A
century ago, Europe
burned. The Central
Powers and Entente were
locked in mortal war, with
no hope of immediate resolution and haunting casualty
figures on both sides. From
the blood-soaked mires of
the Western Front, to the
blistered earth of the Middle East, to the broken battleships of Jutland, lives had
been lost in their thousands.
The First World War was a
time of horror, hatred, fear,
jingoism, pride, heroism and
cowardice. It gave us great
works of film and literature,
and an insight into the darkest corners of the human soul
- as well as events which
rocked the course of the
world to its foundations.
But despite all this, it has
not yet broken through as
a popular setting for video games. Despite all the
technical prowess which
prevailed at the time, the
massive slaughter in which
games so often glory, and
the attractive prospect of a
setting with no living participants (and therefore small
risk of controversy), the
War to End All Wars has
been depicted just 25 times
in games listed on Steam,
compared with almost 200
appearances of its later
cousin.
Perhaps this is down to
the geography of video
games. The United States
only entered the war a year
before its conclusion, and
despite sustaining 50,000
casualties doesn’t have an
iconic battle on the order of
Verdun, Vimy Ridge, Gallipoli or the Somme. Japan’s
involvement was fairly minimal, and in a theatre far
from the trenches. This lack
of cultural memory of the
war may explain its obscurity.
Whatever the reason, the
following games explore the
range of views on World
War I we’ve seen in our industry so far. Whether this
war gains more attention
with the release of Battlefield 1 we shall have to see.
Darkest of Days
I
n this independent shooter lurked a web of good ideas. The depiction of battlefields as
largely open areas rather than a succession of enemy-filled corridors was inspired, and the
game is up until now one of very few depictions of the Eastern Front in 1914, where Russian
soldiers fought Austrians and Germans in relatively open battle.
Unfortunately, the game was let down by its execution. Jumping back and forth between
WWI and the American Civil War left the storyline unfocused, and the game concluded with
a wholly unsatisfying monologue from a man in a room. The upgrade points were largely
worthless, and weapon choice, while accurate, was small.
If available in a sale, it comes recommended simply for its grim depiction of the Eastern
Front and its seldom-mentioned horrors.
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Iron Storm/World War Zero
I
t’s hard to determine if World War Zero is tasteless or biting satire. Set in an alternative 1964
where the war never ended, two essentially fascist power blocs slug it out interminably, until
you’re tasked with a breakthrough.
It’s a classic shooter, with the protagonist lugging around a large rucksack full of exotic
weaponry and blasting armoured enemies out of the way. If the game has any nuance in its
approach to war, it hides it very well indeed.
Yet we still get the sense that the war was hell, and at no point is it precisely gloried in in the
way we might expect from this kind of gung-ho adventure. It remains a cheap purchase for
PS2, and a curious slice of alternate history for fans of The Man In The High Castle.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
T
imed to coincide with the centenary of the Great War’s beginning, Valiant Hearts was
a hard-hitting tale of the stories behind the war. Following four protagonists on different
sides as they try to survive in a world descending into chaos, the cartoon art direction hides
a fascinating heightened reality style of storytelling.
More of an adventure game with puzzle elements than a straightforward war game, Valiant Hearts can proudly stand as one of the best examples of First World War drama created
in recent years. I