I didn't kill civilians. I figured if I am an undercover soldier, I'd do my best not to...I kept expecting the game to penalize me for it, like for one of the terrorists to put me on the spot and demand I shot a civvy.
I fired my weapons to make it look like I was a cold blooded terrorist but missed civves on purpose. The only time I shot FSB was when I had zero choice so more towards the end outside the terminal.
I killed the civvies. I followed the head guy's lead as 'directed' and I thought it added some impact to the game.
The first time I played it, I didn't kill any civilians, I just conveniently "missed" (I'm an RPG guy first, shut up ), but every time after that I've just killed the civvies.
i didn't kill anyone until after makarov shot me for 'being a coward'. i only shot FSB by accident after spraying bullets wildly. and only just by the last plane outside.
First time i played it i never fired a shot thinking this was some test and i would be rewarded at the end for not killing any civilians, second time i played the level i knew all the hype and just let rip.
Shot both, but mostly did mercy kills on the civilians. Like if another guy shot them and they didn't die I finished the job. The FSB where in my way so they got shot. It's just a game, and you where undercover. It's not I'll do it in real life.
Since my mission was supposedly to infiltrate the cell so Makarov could be taken out, I tried taking out the terrorists like half a dozen times at various points during the mission, until it was clear that making sense just wasn't an option. At no time did I shoot the civilians. Fuck that shit. And the FSB only got return fire when it was impossible for me not to engage them. The whole thing was retarded and depressing. Instead of saying I was going through an initiation in order to meet with Makarov, at which point I was to kill him no matter what before he could unleash an even deadlier attack on Americans, necessitating my participation in the massacre in some capacity, they tell me Makarov has to die and then prevent me from just shooting him in the back of the head when he steps off the elevator. He could have still appeared at the end during the exfiltration and shot me in the face. Instead, his presence during the entire mission ruined SOD and made the whole thing a pathetic attempt to drum up controversy.
I was really surprised by this mission in my first playthrough.. i was wondering what this cryptic message at the beginning of the game was if i wanted to skip a special mission because of whatever (can't remember the exact text) and when i realized it i was stunned. Can't remember if i shot civvies but i definitely fought the police (hey.. they shot first.. i think ) but on my 2nd playthrough i let my inner terrorist run free and shot everything on sight.. even the wounded people just to make sure! That said there was an interesting discussion in a german video game show about this special mission and the consensus is that it put back the fight for video game acceptance several steps back. Whenever there's a shooting with casualties inevitably some politicians cry out to ban shooters or any violent game because by coincidence such games were found at the shooters home and of course these games made him a nutcase who grabbed a shotgun to see if he can do headshots in real life So while it satisfied my bloodthirsty side i believe this mission was totally unecessary and in fact counterproductive but i guess the producers knew that already and counted on the outcry and publicity to sell more games.
I only killed FSB after foolishly trying to kill the terrorists, but I didn't think it was that big a deal. It's pretty sad that the machinima version of No Russian has more impact than the actual level.
I disagree fully that the machinima has more impact than the actual level. In fact, I hope that some day they release a patch to make that level "winnable", i.e., if you want, you can play "No Russian" and actually succeed in killing the bad guys. Naturally, you'd have to "unlock" the winnable version by either finishing the game, or at least the stock version of the mission. That would give me a TON of satisfaction.
I'd vote for that with money. Modded No Russian DLC works for me. Make it like the bonus mission in MW1, except this time you have to kill three heavily armed/armored terrorists without inflicting collateral damage and simultaneously avoiding the FSB as you chase Makarov through the terminal. As long as you make it to the end and only kill the henchmen, Makarov still kills you, but you get a new "Death Before Dishonor" achievement.