May 05 2009
Second Opinion: Six Days in Fallujah
It’s been a week since Konami announced that it would no longer be publishing Six Days in Fallujah and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the game since. Despite the so-called controversy, I hope a new publisher picks it up soon.
It’s a gripping topic, a realistic look at an actual six-day attempt to drive insurgents from the streets of Fallujah, Iraq.
The game is being developed by Atomic Games and was scheduled to be published by Konami before Konami pulled out on April 27, citing the controversy surrounding the game. Another today.com blogger wrote about that decision with mock sarcasm as it occurred.
The controversy officially began after the game was announced, and it stemmed reportedly from veterans in the United Kingdom as well as a UK peace group called Stop the War Coalition.
The buildings are destructible, not because it’s a cool marketing gimmick, but because that’s how combat evolved in Fallujah.
Because the war is controversial to begin with, and because it rages on to this day, lots of people have dissenting opinions about whether Six Days in Fallujah should make it out of development.
But not me. I’m all for it, and it’s because of the attitude of the developers, their reasons for creating the game and the effect they hope it will have on people.
You should know that it’s a realistic game where you play as a member of the U.S. Marines, and some of the actual Marines have lent their likenesses to the game. The streets of Fallujah are a volatile place where insurgents are often drugged on adrenaline, hoping to be able to shoot back even after being hit by the Marines.
The insurgents wait behind closed doors for days, just for the chance to fire at a Marine who enters to clear the area.
And, like the Marines did in real life, players will learn to adapt to these conditions. For example, Marines used explosives to create new entry ways to buildings rather than risk being shot when opening a door.
It’s all in the game, and it’s all being done because actual Marines requested it be made.
In an interview with GamePro magazine, Atomic Games president, Peter Tamte, said, “One of the divisions in our company was developing training tools for the United States Marine Corps, and they assigned some Marines from Third Battalion First Marines to help us out.” However, a few months later, Third Battalion First Marines were deployed in Iraq for the Battle of Fallujah. Tamte said, “When they came back from Fallujah, they asked us to create a video game about their experiences there, and it seemed like the right thing to do.”
The insurgents in Fallujah dug tunnels and hid behind closed doors to surprise coalition soldiers.
By honoring the wishes of the soldiers and treating the subject with reverence, Atomic Games is creating a dramatic war game that is no less inspired than a book or movie would be when dealing with the same subject.
Better still, the developers are not looking to push a political agenda. They do not want people to debate whether the war is just or not. Nor are they attempting to glorify war by turning it into a video game. They are simply trying to show what the soldiers endured and it’s shaping up to be an enlightening experience that I would recommend to people so far, not just because they enjoy shooting games, but moreso because of their interest in learning about the war in Iraq. In that regard, I expect it to be a polished and enriching experience.
I hope the developer can live up to that goal, and I hope a publisher has the courage to support it.
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