Rebellion: WWII is Fresh Again

[The Wooster]

Rebellion: WWII is Fresh Again

Sniper Elite developer, Rebellion, reckons the world is ready for more WWII games.

Do you remember when the first-person shooter market was saturated with WWII-themed shooters? I do. It was a terrible time. You couldn't go more than five minutes without tripping over a game with "honor," "duty" or "heroes" in the title. Then Modern Warfare came along, and we all traded in our M1 Garands for ACRs, and left Normandy for the dusty, war-torn streets of Madeupistan. Half a decade and a gargantuan pile of middling first-person shooters later, even that setting is starting to get a bit worn out.

It seems Rebellion Developments is hoping to spearhead a WWII revival with the upcoming Sniper Elite V2. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/trailers/5111-Sniper-Elite-V2-Trailer]

When asked if he was worried about the market dominance of modern shooters like Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Rebellion's Steve Hart responded:

"I think the market is ready for World War II. You've seen the extra press the likes of Red Orchestra 2 have gotten because all of a sudden WWII is a breath of fresh air whereas modern conflicts perhaps aren't."

"I wouldn't say developers moved on, instead they gave it the respect it needed and said 'Right, we've done that to death, let's go look at something else,'" he continued. "It just so happens that our timing for a World War Two game is better than others out there, and gamers are ready for that now. Even better for us is that we're coming out before perhaps another Call of Duty set during World War Two, as I'm sure we'll be seeing another one of those at some point."

Personally, I find it mildly disappointing that developers see their choice of settings as essentially a giant roulette wheel with "Modern," "WWII" and "Vague Dystopian Future" written on it. I mean, hey, it's not like mankind has had any other wars in its long, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War] storied [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_Wars] history. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War]

Source: GamerZines [http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/news/gamers-ready-for-ww2-again.html]

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[Mariena]

Or just make up a fictional war set in the Cold War period for all I care. The period where sort of sophisticated electronics and other cool technology was beginning to come in to play.

Oooh! Grainy 1st generation night vision!
Ooh! MCLOS missiles!

yeah.. probably more WWII and streets of derkastan.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

But they need stories where America isn't morally ambiguous in their actions.

Hell, I'd pay for a Korean War game, but only if I got to play as the Canadians. Battle of Kapyong anybody?

 

[gigastar]

So modern day shooters are done to death now so its time to move onto something that was already done to death?

Theese are the kind of people i would chain to supersonic aircraft if it meant i could keep them from creating.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Well there's no competition in the market so far...

 

[Wolfram23]

Why aren't there any (many?) games focussed on medieval times. Every single "medieval" RPG/FPS/TPS is based in some random fantasy world. I would like to ride with King Arthur, or sack the Huns with the Imperial Legion... and no bloody wizards!

 

[fix-the-spade]

Korea would make such a good setting for a wargame, perhaps we should spam DICE with requests for BF4 to be set there?

Good mix of world war 2 technology and emerging modern weapons, UN forces on one side, Communists on the other, heck, you could even the Russians in for some elite bad guys (because it's not a shooter without Russians!).

Mountainous terrain, endless stalemate, perfect.

Battle of Kapyong anybody?

I dunno, things might get a bit sticky...

 

[Lunar Templar]

-.-

yay ....

so we're going to bounce between WWII and modern conflicts then? joy ...

 

[teh_Canape]

-.-

yay ....

so we're going to bounce between WWII and modern conflicts then? joy ...

who knows, probably it's gonna be a game that starts off Call of Duty World at War

Spoiler

and then it delves into Painkiller

Spoiler

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Korea would make such a good setting for a wargame, perhaps we should spam DICE with requests for BF4 to be set there?

Good mix of world war 2 technology and emerging modern weapons, UN forces on one side, Communists on the other, heck, you could even the Russians in for some elite bad guys (because it's not a shooter without Russians!).

Mountainous terrain, endless stalemate, perfect.

Battle of Kapyong anybody?

I dunno, things might get a bit sticky...

Canada and Australia versus a thousand charging Chinese infantrymen after being cut off from their main lines and winning. I don't care about the social ramifications that battle would have if it was put in a game, that's pretty damn impressive.

 

[Lunar Templar]

-.-

yay ....

so we're going to bounce between WWII and modern conflicts then? joy ...

who knows, probably it's gonna be a game that starts off Call of Duty World at War

Spoiler

and then it delves into Painkiller

Spoiler

hehe, well that giving these devs a little to much credit on the creative front don't cha think?

i mean they're answer for making the FPS 'fresh' again, is something they already ran into the ground once? sure, why not. I'm not gonna play em any way

 

[Waaghpowa]

I don't care when the game is set, so long as it's a challenging sniper game with proper ballistics worked into it. Oh, also if it's on PC.

 

[Evil Smurf]

as long as America is not the hero, Maybe have them as the villain?

 

[Rad Party God]

We desperately need moar Nazis/Ruskies in space.

 

[teh_Canape]

hehe, well that giving these devs a little to much credit on the creative front don't cha think?

i mean they're answer for making the FPS 'fresh' again, is something they already ran into the ground once? sure, why not. I'm not gonna play em any way

I now realize I posted this reply in the wrong site XD

but still, it would be something anyway, it may have been ran into the ground, but it's still better than fighting the same enemies with different colored hats all the time
at least the others (like Painkiller or Necrovision) had varied enemies which kinda made it more interesting =P

 

[Omnific One]

Umm, lets get some more inventive futuristic FPS's, if they have to dominate the market. Not generic ones, give me something with a story and feeling, rather than a reskin of Halo (see Section 8).

 

[Nightmonger]

I think a WW2 game done well is just what I think is neede but it needs to have a different spin on it to the standard levels you see e.g Omaha beach levels should be banned

But some of the other battles that haven't been covered too much would be good e.g coral sea/ midway and also a properly done operation Market garden would be amazing

On the other hand something truly different like say a pow escape would be awesome would love to walk around Colditz castle in a stealthy way

 

[The Last Nomad]

I was just thinking the same thing earlier on today, A return to some WWII settings in FPS's could be good. Emphasis on 'could'. Its quite likely it will just be a rehash of an older game, with no point in buying it.

But WWII is probably the best war to set a game so I can see why they would want to go back to it. Way better than all these modern makeyupy wars clearly not based on real events.

 

[xyrafhoan]

I miss the days where the most popular shooters didn't have to be about a war or survival horror. War itself is kind of a tired setting, and I hate that shooters featuring aliens apparently have to be scary as well. What I wouldn't give for another Perfect Dark or Goldeneye, without resorting to remakes. I feel as if they're avoiding the espionage shooter because they don't feel they can cram in the same high-budget outdoor setpieces that a war game allows.

Oh well, at least in 2011 we got Deux Ex: Human Revolution.