Violent War Fantasy or Satire?
Video games in many ways, like other art forms (yes, video games are an art form) mirrior our society in unexpected shocking ways. Mario is a plumber, link is the fantasizing child, and many others have real world equivalents. The extraterrestrial enemies in the Halo game series are religious fundamentalists who want to kill the "infidels" or "demons", much like the Islamic extremists the united states currently has a deadlock on vanquishing. But how do games like this relate to our world, especially through politics?
Two of the most popular game franchises out now are the Gears Of War trilogy and the Modern Warfare trilogy. These two video games are known for their wartime settings and violent explosive action and both may have hidden underlying messages about warfare that players are unaware of. In Halo for instance, I doubt many people could pick out the biblical symbolism that is widespread in the series. Many are ignorant of the Ayn Rand influences in the antagonist of the award winning Bioshock. How about the anti-war messages in the Metal Gear Solid series? Gears Of War and Modern Warfare at first glance may not have anything important to say, but looks are deceiving. In a generation where electronic games can tell stories and present characters on the same level as a book or film, underlying messages in the work should be accounted for.
I'll start with Gears, seeing as it's messages are slightly more obvious and most likely intentional. For those who are not familiar with Gears Of War, it is a video game trilogy for the XBOX 360 developed by Epic games. It is a third person shooter set in a science fiction universe with aesthetics resembling a combination of Steam-punk, World War 2 era technology, and James Cameron's film Aliens. The story is about a war on a planet called Sera (Its Ares, the Greek god of war's name spelled backwards) between human colonists and the planets indigenous reptilian, underground dwelling race, the Locust. The main protagonist, Marcus Fenix, must lead his squad through the brutal war to save humanity from destruction. The characters are on par with a high brow action war film, the action is gory, violent, and brutal on almost comical levels, and the game-play involves "over the shoulder aiming", and a focus on using protective cover to prevent taking damage from enemies. The game also runs on the unreal 3.0 game engine (software that are used as the game's building frame) and as a result, was one of the first games to achieve a impressive look of photo-realism.
The game's violence and interesting game-play made it popular and is one of the most loved games on the 360 game console. First, lets look deeper into the story. The back-story states that the humans came to Sera after earth is presumably uninhabitable to to human stupidity. A valuable resource called Imulsion is discovered on the planet, inciting a deadly resource war. Disturbed the the human conflict on the surface, the locust inflict a underground-to-land blitzkrieg. The attack is known as emergence day, and ends the war between the humans, beginning one with the locust. The humans eventually deploy "scorched earth" policy and destroy their own cities to prevent the locust from using them as bases. Resource war, resistance from natives, violent conflict against those natives, does that sound familiar? Like the so called "brute-like" and "evil" Locust, the native Americans during the colonization of America where seen in similar light. The native American where just protect their land and culture, which the Europeans had no right to rape and pillage from. The locust may be a similar case. In the second installment of the trilogy the locust are revealed to be a cultured race, with a monarchy and wide-spanning cities underground. In away their culture represents our own.
The humans live under a political party called The Cogs, with the idea that the soldiers under it are cogs in a giant war-machine. Government officials ware outfits that would not be out of place in the Nazi SS. It is very obvious the humans live under a at least semi-fascist regime. During the war, our human heroes destroy a quarter of the planet's underground Eco-system, destroy their own capital and flood part of the underground to damage the enemy, and do all of this with "noble intentions" Does Gears Of War have a message about politics and warfare in our past history and at present? The answer is absolutely.
The game that has received more acclaim than gears of war, or most recent game franchises is the Modern Warfare trilogy. The game is a "first person shooter" based in the present day world and follows the beginning and end of a fictional world war 3 between America and European allies against Russia, now controlled by communist "ultra-nationalists" The war is set in motion by a Russian terrorist mastermind named Vladimir Markarov, after his mentor, Imran Zakhaev is killed by a squad of British SAS operatives after he tries to launch nuclear weapons at the United States. The story is full of pretentious monologues from the main characters about duty and war and sacrifice, and is full of scenes more suited to a Hollywood action film than a realistic military tale. Despite the melodramatic story and extremely linear single player story, the game series has won many awards and is one of the best selling franchises in video game history, mostly due to it's competitive multi-player which acts as a more violent equivalent of virtual paintball complete with customizable weapons and the ability to use state of the art military gear to defeat other players.
