Anyone who has played the first mission of Activision and Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops saw this coming a mile away. Cuba has slammed the game and the United States for said mission, which involves an assassination plot on the nation’s iconic dictator, Fidel Castro.
"What the United States couldn’t accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to do virtually," said an article posted on Cubadebate, a state-run news website.
Castro has survived several assassination attempts on his life during his time as the leader of Cuba. The amount varies from the dozens to the hundreds depending on the source. In order to maintain realism, the game’s plot also fails to kill Castro.
The Cubadebate article also blames Black Ops for legitimizing both assassinations and murder.
"This new video game is doubly perverse," said the article. "On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader … and on the other, it stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."
Quite fitting that this point is raised just as the United States Supreme Court is overseeing a case regarding violent video game sales towards children that expects to have a final ruling by June 2011.
The Call of Duty series is no straner to controversy. Modern Warfare 2 got serious backlash for its infamous "No Russian" mission, where the player infiltrated a terrorist cell and then watched (with the option of joining in) as the terrorists slaughtered an airport full of innocent Russian civillians.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is rated M for Mature and is currently available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PC, and Nintendo DS.
