hiiii it's fryyyy back again with a bad og cod mw take I saw while repeating the mistake of venturing into a character tag but sometimes i cant help myself. in this edition, the hot take is basically Price could have been made into a villain so easily…. wow ok.
First of all, let's get a few misconceptions out of the way.
Price didn't 'nuke' America.
It does seem like a bad thing doesn't it, Price letting the nuke launch instead of stopping it, especially when it’s the exact scenario he and Soap try to prevent in mw1. But Price never intended for the missile to hit America--he detonates it in the atmosphere above Washington DC. the US Army is losing badly at the time; The Russians have taken the White House and overrun the area, they have all but entrenched themselves there. The explosion creates an EMP shockwave which, true, affects both the American and Russian side, but it’s not the same as dropping a nuke, not even close! An emp doesn't cause deaths directly but disables electronic devices: eg aircraft, comms systems etc.
Considering the fact that it's mostly Russians taking heavy losses from the EMP, that in response they retreat and the Americans manage to take back the White House, repel Russians entirely and end the invasion, this wasn’t even remotely a bad call… anyway.
Distrust=/=thinking someone’s a traitor.
IF Price suspected Shepherd, he wouldn't say anything prior to loose ends because it doesn't make sense for Shepherd to be a traitor. Moreover, would you accuse a decorated army general you and your allies closely worked with for years without any issue of being a traitor based on zero evidence and bad vibes alone? Also, can we take into consideration that Price has been imprisoned and out of the loop for 3 years. How would Price, who's been a POW and undoubtedly been through torture/other trauma, sound like if he accused Shepherd of treason out of the blue and without any solid proof? He'd be dismissed, deemed as crazy and/or benched.
(and if Price was convinced Shep was a traitor why would he keep it a secret tho? To get himself and Soap/Ghost/Roach killed while Shep escaped with proof of his involvement in orchestrating ww3? Make it make sense…)
I'm surprised the op didn't bring up the actual hard to defend decision that Price makes--going through with the assault on Hotel Oasis in Dubai. But OK.
How does Price compare to the other villains in the story?
Hm. he's not a terrorist who bombs malls for breakfast and dabbles in human trafficking on the side/doesn’t stage a violent coup of a democratic government/arrange a false flag operation out of spite which causes ww3 to break out. Price actively does the opposite of what a villain would do. he saves civilians (all 3 games, eg mw1: intervening when ultranationalists are about to off a grandpa in the russian village), sacrifices himself for the team (staying behind in op kingfish), he doesn't betray anyone, anything he does is driven not by hidden agenda or selfish goals but by duty/'greater good' or however you wanna call it, you know what i mean... do any of the actual villains in the game display similar qualities? (no)
Price is not a paragon of morality. it could be argued hes not a good person. but with all the facts laid out--would Price, in this setting, in this particular story, and in all honesty, make for a good villain?...
