Trying Monster Energy: featuring Call of Duty: Ghosts!

Lately I’ve noticed how much video games are penetrating our food and drink. Last year I had covered Mountain Dew Game Fuel, which made its triumphant return. While I haven’t found this year’s model of Game Fuel yet, I found something just as interesting:

Until recently I didn’t realize those are meant to be claw marks in their logo and not giant spikes.

Monster Energy has decided to team up with Infinity Ward and Activision to advertise Call of Duty: Ghosts on cans of Monster. Ah yes, Call of Duty: Ghost Dad, the tenth major installment in the Call of Duty franchise. Unfortunately my interest in Call of Duty waned years ago, mostly in part due to how over-the-top Modern Warfare 2 got, along with releasing a new game every year just made me fall behind. As of this writing, I still haven’t played Black Ops II. Thus, I am not at all hyped for Call of Duty: Ghosts of Sparta.

STERN MILITARY FACE

The tall can advertises Call of Duty: Michael Jackson’s Ghosts, complete with the soldier pulling his mask down and logos for Call of Duty: Ghost Rider, which alludes to the work these soldiers will likely do in this game, or something. Along with an advertisement for Monster’s various social media haunts (They’re on Instagram?!), as well as the Twitter hashtag #MonsterGaming. Man, all this social media stuff is unnerving, even for an energy drink.

As for Call of Duty: Ghostwriter I haven’t followed the game very much, so all I know is that involves military men shooting bad guys in the face with M4 Carbines and dogs come into the picture somewhere. That, and people manipulating dog mouths and talking about fish moving away from you as you swim near them.

The pinnacle of gaming as we know it.

Unlike Game Fuel, which was a unique flavor of Mountain Dew, this special branded Call of Duty: Ghost in the Shell Monster Energy drink is just the same as the regular non-Call of Duty: Space Ghost Coast to Coast branded Monster. When I usually need an energy boost, I opt for 5-hour Energy that give me that immediate boost of energy, so I never tried Monster or its competitors. That’s gonna change right now as I’m writing this.

…After giving it a whirl, I don’t know if it’s the ginseng or what, but it had a flavor that shocked me in a way I wasn’t expecting. Maybe you get energy from the taste of the stuff rather than what’s in the drink. It’s not awful, but it is an acquired taste. Now I think I’m ready to tackle anything gaming-related, like extreme Super Mario Bros. Maybe this will get me super hyped for Call of Duty: Roasts now. (Not really.)

Either way, this was my first experience drinking a Monster, and I probably won’t start drinking this regularly. At least I got a can that advertises Call of Duty: Ghosts ‘n Goblins. To think that years ago, we barely had any video game advertisement on stuff like this. Now it’s Game Fuel, Taco Bell $5 boxes where you could win a PlayStation 4, and Monster Energy with Call of Duty: Ghosts on it. What a world we live in.

I’m not sorry for all the terrible “Call of Duty: Ghosts” puns.