I have been replaying Call of Duty 4 on Veteran difficulty for the last few days in preparation for November. If you’ve never played the game, every time you die (which is something that happens lot of on Veteran – the hardest difficulty), you are briefly shown a war-related quote. Some are are humorous, others very serious. Taken together it’s not hard to see that they’re meant to form a discussion about war, the nature of war, and specifically the impetus behind the modern war on terror that was arguably at its peak around the time of the game’s release (November 2007).

It’s very clear that the game is not pro-war, nor anti-war, but simply trying to grapple with the apparent trait of human nature of making war and costs therein. (Some of the quotes even state the literal costs of war, such as the price of a single Tomahawk Missile or B-2 Bomber ). The overall story of the game itself also encapsulates these ideas, but the death-screen quotes really drive it home.

I forgot how impressed I was by this idea at the time and am still impressed now. Something about the “release” you feel when you die in the game for the 200-th time and combining that with a thoughtful quote about exactly what the game is trying to simulate makes the whole experience very self-aware.

Game FAQs: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: War Quote List by Drunky.