The Girl With a Sensitive Heart

[Spitfire175]

This only applies to Call of Duty 2, the best of the series, by a mile. Or perhaps the first one as well. They have a lot more to them than just "lookima snipa, pwnin u n0bz". Heavy influences from "enemy at the gates" made CoD 1 quite a shocker (good luck with those 5 cartridges, comrade!). And defending hill 400 in CoD 2 was thrilling, especially after I met US rangers WW2 veterans in 2003.

 

[duchaked]

I remember when the Nuke first went off in Modern Warfare. The PS3 was down in the living room and a bunch of my family members were at the dinner table, when me and my cousin decided to continue the campaign. Suddenly, as we were flying away from what we had thought was a hard-earned victory, warning sirens blazed and the mushroom cloud rose.

Everyone at the table stopped talking and watched the screen, even my older relatives who couldn't stand the 'doo-hickeys of this generation'. It was a powerful moment.

Modern Warfare 2, when Washington D.C. was attacked, brought tears to my eyes. I looked around at all the destroyed monuments and was afraid something like this could happen in the real world. It gave me chills.

even if I hated MW2's gameplay or story, I would still have to admit it really had the atmosphere and just seeing the events was pretty damn awesome
honestly, I only began to feel much from the "story" in Call of Duty 2 my second play through because I began to read the written text (soldiers' letters) after dying so much on Veteran...but I wouldn't call it an emotional (however, WWII being a real war does give it some extra oomph, not saying it doesn't)

 

[Jared]

I can somewhat see the points. If you think about whats going on, and the whole set of actions been taken it could be quote emotional, if, at least on a "I dont want my home to burn" kind of level.

But, as an over-aching story of tragedy, and what not...Its...a little lack-luster

 

[domicius]

You guys realise that the wars depicted in modern warfare 1 and 2 are nothing like the wars going on in iraq and afghanistan right now? many soldiers never see battle, including myself

Fear not! There's a new Modern Warfare being made that will satisfy you 120% with its accuracy: http://www.theonion.com/video/ultrarealistic-modern-warfare-game-features-awaiti,14382/

 

[Therumancer]

War can be a powerful thing, it always has been, this shouldn't surprise anyone.

For all the grit, and horror of war, there is also a lot of beauty (of a sort) and glory. There are two sides fo the equasion, and capturing that perfectly can be hard to do. Most things get caught up in either one or the other, depending on the political agenda of the person creating the game/telling the story.

I think the problem with World War II games and why I think many people don't notice the depth of the entire experience so much is because it's slowly losing cultural relevence. Sort of like what happened with Westerns I guess, there was a point where things like "The Shootout At The OK Corral" was a big deal. It seemed like it sort of mattered for a long time, but then eventually it just lost the same kind of impact.

Consider World War II was over 50 years ago. Most of the people in power now are Baby Boomers with anti-war issues coming from Veitnam and such. To them and the way they are raising their children, things like World War II are sort of an inconveinence. What's more we've got a current, long-running war going on right now, with a ton of it's own issues to worry about. Right now you've got people who consider it their highest priority to promote "peace at any price" and get us out of there. You've also got people (like me) who are extremely militant and who are out to ensure the removal of threats to the US at any price... and the conflict between them.

A lot of people just see World War II as a "politically acceptable" arena to shoot people in and miss the entire subtext. It continues mostly because more current theaters are more or less taboo unless they are made so fantastic as to be ridiculous.

 

[irrelevantnugget]

Darn it, it appears that you have ninja'd what I was going to say. Though I always thought that Cpl/Sgt Joe Hartsock

Spoiler

getting crippled

and poor Sgt Baker had to tell him the bad news.

This scene really packed a punch for me especially as I had the good fortune to have played BiB: Earned in Blood which really focused Joe's side of the story.

Yeah, that scene had me crying, le sigh.

I played the games on PC first, recently I bought it for PS3 (to replay it at home on a huge tv screen, found it pretty cheap), and seeing the intro movie, it had me all teary again.

I quit EiB 2/3 into the game, I really should play through that one completely... him losing his finger was already a "oh, shit." moment, but still nothing compared to

Spoiler

"You're going home..."
And then the music...

For those curious, yet not willing to play through the game. Huge spoiler warning, start from 2:46:

The saddest part of this all is, Red is the lucky one.

 

[Corohan]

Call of Duty is indeed an emotional experience, I especially recall the times when the officers that command the player, who are completely immune to enemy fire, mow down a batallion of german soldiers all by themselves.

 

[kastanok]

Good article, brought back many memories of the game. Which is kind of appropriate as I continue to get flashbacks from Call of Duty 2. What sticks in my mind particularly is scrambling up the banks of the Volga with nothing more than a clip of 7.62mm as fellow conscripts fall all around me under the continuous hail of fascist machine guns... I don't wish to denigrate the emotional trauma suffered by actual combatants over the centuries, but sounds and sights approximating the early Call of Duty games still fill me with anxiety.

Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault explicitly played upon this tendency. On the main menu (a 3D tableau of a barracks tent that changed appearance throughout the campaign) included a crate of souvenirs - a partially burned naval officer's cap, a truck's hood ornament, etc - earned from accomplishing specially heroic acts. Selecting one of these souvenirs would play a melange of sounds and shouts from the scene it came from, so letting the player experience a measure of the excitement all over again.

 

[WINDOWCLEAN2]

You guys realise that the wars depicted in modern warfare 1 and 2 are nothing like the wars going on in iraq and afghanistan right now? many soldiers never see battle, including myself

It's taling about COD 2.

Set in WW2.
Real battles.
SOldiers based on reality.
Hugley emotional.

 

[UtopiaV1]

The Girl With a Sensitive Heart

There lies a surprisingly emotional experience underneath all of the mindless violence in Call of Duty.

