German Call of Duty "BEHIND THE SWASTIKA" Article

[Presley M. Cheshire]

Here is an article written by "PC Gamer" editor Dan Morris. You don't see to many articles broaching this subject in a positive light, my hats off to him. He brings up a scenario that I feel most WWII first person shooter fans have been hoping for. Playing an FPS from the Wehrmacht point of view. Personally, I can't imagine anything better as long as it holds up to the high game play and production values of "Call of Duty" or "Halflife 2". Hopefully, in the not to distant future, some quality development house will pick up the idea and do justice to a game from the Wehrmacht perspective.



All the Best! Presley

http://www.pcgamer.com/endboss/endboss_2005-03-03.html

[VonLuger]

Yeah I've been asking the same question for years...
you can play the German side in Close Combat series, Blitzkrieg series, Soldiers Hero's of WW II, codename panzer to name a few,, IL2 plus all other flight sims let you play as the German, then the Silent Hunter games which is only German...then some boob for FPS games thinks oh people wont like it people will be offended by it...yet ALL the other WWII genre games let you play as the German side...always wanted a 'Cross of Iron' FPS...my 2 cents

[Peter_Suciu]

The first reason why this isn't likely is simply because of how Dan Morris addresses this. Notice his choice of words:
"I asked the guys what consideration they had given to a German campaign -- a single-player set of missions played from the Nazi perspective."

As soon as you say "Nazi perspective" to the buyer from Walmart (note I'm not talking about you going into Walmart to buy the game, I'm talking about the person who decides what Walmart stocks) they'll decide NOT to buy it. Today Toys R Us won't sell "German Tanks" from 21st Century Toys. The boxs say "Tiger Tank" or "WWII Tank" but even the word "German" is removed.

I know (as a writer and game reviewer) that Dan Morris didn't want to say German twice in the sentence. But Morris (and I know Dan but not really that well) could have said "Wehrmact's perspective." I personally know several reviewers who won't play the Germans or Japanese in BF42. And I typically hear, "I won't play as the Nazis." Mind you, one fellow reviewer ironically has no problem playing the terrorists in Counter-Strike.

BTW, I've asked this same question to Grant Collier as well as Dale Dye about Medal of Honor, as to when there will be a German point-of-view in a single player campaign and the answers are usually that it is selling it. I can tell you that from the game makers point of view there has always been hope that the mod makers would tackle this, and that is probably where you'll see it first. The problem is that all those mods for Medal of Honor or Wolfenstein...most never came out. Multiplayer mods are easy, single player mods with campaigns are much harder...but I bet we'll see something soon.

And the biggest factor isn't "playing the bad guy" as Morris says in his article quoting Grant Collier. It is PLAYING THE LOSER! How do you successfully complete a campaign as the Germans. There needs to be victory and this is impossible with the Germans in the long run. At some point the tide turns and you surrender. That's just my two cents on the issue.

[Simon O.]

Again, i have to point to World War Two Online. There, more than half (unfortunately because it's a game which requires balance) the players play German. The largest, most dedicated squads are mostly German. The German side has 'won' far more times than the allied, that means pushed the allies into the channel and invaded England. It's no problem although you do occasionally get some people who ask why people like to play German.

[Blitz]

"Playing the loser" is a problem for germans, but I don't think it should be an overwhelming one. "Victory" can be considered anything from a full world domination, to a scenario where germany survives ww2 intact(witch would basically require a succesfull coup to remove AH). It's not what happened, but I've read enough history to be able to say that it's not out of the realm of possibilities. Almost every game that has had an option to win as Germany, was able to portray it in a convincing way and it always worked from a gameplay perspective.

Even if a playing as germany requires that it's based on historic facts, it still is workable. For example if playing as germans in the end at 1945, the last mission could be to rescue refugees fleeing from russian forces and lead them(besides your own team) to western germany and surrender to US/UK forces.

[Peter_Suciu]

Again, i have to point to World War Two Online. There, more than half (unfortunately because it's a game which requires balance) the players play German. The largest, most dedicated squads are mostly German. The German side has 'won' far more times than the allied, that means pushed the allies into the channel and invaded England. It's no problem although you do occasionally get some people who ask why people like to play German.

