Having just returned to Oz from a review trip at Infinity Ward, I was in a pretty good position to judge how authentic (and fun) a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Pop-Up Experience could be. As luck would have it, Sydney recently hosted just such a shenanigan for press, content creators, lucky Xbox Fan Fest attendees and there were some limited slots open to the public via registrations. I infiltrated it fully.
Let me bust out my Tac-map and give you a sitrep on how the organisers decided to… well, run DMZ (as in a recreation of a real Korean demilitarised zone). The result was a limited-time, MW4-themed mini-extravaganza built around a series of virtual and physical challenges. In next to no time, my objectives list was overflowing with around a dozen POIs to visit across the Carriageworks event space.
Think interactive games, hands-on MW4 Campaign gameplay, photo opps and prizes for the exceptionally skilled.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would be among the exceptionally skilled. Working in my favour: I was one of only a handful of folks who’d already finished MW4 (and on its unlockable Realism difficulty, no less). Working against that massive headstart: 15 hours of jetlag and severe sleep deprivation.
It was a 50/50, comrades. I’d blitz this event or pass out mid military-themed Squid Game.
When about sixty of us were marched into the event, I was mighty impressed with the dank, smoke-machine-assisted scene that greeted me. The organisers had nailed the DMZ duality aesthetic of two vastly different Koreas fighting over the one peninsula. Entry required picking a side, North or South, and a razor wire fence bisected the space as a roving spotlight made sure nobody defected.
Better yet, upon selecting which Korea to go with, a decision facilitated by uniform-and attitude-appropriate personnel, I was issued a passport with tasks to complete. Call me a communist, but I chose the NK and, at the risk of being hunted down as a traitor later, I can detail my time spent in the North.
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