[ZeframCochrane]

There's something I've been wondering about this game.
If you've played it, you will have certainly noticed the segment in Vietnam, in which you're on the boat you have to pilot on the river, while shooting rockets around. You will have also noticed the song "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones playing in the background.
For reasons I shall elaborate on, I enjoyed this segment a lot, so I readily looked it up on YouTube to read other players' reactions. And that's when I figured I seemed to be enjoying the level for the wrong reasons.

Apparently, the general consensus of the average Black Ops player (among those who posted comments on YouTube) is summarized by the following comment (which got "thumbed-up" 55 times):

Originally Posted by KTH568

I got freaking pumped up when i heard this song playing.

Well that puzzled me. The reason for which I enjoyed the song playing in the background is that, if anything, it pumped me down. I was amazed at how the game developers managed to get me in the mind set of "war's no fun, but it's my job and somebody's gotta do it", as no other war game ever managed to do that for me. It made me feel sad, but at the same time resolute.

After realizing this didn't seem to be the general impression on the other players, I considered that maybe I was overestimating the game developers, and that maybe the level was indeed an gross glorification of war... but then again, the people at Treyarch managed to pull together a very intricate and interesting storyline, which suggests me they might be smart enough to pick a certain Rolling Stones song over any other "pumping up" heavy metal music for a reason. I mean, although Sympathy for The Devil may not be an explicitly pacifist song (in fact, the lyrics are less than peace-inspiring), it's certainly a song composed during the war in Vietnam by a group which could be considered the epitome of antiestablishmentarianism! In fact, to bring the point further, another song featured prominently in the game is "Fortunate Song" by Creedence Clearwater Revival... which is, this time, somewhat more explicit in its pacifist statement.

Any thoughts?

[Burns11]

You are over thinking it IMO.

[Weare6]

Yeah thinking too much into it....... just play & enjoy

[ZeframCochrane]

Originally Posted by Burns11

You are over thinking it IMO.

Originally Posted by Weare6

Yeah thinking too much into it....... just play & enjoy

Yeaaah, no. I'm usually all for the MST3K Mantra, but it's beside the point. I did play, & I did enjoy. But if I were right, I'd certainly enjoy the game more. So although it's not vital for the enjoyment of the game... it would certainly enhance the experience (not to mention it would be a credit to the game developers).
That's why I'm asking to hear other opinions, that's all.

[SamandMax]

It's definitely not any form of deep political commentary, if anything, it's just supposed to be a play off of this scene from Apocalypse Now where they're listening to a "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on a river boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDRQcrQz13E

Every war movie set in Vietnam contains a soundtrack full of Rolling Stones and CCR so I think they were just following suit.

[marvio]

I think you're right in your impressions, the problem is that, specially with FPS, the main buying demographic are teenagers/20 something's, who would completely miss the subeltly of the message. Kinda sad, and in a way it explains why so many game genere's are going downhill, the developers have to make money, and they have to cater to these idiots, but from time to time you'll see these little gems here and there, in which they have the best of both worlds, they are doing what they want to do with the game, but the geral public is none the wiser!!