The Problem with World War 2 Games...

BathorysGraveland2

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Hmm, you could have it set at the end of the war, in Berlin. The player and his companions are German soldiers fighting to stay alive through the city while running and gunning with Russian troops and witnessing atrocities being committed all over the place. You could be leading this small band, and have an effect on who survives, who dies and who may be captured and brutalised by the Russians. There could be a scene where one of the German soldiers witnesses the gang rape of, say, his sister and is powerless to help her, and your job is to try and prevent him from doing something stupid (such as killing himself, or becoming enraged and committing his own atrocities in retaliation). The ending could be about escaping Berlin and making a run for France, where they would be treat slightly better as POWs than being at the mercy of the Russians.

With the success of Spec Ops, I'm sure such a gritty, realistic depiction of war and the horror it brings would do quite well, and it'd certainly help establish that war isn't black and white, there aren't any good or bad guys. It would also be quite distant from nationalistic ego games that FPS have mostly become as well.
 

The Enquirer

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Maiev Shadowsong said:
I want a game where you play as an a war orphan somewhere in the North Africa, Iraq area. Hell, even Israel. The English come, stomp all over, then the Jews, then the Americans. Make it from the point of view of the victim. Show how the "good guys" and our war mongering culture creates generation after generation of death and loss, forcing people to defend their lives and homes from two sides in a conflict they didn't choose. You are both forced and driven to take up arms, to protect what little family you have left, to feed yourself. In doing so, you become another faceless "terrorist" and the cycle begins anew. Only this time, the "enemy" has a face and we show their plight. We show the real victims.
I wouldn't mind that too much, but at the same time it could end up being like a game set in Vietnam where you play the Vietnamese campaign and kill soldiers who didn't want to be there in the first place, which is just depressing. This is part of the reason I avoid the more recent modern war games. A lot of these people are just trying to defend their land in real life and I would rather not diminish that notion by killing them by the dozens because some guy is a terrorist (for sometimes undisclosed reasons) and we need to find him.
 

AlbertoDeSanta

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I remember doing a project on the Battle of Isurava in PNG last year, and thinking about it; that would have been pretty good. It's a largely Australian centered battle in WWII, but we don't get enough recognition in games based on real things.
 

Kyber

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Guffe said:
One setting I want to see is the player paying as Simo Häyhä from Finland in te WinterWar (a part of WWII)
That would be sweet, roaming the Finnish winter nights, taking down a few hundred enemies with a sniper rifle!
You mean a game in which you lie perfectly still for multiple hours, eating snow and trying to shoot far away russians with an unscoped rifle? Doesn't sound that exciting to me. Also, people might take offense with playing as, technically, the "bad guys". It is an interesting idea, but as a sniper game, it would be pretty boring, because Häyhä didn't really do that much of exciting stuff, he just lied down on the snow for most of the day and just shot a lot of russians.
 

Guffe

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Kyber said:
Guffe said:
One setting I want to see is the player paying as Simo Häyhä from Finland in te WinterWar (a part of WWII)
That would be sweet, roaming the Finnish winter nights, taking down a few hundred enemies with a sniper rifle!
You mean a game in which you lie perfectly still for multiple hours, eating snow and trying to shoot far away russians with an unscoped rifle? Doesn't sound that exciting to me. Also, people might take offense with playing as, technically, the "bad guys". It is an interesting idea, but as a sniper game, it would be pretty boring, because Häyhä didn't really do that much of exciting stuff, he just lied down on the snow for most of the day and just shot a lot of russians.
Yeah I know, but how many games are historically THAT accurate?
I mean It would be more moving around, and he didn't only lie in snow, he was up in the trees also for long periods of time :D

One thing you said in your comment confuses me. "playing as, technically, the bad guys"
A a Finn my view is a bit different, if you mean to say we were allied with the Nazis because we had a common enemy then I, politely, ask you to take a look back up to 40 years before WWII and the political situation between Soviet/Russia and Finland.
This was our own war, not some part of trying to help the Nazis, we were defending our own freedom!

EDIT:
Didn't notice you were a Finn until you commented me in the Nokia thread :p
I guess you know about what I tried to say then :D
 

exobook

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Soviet Heavy said:
A game based on the Battle of France could be amazing if done right. A desperate and failing defensive action against a foe who are revolutionizing warfare as they continue to press past static defense lines sounds like a great setup for a game. Sure, it's a foregone conclusion that the battle was a major loss for the Allies, but there is so much potential in there for a good story. You're not liberating France, you're trying to salvage what you can.
one problem the main characters in the game are going to be the french, and no one likes the french or for that matter the british much. Why do you think Saboteur turned the protagonist into Irish? And of course it doesn't have americans in it.

While it might be a good idea it just doesn't have the "hell yeah!" victory against the nazi's that most ww2 games seem to concentrate on.
 

Kyber

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Guffe said:
Kyber said:
Guffe said:
One setting I want to see is the player paying as Simo Häyhä from Finland in te WinterWar (a part of WWII)
That would be sweet, roaming the Finnish winter nights, taking down a few hundred enemies with a sniper rifle!
You mean a game in which you lie perfectly still for multiple hours, eating snow and trying to shoot far away russians with an unscoped rifle? Doesn't sound that exciting to me. Also, people might take offense with playing as, technically, the "bad guys". It is an interesting idea, but as a sniper game, it would be pretty boring, because Häyhä didn't really do that much of exciting stuff, he just lied down on the snow for most of the day and just shot a lot of russians.
Yeah I know, but how many games are historically THAT accurate?
I mean It would be more moving around, and he didn't only lie in snow, he was up in the trees also for long periods of time :D

One thing you said in your comment confuses me. "playing as, technically, the bad guys"
A a Finn my view is a bit different, if you mean to say we were allied with the Nazis because we had a common enemy then I, politely, ask you to take a look back up to 40 years before WWII and the political situation between Soviet/Russia and Finland.
This was our own war, not some part of trying to help the Nazis, we were defending our own freedom!