Read Full Article

I know what you mean man. I love CoD2, it think it's the best WW2 shooter now and probably forever. However, it is much more interesting when playing with the Germans PoV mod. (well, called the SP CoD2 Axisplayer mod).

You get to experience a side of the war that's almost never told. Just think, if you signed up to the German army pre-1939, unaware of what kind of daemonic lunatic would be in charge, and then when Hitler did come into power, you had to take an oath of allegence, even though you didn't agree with him. Imagine fighting a war you didn't really want to win, but fighting anyway because you had to, because you'd be shot otherwise, and then who would look after your family then?

Imagine knowing you were on the losing side, and still fighting? Imagine gunning down people who you knew were actually fighting for a just and noble cause, not to simply conquer and help commit genocide (SS did that, not the Wehrmacht though, lets clear that up). It would be terrible, and a much more complex and interesting story than the same old, tired "play as the US kicking nazi's in the face" WW2 storyline we get repeatidly rammed down our throats.

I think that's a story rarely told, and without good reason. Men and women died on both sides of the conflict, and most of the time it wasn't always clear-cut good vs evil. The german army consisted of regualr soldiers, people, just like any other army, and they should'nt be demonised the way they are in WW2 games.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but i believe strongly in this. We need a WW2 game with a storyline told from a german's point of view, to show that ultimately they were human beings, not just objects to be shot at in the name of saving the world!

 

[Jaeke]

Go play brothers in arms: hell's highway kthanxbai.

 

[Jaeke]

Oh damn. Ninja'd.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

The Girl With a Sensitive Heart

There lies a surprisingly emotional experience underneath all of the mindless violence in Call of Duty.

Read Full Article

I know what you mean man. I love CoD2, it think it's the best WW2 shooter now and probably forever. However, it is much more interesting when playing with the Germans PoV mod. (well, called the SP CoD2 Axisplayer mod).

You get to experience a side of the war that's almost never told. Just think, if you signed up to the German army pre-1939, unaware of what kind of daemonic lunatic would be in charge, and then when Hitler did come into power, you had to take an oath of allegence, even though you didn't agree with him. Imagine fighting a war you didn't really want to win, but fighting anyway because you had to, because you'd be shot otherwise, and then who would look after your family then?

Imagine knowing you were on the losing side, and still fighting? Imagine gunning down people who you knew were actually fighting for a just and noble cause, not to simply conquer and help commit genocide (SS did that, not the Wehrmacht though, lets clear that up). It would be terrible, and a much more complex and interesting story than the same old, tired "play as the US kicking nazi's in the face" WW2 storyline we get repeatidly rammed down our throats.

I think that's a story rarely told, and without good reason. Men and women died on both sides of the conflict, and most of the time it wasn't always clear-cut good vs evil. The german army consisted of regualr soldiers, people, just like any other army, and they should'nt be demonised the way they are in WW2 games.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but i believe strongly in this. We need a WW2 game with a storyline told from a german's point of view, to show that ultimately they were human beings, not just objects to be shot at in the name of saving the world!

I agree with this. Infact, one of the big reasons I was immensely looking forward to the German Front Mod for the original Call of Duty was precisely beacuse they intended to have a campaign focused around German soldiers. Unfortunately, after releasing an SP demo (which I replayed at least dozens of times), they preety much made it a multiplayer mod and left it as it is. They then tried to make an SP campaign for COD2, but it seems that is preety much dead as well.....

Sadly, I do not expect game developers will have the courage to take a German perspective on the war. Plus, there is the general perception that WW2 shooters are overdone, even though the only reason for this is that the games generally tend to follow the same pattern and thread the same ground. =/ Oh, well...

 

[snowman6251]

I know I feel some real tension during Search and Destroy because one whoopsies not only means death but you don't just get to try again right away.

 

[Xanadu84]

I do agree that there is an emotional experience in even the violence fests. Actually, for all the ragging on MW2, it does use some storytelling techniques that are exclusive to games, which have a powerful impact. If you stop thinking about the power fantasy (and certain questionable business decisions by IW), and try to get past crass cynicism, I think you will find that ideas like first person death experiences and No Russian are innovative storytelling techniques worthy of praise.

However, I have to say that Call of Duty has an emotional underscore that is far more difficult for me to appreciate after experiencing the story of Brothers in Arms. That is a game that truly try's to pay proper respects to the source material.

 

[Joshic Shin]

I've never been affected much by the CoD games, but I will say that Fallout 3 has had some of the strongest impact on me. Allow me to explain.

I have lived in Washington, D.C. for about four months now, and playing Fallout 3 is a scary feeling. Everywhere I go in that game, it feels like a place I myself have been, and people I know have been. I can find my apartment in the game, and see that it is destroyed, gone from existence. I can remember what the setting should look like, but there is the game telling me that this place that you knew is gone forever.

I will forever remember just how emotional that scenery made me feel.

 

[karmapolizei]

I felt much the same as Jen with various CoD games. While the most powerful moment for me was the impression of being forced to kill and possibly die as a Russian soldier, watching soldier NPCs being shot by their own superiors at the beginning of the Russian Campaign in the first CoD, I found something like that in most CoDs. And it really is the franticness of combat, most of the time.

But I think the games fall short of their potential. Yes, these moments are there, as are all the elements Jen described. And they're not in the game by accident, they are intentional and meant to be seen. But all the same, I have the feeling IW also intentionally tones them down not to alienate their testosterone-laden audience. That's why CoD games, especially the more recent ones, only have hidden depths - and not actual depth as a focus of the design.

 

[Jay Miller]

I think it's funny that people found it "emotional" I guess in a Band of Brothers kind of way, but me? I just like to shoot thing and watch it explode/die.