Zero Punctuation: Enemy Front & Valiant Hearts: The Great War

[Frankster]

He raises an interesting point. Given that we have so many war games out there, why ISN'T the First World War depicted more often?

Interesting. I've always wanted to see more of WWI in games.

http://armorgames.com/play/2267/warfare-1917

Although just a flash game, this is the best ww1 game I've found so far when it comes to capturing the feel of the setting.

Also I believe a ww1 shooter game can work..So long as you ain't attached to a single protagonist. Rather the entire point of the game is as soon as you're killed during some mass charge across no man's land you'd immediately shift perspective to another soldier in the assault. You have like 100 troops, if they all die, then its game over.
If one of your soldiers makes it to the enemy trench and clears it, you win the level.


Hard mode would be you do it with no ammo, to correspond with RL ww1 tactics where french generals would take away ammo from their troops to prevent them from stopping and firing, so they would have no choice but to keep running straight on to bayonet the enemy. Remember this next time people say french are cowardly surrender monkeys

 

[geier]

A game about WWI? What an interesting twist. Maybe even interesting enough to be worth checking out. I think it even got a recommendation.

really? you are blaming school shootings on gun control?

No, he's saying that because people oppose gun control so violently, we haven't been able to effectively stop them.

mental illness is the cause of the shootings.

So why not put restrictions on gun access for the mentally ill?

*NRA wackspin
"But that would encroach on the mentally ill's right to keep and bear arms"

Right, so we have established that there are people who frankly shouldn't ever have access to firearms, but you give them firearms regardless because of the 2nd amendment.

Great plan buster.

Have you ever actually heard this argument from the NRA? I highly doubt it.

No, the problem is that the USA has a shit history with regards to Mental Illness. You can't just say "anyone mentally ill can't have a firearm" because literally 25-30% of americans are mentally ill at some point during any given year. Most of those are never diagnosed, and most recover from their illness given time.

It takes a LOT of time and effort to prove someone is mentally ill and a danger to themselves and others. Time and effort that must come from the mentally ill persons' friends and family - which are far more likely to try and resolve the problem themselves - if they even notice it. We lack the fundamental foundations for even building a nation-wide mental health service; and an aversion to anything even resembling starting one.

There is a HUGE social stigma when it comes to mental health problems - and suggesting that someone should go see a shrink before they do something - say, like getting a driver's license (vital IMO) or buying a firearm (literally an enshrined right in the constitution) is considered little short of defamation of character. I had been hoping that this would begin to shift due to all the obviously crazy people causing harm - but no, all I see are people whining about how guns are killing people and how assault weapons (which have claimed only a tiny fraction of firearm fatalities in the US) need to be banned. I might even support that last one, even going against statistics, if "assault weapon" wasn't defined by how scary something looks.

Gun control is not the answer. Here in germany we have one of the most restrictive gun laws of all democratic states in the world. And still we had more school shootings than every other country in europe.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Democrats want to curb gun violence by outright banning Assault Rifles, which is humorous considering how pistols are used in the majority of gun violence in the US. Oh sure, there were some school shootings and such with nuts armed with assault weapons, but the statistics tell you that semi-automatic rifles aren't nearly as destructive as democrats will have you believe.

Er...not quite.

Assault rifles (which have automatic fire capability) aren't assault weapons (which don't).

Semi-automatic rifles (which may or may not be assault weapons due to whether they have barrel shrouds or bayonet lugs or stuff) are very destructive (the standard battle rifle for most commonwealth nations was one until relatively recently, the inches FAL), but pistols are favoured by criminals for other reasons.

Personally, I favour gun control, but I do wish certain prominent gun control advocates in the US would take the time to do...any...research on what the hell they are talking about. Though, apply that to quite a few politicians, I guess.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Gun control in America has been tried and every single time it has made gun violence in that area even worse. *cough*Chicago*cough* And you wonder why we oppose it?

We HAD stability in the middle east, just like we had stability in Vietnam. And then we decided to hand our victory over for no good reason (again) by leaving long before the region was able to take over for its own stabilization and we wonder why the region collapsed?

