Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0’s Laser Cats Spark Realism Debate

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 are meant to be realistic, right? On the face of it, that’s what the hugely popular Activision shooters are, with campaign missions that ape historical military operations and an army-obsessed aesthetic that recreates real-world weapons and vehicles in video game form.

Enter Call of Duty’s latest cosmetic concoction, dubbed “laser cats!”. Here’s redditor exileonwoodct with a clip of it in action.

The laser cat is actually a combination of two $20 cosmetics: the Sgt. Pspsps Operator skin included in the Whisker Tango bundle, which costs 2,400 COD Points or around $20, and the Homelander skin from The Boys Homelander Operator bundle, which also costs 2,400 COD Points.

The Homelander bundle includes the Laser Everyone finishing move inspired by the supervillain from the show, and it’s this finisher, in combination with the cat skin, that form Call of Duty’s laser cats. Just remember: the effect will set you back a cool $40, or quite the grind for COD Points.

Laser cats have got Call of Duty fans talking, once again, about realism. There are two distinct perspectives: one, wacky cosmetics like this are fair game because Call of Duty has never been realistic, despite the marketing, and two, wacky cosmetics have no place in Call of Duty, which should lean into its military shooter origins.

“[What the f**k] is happening to this game,” wrote redditor Destroyer6202. “[What the f**k] has this game turned into?” wondered chunny19998. “Remember when they advertised this game as ‘the most realistic COD of all time?’ Yeah…,” wrote denzlegacy. “This is what all you [military simulator] lovers are trying to erase,” said carpetfanclub. “This superhero animal stuff is off the rails,” added Ravdiamant.

“COD has never been super realistic,” countered another Redditor. “Common problem with COD and Battlefield players. They remember the old games being more hardcore than they were. Both games are arcade shooters. Neither were ever tactical [military simulators].”

“God forbid even one COD keeps any semblance of realism in its aesthetic,” MonkeyAAA1212 said. “Used to have a grounded aesthetic, but nowadays every kid would cry if they couldn’t have their unicorn skins and pink laser guns. Sad to see how corny this franchise is now.”

“Forget the haters,” wrote Benji2108, posting a Call of Duty cat and rat meme to the Modern Warfare 2 subreddit. “God I love this game.”

It’s worth remembering Infinity Ward’s pitch for the 2019 soft reboot of Modern Warfare, which described the game as gritty and realistic. At the time, this was felt in the developer’s attention to detail, with most maps depicting real-looking, war-torn locations.

The weapons are realistic, with impressive reload animations and audio, and just look at Modern Warfare’s wonderful Clean House, a tense, night-time campaign mission that sees an SAS team clear a townhouse full of affiliates of Al-Qatala using real-world tactics, movement, signals, and communications.

After Modern Warfare and battle royale spin-off Warzone blew up in 2020, Activision released DLC weapon and character skins, as well as tracer effects and takedowns that veered into Fortnite territory. One was a finishing move in which you summoned a bat called Edward who ate your hapless foe’s face until their head exploded. There was even a 16-bit death effect.

Fast forward three years and the Fortnite-ification of Call of Duty is complete with the addition of laser cats. But maybe we should all be thinking of Call of Duty multiplayer differently than Call of Duty campaign; after all, Infinity Ward has said in the past that Call of Duty multiplayer has a different vibe.

Potential solutions suggested by Call of Duty to this problem, if it is in fact a problem, include a cosmetic block toggle that would prevent death effects and other DLC aesthetics from showing up, but it seems unlikely Activision would ever green light such a thing, especially when seeing other players’ cosmetics creates an online envy that fuels purchases.

For now, those venturing out into the goofy world of modern Call of Duty should watch out for the laser cats who, at the time of publication, litter the battlefield.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.