Angry gamers review bomb Modern Warfare over “anti-Russia” content

Modern Warfare released to rave reviews from critics, however some gamers argue the latest Call of Duty unfairly represents Russia in the story, and launched a campaign to review bomb it on Metacritic.

Call of Duty’s latest release arrived on October 25, and was well received by critics and fans of the series, with the game scoring an 86 out of 100 on the review aggregate site Metacritic. 

However, the game’s plot focusing on a Russian leader being the enemy has angered some gamers to organize a review bomb campaign, as they argue the first person shooter is using its story for “propaganda”, and accuse the writers of pushing “Russophobic” stereotypes. 

 In the story, players face off against Russian armed forces led by general Roman Barkov, who is portrayed as a ruthless occupying force. While most critical reviews seemed to praise the games writing, some Russian Call of Duty players are outraged by what they feel is the game getting too political.

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Over on Metacritic, angry players have review bombed the FPS title, and sunk the user score down to 2.4 out of 10 which has now put the game in the red. Many of the users echo the same claim of “propaganda”, while some argue the game is factually incorrect about real life events.

In the lead to MW’s release, Infinity Ward promised that the shooter would make players question their own morality, as the game would have “morally-gray” scenarios written into the story.

However, many of the Russian players leaving negative reviews for the game argue that the story makes it pretty clear that Russia are the bad guys. “There is no “gray morality.” Only political propaganda. It’s painful for me, as a veteran of the war in Syria, to watch the russian soldiers put up as Nazis and maniac psychopaths,” one review read.

While Call of Duty is a work of fiction, the military shooter does base some of its stories around real events, which has become a source of anger for those that argue the latest iteration of the popular FPS presents an “alternate” history.

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It is unclear if Metacritic will take down the reviews or leave them, as some of the feedback in review bombing campaigns are actually from those that bought the product. However as of the time of this article, the user score continues to be in the low negatives and Activision has not commented.