

The power plant as depicted in Shadow of Chernobyl.

And yet Activision decided that the first thing the world saw of a game titled Modern Warfare would be a Soviet city abandoned in 1986. Call of Duty 4 is a game which features daring black-ops raids, contemporary middle-eastern conflicts, atomic explosions. I've always been fascinated by the decision-making process which led to that trailer being structured in that way. This was the world's first glimpse of Modern Warfare, the game which transformed Call of Duty - already a successful franchise, into the AAA behemoth that it remains today. As the camera tracks upward from the wheel's base, four words are spelled out in night-vision green. The camera moves closer to the wheel, which is now revealed to be flaking with rust. We see tower-blocks, trees, and behind them both, a Ferris wheel silhouetted against a slate-grey sky. The camera tilts upward, revealing a flyover view of a city, the image desaturated and grainy, as if recorded on a 90s camcorder.
