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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's age rating suggests new mission reminiscent of No Russian

Rated M for Mature.

An explosion within a stadium from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Image credit: Activision / Eurogamer

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will include scenes reminiscent of the franchise's infamous No Russian mission, where armed terrorists murder scores of people in a civilian setting.

A description of the game's most violent moments has now been published by the ESRB, the US ratings board, which has given Modern Warfare 3 an M rating for Mature.

"A handful of sequences depict more intense acts of violence," the ESRB writes, including a mission which includes "terrorists (dressed as police officers and paramedics) shooting/killing fleeing civilians inside a stadium concourse".

Modern Warfare 3 includes the return of the series' infamous villain Makarov.

This sequence's description of course brings to mind the original Modern Warfare 2's No Russian, which places the player in an airport and gives you the choice of gunning down dozens of unarmed civilians as they try to escape your group's attack. It remains the most infamous and controversial sequence in the entire Call of Duty franchise.

Other moments in Modern Warfare 3 will show "terrorists taking over an airplane" and passengers being shot.

These moments (not the bong) tie into snippets we've seen of Modern Warfare 3's story so far in trailers, with a plane crash and an incident at Verdansk Stadium briefly glimpsed.

You can see a quick suggestion of the terrorist stadium mission included in the above trailer, at the 1:13 mark.

On a lighter note, the game also includes "a finishing move in which marijuana smoke from a bong can be forced into an opponent's face".

Activision fully detailed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's campaign and multiplayer last month, ahead of its release on 10th November.

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Tom Phillips

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Tom is Eurogamer's Editor-in-Chief. He writes lots of news, some of the puns and makes sure we put the accent on Pokémon.

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