Yes, but Simon, the point is a single-player campaign. Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Wolfenstein, etc. all allow for you to play the Germans multiplayer. But there has been no scripted single-player campaign and I think it will still be a long time before there is one.

[stevezz1]

Yes, but Simon, the point is a single-player campaign. Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Wolfenstein, etc. all allow for you to play the Germans multiplayer. But there has been no scripted single-player campaign and I think it will still be a long time before there is one.

I must agree, an FPS from the German view would be great.
But to make a flowing, playable game the historical accuracey of the last few missions would have to take a back seat, allowing a German victory, a sort of 'What If' if you like. It might be quite refreshing.....I would buy it.....
But as Peter points out, it is pitching the end product to the stores making it freely avaliable to the masses.
Maybe if a large company like Ubicom got behind it some progress could be made.
But then look at IL.2., all the German planes are missing one little detail.....No prizes for guessing what that is.......
Paranoia after all these years.........

If you want a German point of view battle, on-line, take a look at Red Orchestra or Day of Defeat.
Steve.

[Peter_Suciu]

I must agree, an FPS from the German view would be great.
But to make a flowing, playable game the historical accuracey of the last few missions would have to take a back seat, allowing a German victory, a sort of 'What If' if you like. It might be quite refreshing.....I would buy it.....
But as Peter points out, it is pitching the end product to the stores making it freely avaliable to the masses.

There aren't any easy ways of getting around the "NAZI" attitude. Ignoring it doesn't work. The retail buyers aren't going to touch this game. Consider that the Das Reich SS figure for the Call of Duty game was pulled. This was an action figure! And Hasbro didn't make an enemy for their WWII D-Day figure that came out a few years ago. This is a hot subject.

What would be possible is for someone to do a WWI game from the German perspective. If that were possible, an "All Quiet" kind of game, then you could perhaps revisit the German view.

The other solution would be to play a German soldier and from MISSION 1 after a short introduction, you find out about the camps and then the game's plot is to kill the Nazi leadership. The problem here is that it is no longer a WWII game but basically a thriller set in Nazi Germany.

[Mark R]

You only have to see the amount of Mods for Call of Duty which aim at the German uniforms, weapons more than those of the allies.

Also BF1942 too?

[Blitz]

You only have to see the amount of Mods for Call of Duty which aim at the German uniforms, weapons more than those of the allies.

Also BF1942 too?

Yeah thats true in Bf1942 also. Forgotten hope is a good example, allthough it can't be considered pro-german, It's just fair on all sides.

[Simon O.]

I wonder if it's often a budget and dev time decision? Many FPS games are primarily aimed at MP with the single player part seen more as training scenarios.

[Chris Liontas]

I wonder how DAy of Defeat and Red Orchestra would stack up. Both have been very popular, if not mod of the year, and both let you play the German Side. In fact, when I play Red Orcestra, it is hard to get on the German side as it fills up faster.

[Peter_Suciu]

I wonder if it's often a budget and dev time decision? Many FPS games are primarily aimed at MP with the single player part seen more as training scenarios.

I don't think that is entirely true. If you look at Doom3 and Half-Life2 single player was really meant to be the focus for those games. Likewise Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and the upcoming Call of Duty 2 have very detailed campaigns. I don't think you can say that even the original Medal of Honor had a single player that was "training." The exception is BF42 but that game is meant as a multiplayer game first and foremost.

It is worth noting that Wolfenstein and Pacific Assault also built multiplayer modes that were developed apart from the single player. This is because multiplayer can add to the life of a game. Half-Life sold for years because you needed it to play Counter-Strike as an example.

But I really don't think the single-player experience is done. EA just announced another Medal of Honor game. Dale Dye will be in it this time.

[Kelly H.]

I think players would embrace a game where the version might be from the German side of things. Its an innovative idea which is needed in the fps genre. However, the corporations and companies that put the money into the development of the titles won't take a chance against the negativity that could be generated from some groups regarding a game with such a “Nazi” pretext. IMHO