At first glance this game has nothing to say, its just right-wing militaristic fantasy gun-porn made to blow off any post-September 11th revenge fantasy steam. It is also a spin-off of the mostly world war 2 focused Call Of Duty series, the trilogy beginning with Call Of Duty 4:Modern Warfare ( AKA COD4MW). COD4 is in many respects, a very good game. The story was simple but compelling, it was full of action, and had memorable characters. The sequels went away from the more Black Hawk Down style story, to the equivalent of a James Bond/Tom Clancy story as directed By Roland Emmerich. But looking closer, the series has a lot to say about war politics in our age. One thing that should be addressed is the character's moral ambiguity. The heroes are often as cruel and violent as the villains. Captain Price, a British SAS operative who serves as one of the major characters often pulls of dangerous stunts likely to put civilians in danger, and always tortures people that he interrogates for information, usually killing them immediately afterward. He has a almost insanity-driven drive to kill the main antagonist and even risks the safety of Washington DC to protect it. He is a, while not clearly stated, probably mentally unstable character, resorting to blind vigilantism.
he villain, Makarov, is not to clearly motivated to hate the United States, but he does and will not show any remorse, even purposefully murdering innocent people to further his goals, as seen in a disturbing mission in the game where the player takes the role of a undercover CIA operative and witness a gun-massacre at and airport, before being killed and used as a scapegoat the direct Russia into war with the United States. The series is not shy of showing to horrors of war and the violation of human rights that happens in real war. None of the characters seen to ever heard of a thing called the Geneva Conventions. Characters even make reference to famous films, including the bizarre usage of the "don't call me Shirly" line from the comedy film Airplane. Its like a child playing a violent sandbox game with army men, in a way showing what the military seems like from a civilian's point of view. Using the recruitment film tactic of making service look like a role as an action hero.
In Modern Warfare 2, a major revelation reveals much about the game's message. General Shepard, a United States general is revealed to be the one whole put the third world war into action with Makarov's help. Believing that the war to go the way of a John Ford film and be glorious and heroic, showing the military strength of the United States. The mad general, as a result, causes the deaths of millions and is killed by Price's friend and squad-mate John "Soap" Mctavish. General Shepard represents the far right wing gun nuts who wish for another great war, and who in some cases, even hold office in our government. The inaccurate portrayal of war and melodrama, along with the clever and somewhat offensive badges awarded in the multi-player mode, and the over-the-top characters make this game not a realistic military simulation, but a bizarre sort of black comedy, showing the brutality of war and the De-humanizing and gamifying of war, making the players who enjoy it look like senseless idiots, who see war as a game. Modern Warfare is not a game masterpiece for its game-play or story, but it's ability to mock it's players without them knowing. Even if the developers at Infinity Ward studio didn't intend it, it was a great achievement.
Even games that make the war-fighting and violence the enjoyable part, can make a compensating message, saying that if we don't change our politics and antagonistic stances towards each other, man is doom towards everlasting violence.
-Bram McAlmont
Video games in many ways, like other art forms (yes, video games are an art form) mirrior our society in unexpected shocking ways. Mario is a plumber, link is the fantasizing child, and many others have real world equivalents. The extraterrestrial enemies in the Halo game series are religious fundamentalists who want to kill the "infidels" or "demons", much like the Islamic extremists the united states currently has a deadlock on vanquishing. But how do games like this relate to our world, especially through politics?
Two of the most popular game franchises out now are the Gears Of War trilogy and the Modern Warfare trilogy. These two video games are known for their wartime settings and violent explosive action and both may have hidden underlying messages about warfare that players are unaware of. In Halo for instance, I doubt many people could pick out the biblical symbolism that is widespread in the series. Many are ignorant of the Ayn Rand influences in the antagonist of the award winning Bioshock. How about the anti-war messages in the Metal Gear Solid series? Gears Of War and Modern Warfare at first glance may not have anything important to say, but looks are deceiving. In a generation where electronic games can tell stories and present characters on the same level as a book or film, underlying messages in the work should be accounted for.
I'll start with Gears, seeing as it's messages are slightly more obvious and most likely intentional. For those who are not familiar with Gears Of War, it is a video game trilogy for the XBOX 360 developed by Epic games. It is a third person shooter set in a science fiction universe with aesthetics resembling a combination of Steam-punk, World War 2 era technology, and James Cameron's film Aliens. The story is about a war on a planet called Sera (Its Ares, the Greek god of war's name spelled backwards) between human colonists and the planets indigenous reptilian, underground dwelling race, the Locust. The main protagonist, Marcus Fenix, must lead his squad through the brutal war to save humanity from destruction. The characters are on par with a high brow action war film, the action is gory, violent, and brutal on almost comical levels, and the game-play involves "over the shoulder aiming", and a focus on using protective cover to prevent taking damage from enemies. The game also runs on the unreal 3.0 game engine (software that are used as the game's building frame) and as a result, was one of the first games to achieve a impressive look of photo-realism.
