a true-to-life experience, which is quite obvious to see when going through the ‘Clean House’. What are your thoughts on this mission? Let us know in the comments down below.

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