Ronald Reagan sends you to do war crimes in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War trailer

Activision and its development studios, Treyarch and Raven Software, unveiled a new trailer for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and just happened to feature a new, somewhat frightening, and unexpected character in the series: the real president Ronald Reagan. The trailer was shown during the digital-only Gamescom 2020 event, following the game's official disclosure yesterday.

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Including real-life historical and political figures — whose terms in office still have controversial effects on modern politics, including the upcoming 2020 elections — is a step. It's even weirder when you consider what Reagan has done in the trailer: ordering you, your players, and your clandestine co-workers to break the law and commit potential war crimes to save the “free world”.

The trailer features discussions codenamed “Perseus,” allegedly a KGB spy (based on real-life Cold War events) who new character Russell Adler says “will shift the balance of the Cold War” if they don't do something to stop the storyline. But when discussions about the legality of missions emerged, that's when we got into the bleak territory. “Every mission we go on is illegal,” protests fan-favorite Black Ops character, Frank Woods, who says many innocent people will perish if they don't stop Perseus.

Thankfully, this is when the president shows up to give the final word. “We’re talking about preventing an attack on the free men and women of the world. Give Mr. Adler whatever he wants,” Reagan said as he walked into the room and commented that he was the one who approved the Black Ops crew's previous mission. “Gentleman, you’ve been given a great task: protecting our very way of life from a great evil. There is no higher duty, there is no higher honor, and while few people will know of your struggles, rest assured the entire free world will benefit. I know you won’t fail us.”

It's good that Reagan is here to assure us, players, that what we did was Good, or Call of Duty fans everywhere might get the wrong impression about America's role in geopolitical conflicts around the world. No way could happen!

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