The game's violence and interesting game-play made it popular and is one of the most loved games on the 360 game console. First, lets look deeper into the story. The back-story states that the humans came to Sera after earth is presumably uninhabitable to to human stupidity. A valuable resource called Imulsion is discovered on the planet, inciting a deadly resource war. Disturbed the the human conflict on the surface, the locust inflict a underground-to-land blitzkrieg. The attack is known as emergence day, and ends the war between the humans, beginning one with the locust. The humans eventually deploy "scorched earth" policy and destroy their own cities to prevent the locust from using them as bases. Resource war, resistance from natives, violent conflict against those natives, does that sound familiar? Like the so called "brute-like" and "evil" Locust, the native Americans during the colonization of America where seen in similar light. The native American where just protect their land and culture, which the Europeans had no right to rape and pillage from. The locust may be a similar case. In the second installment of the trilogy the locust are revealed to be a cultured race, with a monarchy and wide-spanning cities underground. In away their culture represents our own.
The humans live under a political party called The Cogs, with the idea that the soldiers under it are cogs in a giant war-machine. Government officials ware outfits that would not be out of place in the Nazi SS. It is very obvious the humans live under a at least semi-fascist regime. During the war, our human heroes destroy a quarter of the planet's underground Eco-system, destroy their own capital and flood part of the underground to damage the enemy, and do all of this with "noble intentions" Does Gears Of War have a message about politics and warfare in our past history and at present? The answer is absolutely.
The game that has received more acclaim than gears of war, or most recent game franchises is the Modern Warfare trilogy. The game is a "first person shooter" based in the present day world and follows the beginning and end of a fictional world war 3 between America and European allies against Russia, now controlled by communist "ultra-nationalists" The war is set in motion by a Russian terrorist mastermind named Vladimir Markarov, after his mentor, Imran Zakhaev is killed by a squad of British SAS operatives after he tries to launch nuclear weapons at the United States. The story is full of pretentious monologues from the main characters about duty and war and sacrifice, and is full of scenes more suited to a Hollywood action film than a realistic military tale. Despite the melodramatic story and extremely linear single player story, the game series has won many awards and is one of the best selling franchises in video game history, mostly due to it's competitive multi-player which acts as a more violent equivalent of virtual paintball complete with customizable weapons and the ability to use state of the art military gear to defeat other players.
At first glance this game has nothing to say, its just right-wing militaristic fantasy gun-porn made to blow off any post-September 11th revenge fantasy steam. It is also a spin-off of the mostly world war 2 focused Call Of Duty series, the trilogy beginning with Call Of Duty 4:Modern Warfare ( AKA COD4MW). COD4 is in many respects, a very good game. The story was simple but compelling, it was full of action, and had memorable characters. The sequels went away from the more Black Hawk Down style story, to the equivalent of a James Bond/Tom Clancy story as directed By Roland Emmerich. But looking closer, the series has a lot to say about war politics in our age. One thing that should be addressed is the character's moral ambiguity. The heroes are often as cruel and violent as the villains. Captain Price, a British SAS operative who serves as one of the major characters often pulls of dangerous stunts likely to put civilians in danger, and always tortures people that he interrogates for information, usually killing them immediately afterward. He has a almost insanity-driven drive to kill the main antagonist and even risks the safety of Washington DC to protect it. He is a, while not clearly stated, probably mentally unstable character, resorting to blind vigilantism.
he villain, Makarov, is not to clearly motivated to hate the United States, but he does and will not show any remorse, even purposefully murdering innocent people to further his goals, as seen in a disturbing mission in the game where the player takes the role of a undercover CIA operative and witness a gun-massacre at and airport, before being killed and used as a scapegoat the direct Russia into war with the United States. The series is not shy of showing to horrors of war and the violation of human rights that happens in real war. None of the characters seen to ever heard of a thing called the Geneva Conventions. Characters even make reference to famous films, including the bizarre usage of the "don't call me Shirly" line from the comedy film Airplane. Its like a child playing a violent sandbox game with army men, in a way showing what the military seems like from a civilian's point of view. Using the recruitment film tactic of making service look like a role as an action hero.
In Modern Warfare 2, a major revelation reveals much about the game's message. General Shepard, a United States general is revealed to be the one whole put the third world war into action with Makarov's help. Believing that the war to go the way of a John Ford film and be glorious and heroic, showing the military strength of the United States. The mad general, as a result, causes the deaths of millions and is killed by Price's friend and squad-mate John "Soap" Mctavish. General Shepard represents the far right wing gun nuts who wish for another great war, and who in some cases, even hold office in our government. The inaccurate portrayal of war and melodrama, along with the clever and somewhat offensive badges awarded in the multi-player mode, and the over-the-top characters make this game not a realistic military simulation, but a bizarre sort of black comedy, showing the brutality of war and the De-humanizing and gamifying of war, making the players who enjoy it look like senseless idiots, who see war as a game. Modern Warfare is not a game masterpiece for its game-play or story, but it's ability to mock it's players without them knowing. Even if the developers at Infinity Ward studio didn't intend it, it was a great achievement.
Even games that make the war-fighting and violence the enjoyable part, can make a compensating message, saying that if we don't change our politics and antagonistic stances towards each other, man is doom towards everlasting violence.
-Bram McAlmont