God, I hate hearing about politics here. It's not funny and it's generally inaccurate.

Because you can't "try" gun control in an area, because people just as easily get their guns from the surrounding areas.

 

[PCPLX]

Lol Yahtzee, stick to the videogames "mate". Your grasp of American politics is tenuous at best.

 

[Xman490]

The light noise in the background was really distracting. I'm not sure if it was Yahtzee not caring to record at some other time, or if it's a metaphor for war games in general. They're just white noise, and such is this review. I don't remember anything from the second half, besides something about Valiant Hearts using Guitar-Hero-esque QTE segments galore.

So I guess there's no hope for a ZP of Mario Kart 8? I mean, it would be more interesting and fun to Yahtzee than these war games, even without multiplayer. And yet he still ignores it, like he did with Pokemon.

 

[Zombie Badger]

Sometimes you people just make it too easy.

Yeah, I'm just running on autopilot by this point to see if anyone has come up with a new argument in the last five years.

 

[Flatfrog]

"Why do you keep calling it 'World War one?'"

"You'll see... you'll see"

A surprising fact from a QI episode some time back is that the First World War was called that before there was a Second World War.

 

[Johnson McGee]

I liked the idea of Valiant Hearts much better before I heard the words "Published by Ubisoft" and "Uplay".

 

[Vareoth]

Valiant Hearts looks like it has so much potential. The gameplay looks a bit disappointing though. As such I'm going to wait until it's on sale.

I don't think I want to talk too much about gun violence. If a majority of the people want guns, society should expect the logical consequences. It might simply be to late for gun restrictions after so many years of free distribution in the US. And since I don't live in the USA its not my prerogative to judge whatever national gun policies they deem acceptable.

But personally, I'm quite happy with the extremely restrictive system we have in the Netherlands.

 

[fight me in space]

Because you can't "try" gun control in an area, because people just as easily get their guns from the surrounding areas.

And if they can't do that they can just make their own guns [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/jeweller-angelos-koots-admits-to-making-submachine-guns-at-his-seven-hills-home-and-supplying-them-to-bikie-groups/story-fni0cx12-1226760983916]

 

[Aardvaarkman]

This might be completely off-topic, but did anyone else hear a kind of low fainting grinding noise in the background? Like someone was turning the crank on an old style backpack radio or the like? I swear I did...

I think I heard a pig fainting.

Yeah, after the second watching, I had to turn up the volume to hear it better and yes, those were crows in the background.

Are you sure they aren't ravens?

 

[Aardvaarkman]

A surprising fact from a QI episode some time back is that the First World War was called that before there was a Second World War.

Why is that surprising?

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

That's disappointing that Valiant Hearts is through U-Play.
Step 3) Wait for U-Play to load up pointless things.

 

[Flatfrog]

A surprising fact from a QI episode some time back is that the First World War was called that before there was a Second World War.

Why is that surprising?

Well, most people would assume that no one would use the phrase "First World War" until there was another one to compare it with. It's not *quite* as illogical as it sounds, but it does require a change of meaning from 'the first of the two world wars' to 'the first war that involved the whole world'. Except that it's a misnomer, since it was pretty much a European war, really.

 

[HalfTangible]

Gun control in America has been tried and every single time it has made gun violence in that area even worse. *cough*Chicago*cough* And you wonder why we oppose it?

We HAD stability in the middle east, just like we had stability in Vietnam. And then we decided to hand our victory over for no good reason (again) by leaving long before the region was able to take over for its own stabilization and we wonder why the region collapsed?

God, I hate hearing about politics here. It's not funny and it's generally inaccurate.

Because you can't "try" gun control in an area, because people just as easily get their guns from the surrounding areas.

Then why do gun control advocates try gun control and then claim that it works when it clearly doesn't? (see: gun-free schools)

Why does gun violence fall when conceal-carry laws are passed?

