Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has released to mostly positive reviews from critics, but the reaction from fans has been more mixed, for a variety of reasons. Russian fans in particular have taken issue with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and they (along with others) have started review bombing the game on MetaCritic, devastating its user scores in the process.

The main reason why Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is getting review bombed is due to its depiction of Russians in the campaign. Generally speaking, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare campaign depicts Russians as the "bad guys," whereas American forces are portrayed as the "good guys." Taking this dynamic a step further, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare campaign depicts Russian soldiers committing war crimes. It even goes as far as to attribute the Iraq's "Highway of Death" destruction to the Russians, even though in reality it was caused by primarily US forces.

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The fictional country Urzikstan in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare campaign is in many ways an amalgamation of various Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq and Syria. It has a near-identical Highway of Death as the one found in real-world Iraq, with the difference being that the Russians destroyed this fictional version. This seems to be the primary reason why people have been review bombing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with many comments accusing the game of being American propaganda.

call of duty modern warfare review

At the time of this writing, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare PS4 Metacritic score is a dismal 3.0 due to players' review bombing efforts. Comparatively, its critic score is an impressive 85. Almost all of the user reviews are focused on the game's controversial portrayal of Russians as opposed to the gameplay quality, which explains why the big gap between the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare critic scores and the user scores.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's controversial portrayal of Russians could very well explain why the game isn't being sold on the Russian PlayStation Store. Prior to launch, it was revealed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare wouldn't be on the Russian PlayStation Store, pulled by Sony itself, though no reasons were given at the time. However, it seems likely that this move was done to appease the Russian government, which has been known to ban Call of Duty games in the past, like Modern Warfare 2, for instance.

Activision has yet to comment on the controversial portrayal of Russians in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at the time of this writing.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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