Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone are gritty, realistic shooters, right? Well, the game’s latest cosmetic DLC is about as far away from that as you could get.
This week, a new 16-bit-themed DLC pack was released for Infinity Ward’s first-person shooter. It adds new weapon skins such as the Commodore assault rifle and the Genesis submachine gun (I see what they did there), as well as a new 16-bit death effect. And it’s this death effect that’s refuelled a debate that’s been bubbling for a while now about Modern Warfare and Warzone’s tone.
This death effect sees enemies killed with one of the weapon skins included in the DLC pack explode in a shower of 16-bit pixels. It’s like something out of Tron or Scott Pilgrim. There’s even an accompanying “deres” audio effect. Here’s how it looks:
New 16-bit pack let’s you satisfyingly delete the roof top campers from r/modernwarfare
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16-BIT Vorpal Blade (Dual Kodachis) gameplay. 16-bit death effect! Watch on YouTube
This death effect has got Modern Warfare fans talking, I think it’s fair to say. And there seem to be two differing opinions: one, this kind of wacky in-game effect is fair game, after all, Call of Duty has never been realistic – despite what the marketers say about it. And two, there’s no place for wacky in-game effects in a game that was billed as a realistic military shooter from the beginning – and actually followed through on that promise.