The Greatest Generation Makes the Worst Games

For game developers, Tom Brokaw’s labeling of the World War II generation as the “Greatest Generation” has had quite the impact. The soldiers who fought abroad and the volunteers who worked at home are justifiably revered and celebrated as national heroes, and as such, images of the “Greatest Generation” have made for a number of successful artistic endeavors, including multiple films and songs.

In gaming, though, that reverence has become something of a creative crutch—every year, more and more cookie cutter WWII-era shooters come out of mediocre studios because they sell well. Preying on patriotic sentiments and nationalistic fervor, WWII shooters have become a genre of their own. And this genre is definitely played out.

It’s easy to see exactly why so many developers have clung onto WWII as a backdrop for their games—cultural awareness of WWII has never been higher than following Saving Private Ryan in the late ’90s, and more recent conflicts have been more controversial in terms of how they have been portrayed by film and games. Plus, many lazy developers, looking to filter the war into an easy-to-understand and enjoyable narrative, easily romanticize the war by composing overly saccharine, uplifting scores and cinematizing many of the most devastating battles of WWII by removing much of the death and destruction involved.

There are six installments of the Call of Duty series that take place during World War II, and there are twelve Medal of Honor games set during the conflict. Developers Infinity Ward (Call of Duty) and Electronic Arts (Medal of Honor) have made nearly three times as many WWII games as there were actual years of WWII. You can see them sort of getting the picture—for example, Call of Duty 4 was set in modern times. However, rumors have already been circulating that Call of Duty 5 will take gamers back to WWII this fall.

It just reeks of laziness. How many different ways can developers mix the words “duty,” “honor,” “valor,” and “glory” in their games’ titles? Midway didn’t spend too much time coming up with the title of their 2007 WWII shooter, Hour of Victory, and judging from the game’s critical reception, nor did they spend too much time actually creating a quality game. It sold fairly well though, probably on its WWII cachet. Who’s excited for Battle of Glory: Finest Hour of Valor?

WWII has become the easy way out for too many developers. The story is already written, the battles are already designed, and the backgrounds that developers would have to spend time developing for their games’ characters and settings have already been established by the work of the Greatest Generation. It is no coincidence that the D-Day Invasion has become the WWII equivalent of the Battle of Hoth from every single Star Wars video game ever to be released. Just subtract most of the mass destruction from the battle, add flashy smoke and water effects, and you’re ready to go.

Developers have gotten away with this for way too long now because the Normandy Invasion has been made legendary by Saving Private Ryan. The difference between a film and a game, though, is that developers know a game where players die 60% of the time wouldn’t sell well. The horrific sacrifices of the soldiers are practically mocked as the player’s super character single-handedly breaks through the German defenses.

To make matters worse, so many games do a poor job of portraying the actual saddening narrative of war. The games fail to treat the seriousness of WWII with the dignity and respect it deserves. All the soldiers are stereotypical caricatures of the ones who actually fought in the war. Something even makes you feel somewhat uneasy about how the German soldiers are portrayed—and when the Nazis appear to be caricatured, you definitely know something is wrong. How many German soldiers actually screamed obscenities in German while simultaneously grunting and torturing American captives in every room of every building throughout every battleground in Europe?

Some developers have tried to move away from WWII—a movement of sorts began a few years ago to make the Vietnam War the new WWII, but the games were never as successful for one reason or another. With the exception of this year’s Call of Duty 4, games based around various unnamed Middle Eastern conflicts did not do nearly as well either. Interestingly, games based on the present day Iraq conflict never refer to Iraq directly whereas WWII games always mention the exact city in which the battles took place. Is this political correctness in action or is it representative of some sort of cultural comfort and acceptance with the physicality of WWII? In any case, perhaps the success of Call of Duty 4 may finally move the industry away from WWII.

Allied victory in WWII represents one of the greatest accomplishments of the American nation, but it’s time for game developers to stop capitalizing on the accomplishments of the Greatest Generation and focus on something else. If war is going to continue to be a big focus of games—and it probably will be—it would be best if developers stopped dredging up the past for their own financial gain.