Call of Duty Baddie Valeria Has The Internet In A Chokehold
The characters are easily one of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s clear strengths. The game features sharp voice acting that brings its cast to life, along with some uncanny-valley-shattering visual fidelity with excellent facial animation. It profoundly elevates the presentation of these characters and the story. But while you might think the skull-adorned Ghost is getting all the attention, one of the game’s new antagonists, Valeria, is being rightly celebrated.
A little over halfway through Modern Warfare II’s campaign, Valeria is introduced as the “personal sicaria” to the then-absent cartel boss “El Sin Nombre.” As the player, you meet her in an interrogation scene where you’re warned not to lie about anything to her (seriously, don’t). And she quickly reveals why before pressing you on questions concerning events from a few missions earlier. With no apprehensions about showing who’s boss, Valeria physically threatens one of her own men before drawing her weapon and turning her attention to you and the other interrogatee with a playful “niños!”
There’s no question about it. Valeria steals every scene she’s part of in Modern Warfare II. Portrayed by Maria Elisa Camargo, Valeria’s presence is a narrative gravity well, and she can bite through you with razor sharp lines of bilingual dialogue. And she’s got a great backstory as well. A former Mexican soldier and once comrade of protagonist Alejandro, the chemistry between these two is on point.
As should be no surprise, Valeria is getting love all over social media. Camargo herself tweeted a behind-the-scenes shot from the mo-cap with a thanks to the community for the love.
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And the love is palpable. Folks are declaring themselves official Valeria stans, while others demand developer Infinity Ward make her a playable operator in the game’s multiplayer. Videos showing off her best scenes are pouring out on Twitter and TikTok alike.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II may have a painfully slow start, but the game’s second half certainly has its memorable moments. A good portion of that is owed to Valeria who definitely needs to be a bigger part of this series moving forward.