Why is it claimed that the problem is we don't have enough gun control, when passing gun control just makes the situation worse, as you admit?

And - perhaps most importantly - why are we ignoring the very real problem of gun confiscation AFTER it's been tried in at least one state (Connecticut)?!

 

[Aardvaarkman]

Well, most people would assume that no one would use the phrase "First World War" until there was another one to compare it with.

Why would people assume that? When you buy your first house, you're very much aware that you've bought your first house. Buying a second house is not necessary to that awareness.

 

[Madd the Sane]

mental illness is the cause of the shootings.

Not always. Also, the easy access to guns in America is the prime cause of school shootings. Hard to shoot up a school if you can't access a gun.

Due to the amount of guns already in the US, the only way to get rid of them all is to go all totalitarian, and that doesn't appeal to me. The argument of "If everyone has guns, nobody shoots each other" is also false because yes, some people aren't that stable. Not allowing guns is, in many ways, an open invitation to your establishment saying "We won't fight back." Call the cops? I wouldn't be surprised if they are trained not to go into situations like that when the gunmen have access to hostages like that. And after the robbers (if you're lucky) or gunmen (if you are unlucky) leave, you are out of money and/or employees. Security? Great, one more person to pay.

And then there's the illegal angle. Having a gun is illegal? Criminals don't care. If guns were made illegal, then two people would have guns: police, and criminals.

So why not put restrictions on gun access for the mentally ill?

*NRA wackspin
"But that would encroach on the mentally ill's right to keep and bear arms"

Right, so we have established that there are people who frankly shouldn't ever have access to firearms, but you give them firearms regardless because of the 2nd amendment.

Great plan buster.

"Well, if you want a gun, you're mentally ill and a threat to society. So no gun for you!"
That said, if someone is very unstable as to be a threat to society, no, I don't think they should have a gun. But should someone decide to change the definition of mentally ill to "Does not agree with my ideals," then we have a problem.

Contrary to popular belief, the US doesn't hand out guns to anyone who wants them. All legal guns have serial IDs or some other identifying factor to make tracking it easier.

He raises an interesting point. Given that we have so many war games out there, why ISN'T the First World War depicted more often?

Because trench warfare isn't that fun to play. You want to go out of the trench and gun the opposing team? They'll shred you to ribbons.

addendum:

Well, most people would assume that no one would use the phrase "First World War" until there was another one to compare it with.

Why would people assume that? When you buy your first house, you're very much aware that you've bought your first house. Buying a second house is not necessary to that awareness.

World War 1 was originally called The Great War or The War to End All Wars. This obviously didn't happen.

 

[Madd the Sane]

Republicans think any and all gun control is bad, which is idiotic considering how some of the proposals are reasonable (is requiring gun owners to also own a gun safe so fucking bad? IS IT?)

Democrats want to curb gun violence by outright banning Assault Rifles, which is humorous considering how pistols are used in the majority of gun violence in the US. Oh sure, there were some school shootings and such with nuts armed with assault weapons, but the statistics tell you that semi-automatic rifles aren't nearly as destructive as democrats will have you believe.

Re: Gun safe. I can see why they don't want to do it: it's one more thing to buy, and if it is required to own one, companies and stores can price-gouge the living daylight out of any legal gun owner. This is happening with Verizon and Comcast in the USA because of their stranglehold on most of US's internet.
Re: assault rifles: IIRC, they are trying to ban them based on looks, which is really stupid. The way to get around it: change how it looks.

 

[Miles Maldonado]

World War One would make a decent game to have an RTS in, but on the topic of setting an FPS in it most people don't quite realize WWII was a much, much wider conflict than the French front - there was fighting almost literally in every corner of the globe save for the Americas offhand, and covering fronts often overlooked (like Africa or the the Middle East) that would work for a first person shooter. Heck, there are a fair amount of flying games set during World War I that came out a LONG time ago - Red Ace Squadron anyone?

I think Valiant Hearts sets a good precedent by being the first "big" World War I game and making it about the people involved in it, even if they aren't soldiers.