In Call of Duty Modern Warfare, the highway of death was worked into the story as a sort of set piece, causing controversy. One of the many main characters, Alex, worked alongside their ally Farah in search of the fictional terrorist group leader, the “Wolf.” The title of the mission is called “Highway of Death” which alludes to the U.S. attack on an Iraqi armed retreat in 1991. Although the mission does not re-enact the bombing of the vehicles on the highway, some people are upset about the event being a sort of “set piece.” Some even see the inclusion of the event by name as trying to rewrite what people think the U.S. did in Kuwait back in 1991.

In the fictional story set up in Modern Warfare, the carnage seen in the mission was from the Russian army when they invaded the fictional country of Urzikstan, not by American Forces. Because the story puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of Russian forces, the mission has gotten quite a bit of controversy in Russia. The game will not be sold in Russia as the mission is seen as an attack against Russia.

The story closely mimics the real life events of the Syrian civil war and because all of the realistic factors of the game, one could easily believe the events in the game. The more tactical style of gameplay also mirrors modern and realistic military scenarios. These realistic scenarios are settings like a small town house in London housing a terrorist group and hunting down a terrorist leader that uses media to spread his ideology. It is because of the highly realistic story and graphics that the game has been found so offensive.