EDIT:
Didn't notice you were a Finn until you commented me in the Nokia thread :p
I guess you know about what I tried to say then :D
Yeah, I know what you mean, but we were techically axis, no matter how things really were. Even wikipedia says so.
 

Eliam_Dar

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I am tired of WWII games, I want a WWI game. Historically accurate if possible, with horses, tanks, biplanes, zeppelins, etc.
 

Dragoon

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I know it would cause an uproar but I would really like to see a game where we play as soldiers from the Axis side. If you started out as a kid living in the run down mess that Germany was and witnessed Hitlers rise to power, his speeches and the propaganda I think that would be really interesting. You make friends and join Hitlers Youth with them, grow up with them and then go to war with them.

I think that's what is missing, the camaraderie of battle and the fact that German soldiers were just normal guys just like the Americans. A lot of German soldiers didn't want to go to war but they did because it was expected of them and I think this needs to be explored more.
 

josemlopes

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To be honest I really like the typical Europe campaigns, those enviorments are so fun to fight in.

There is so much that can be done in the WW2 setting and I think that its incredibly balanced for a game, not every gun is an accurate automatic rifle like in modern day shooters, you basicly have the most balanced and varied gear in a game. Even the tanks are balanced being strong and slow.

Then there is that whole Wolfenstein thing with the paranormal wacky nazis that never gets old, thank god a new one is coming.

WW2 was such a bizarre event that can be stylized to such a level, I mean, this shit is real and it looks like something out of an action movie with a cartoonish villain:


And this is just the tip of the iceberg, they got way more "clearly we are the bad guys" things to use and abuse in a stylized game.
 

Daniel Kleeman

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Funny you should say that about the clearly the bad guys part. (while they WERE obvious badguys) some of our own behaviours at the time were also a bit... off.

My favourite example of this sort of thing from our own side was a magazine (TIME I think) with an article about an American serviceman who returned on leave and presented a Japanese soldiers skull as an engagement present to his fiance, who carried it around with pride and about how others should strive for such nationalism.

Some of the comments made by those who ran the strategic bombing campaign were also quite chilling.

Like you said it was a bizarre time.

On the original posters comment;

I'd also like to see what others have suggested in the vein of Spec Opps, particularly that Berlin one which sounds like a really interesting game, the general avoidance of combat and focus on staying alive rather than fighting or victory could even bring out similar suspense induced paranoia and fear like in Amnesia (though obviously not to the same extent).

The growing up and experiencing it from the other side pitch seemed interesting, I've always wanted to see something similar based upon a what if type scenario concerning the almost civil war in new South Wales, Australia in the late 20's if it had really kicked off. (thankfully it didn't)
 

SonicWaffle

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skywolfblue said:
The French Underground, it'd make for an excellent Assassin's Creed style game, blending in with crowds, stealthily escorting people past German patrols, blowing up Nazi bases, all that good stuff.
That has been made as The Saboteur, and it was dreadful.
 

Bertylicious

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Daniel Kleeman said:
Funny you should say that about the clearly the bad guys part. (while they WERE obvious badguys) some of our own behaviours at the time were also a bit... off.

My favourite example of this sort of thing from our own side was a magazine (TIME I think) with an article about an American serviceman who returned on leave and presented a Japanese soldiers skull as an engagement present to his fiance, who carried it around with pride and about how others should strive for such nationalism.

Some of the comments made by those who ran the strategic bombing campaign were also quite chilling.

Like you said it was a bizarre time.
"Bomber" Harris was a frigging murderer and he should have been put in prison. He had a lot of public support though. I remember my Father telling me about a memory when his mum called him and his sisters out into the garden to watch the bomber formations flying towards Germany.

"Now it's our turn!", she said, utterly delighted. Sickening really.

OP: I also think a game centered on the Sino-Japanese conflict would be good. All the games featuring the Eastern front show you can sell the story without having to include quick time events to sexually assault women.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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Alexander Kirby said:
Funnily enough they did make a game of The Great Escape back in... 2003 I believe. It was pretty mixed really; some missions were kinda fun but others were almost unplayable (oh dear god don't mention the shooting mechanics *shudder*).
Hmm, doesn't ring a bell. Found an IGN review, 5 out of 10. Low score blamed largely on the A.I; It was either dumb as rocks or omnipotent. Sad. Still, would be nice to have a POW escape game where it was almost entirely stealth based.
 

Soviet Heavy

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Bertylicious said:
"Bomber" Harris was a frigging murderer and he should have been put in prison. He had a lot of public support though. I remember my Father telling me about a memory when his mum called him and his sisters out into the garden to watch the bomber formations flying towards Germany.

"Now it's our turn!", she said, utterly delighted. Sickening really.
Wasn't Harris responsible for Dresden? Because I remember Bomber Command was pretty damn awful about selecting military targets in the wake of the Blitz.
 

Commissar Sae

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I'd love to see early WWII stuff explored more. Things like the Ghost Division, the fact that Germany was still using horses to carry supplies for much of the early war. I'd love to see some of those early French and Polish battles shown, complete with how woefully unprepared both armies were. On the other hand it would be awesome to play as a Polish cavalry charging around as mobile infantry units, or better yet being able to play one of the few Cavalry charges executed against German infantry units. That or maybe play as a Soviet Partisan, fighting a guerilla war behind enemy lines on the eastern front.

Playing as a German soldier would also be an interesting change of pace.