COMMENT: Battlefield 1 – Should we be making games based on real-life wars?
IN a few weeks time it will be the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme.
Battlefield 1 is a return to real-war settings for the DICE and EA FPS series
One of the bloodiest battles in human history, the almost five-month long struggle during the First World War left more than one million men killed or wounded.
The 141 days of combat turned a picturesque area of northern France into a living nightmare – with more than 19,000 members of the British army killed on the battle’s first day alone.
Those brave soldiers – the youngest of which was only 13 – faced hellish situations in the trenches and endured hardship the like of which we can’t possible imagine.
Gunfire shooting across their heads with bodies rotting around them and the threat of a horrifying, painful death always moments away – these heroes gave up so much so we could have our freedom.
Little did they know, that merely one hundred years later people across the world would be trying to re-live their nightmare from the comfort of their own homes for the purpose of having a bit of fun.
What brought this issue, which I have long harboured, to the fore for me again was the recent Battlefield 1 trailer
Video games have long used the First and Second World Wars as settings – from Atari’s Red Baron all the way through to the more recent Medal of Honor and early Call of Duty games.
And it’s never sat well with me. Games, by their nature, are (with the most minor exceptions) designed to be fun.
By setting a videogame in a real-life war it’s turning a recent event that left millions dead into an enjoyable experience.
Unlike films or books where you’re always kept at a slight distance from the action – no matter how engrossed you are, with videogames you are central to what is happening on screen.
Your character does not move, shoot or do anything without your input. Games have a way of placing you in the shoes of another and immersing you like no other medium.
The Battlefield 1 trailer features realistic graphics showing a soldier being killed by mustard gas
So when you feel like you’re reliving the D-Day landings in Medal of Honor, or at the centre of the Battle of the Bulge in Call of Duty – you’re meant to be having fun.
As we move into almost photo-realistic graphics and virtual reality gaming these issues will become even more pronounced.
In the near future, while wearing a VR headset you’ll be able to see a virtually life-like representative of what occurred during these horrifying wars.
You’ll see it all take place right in front of your eyes - with nothing to break that immersion.
You’ll be physically imitating actions, like reloading a weapon or hurling a grenade, that so many soldiers did moments before their death.
Battlefield 1 is set in the First World War - the trailer showed soldiers fighting in the trenches
Battlefield 1 Official Reveal Trailer
And it will be designed to be a fun, exhilarating and adrenaline-fueled experience.
What brought this issue, which I have long harboured, to the fore for me again was the recent Battlefield 1 trailer.
An admittedly slick piece of marketing, it has become one of the most popular videogame trailers on YouTube – with almost 40million views in the space of just a month.
But it summed up all my issues with videogames based on war in a single one minute and 20 second video.
Almost lifelike images of soldiers fighting in the trenches, mustard gas choking to death men – all to the backdrop of a dubstep song and edited to look like a Hollywood action movie.
Battlefield 1, coming out on the PS4, Xbox One and PC, boasts almost photo-realistic graphics
Battlefield 1 will also feature dogfights as well as combat on the ground
Battlefield 1 will be released in October - around the same time PlayStation VR is also launched
It just doesn’t feel right. This is a conflict which left 16million people dead, changed the shape of the world – and it’s being looked at through the eyes of a Michael Bay-style director.
Admittedly, this is only the first teaser trailer - and it may just be the marketing that is giving me this impression of how Battlefield 1 will turn out.
But such a seismic and horrific event in world history deserves and demands more respect and reverence.
Whilst anecdotal, and not reflective of what every youngsters thinks, we as a society surely owe it to today’s children and forthcoming generations to teach them better about what came before them.
As the years go by and the memory of the First and Second World Wars become more distant, we should not forget the sacrifice millions gave for us.
And we should never deny them the respect they deserve.