Hot Game 2009

The G4 award for most controversial video game of the month goes to Six Days in Fallujah. This documentary-style combat game for the PS3, 360 and PC is being developed by Atomic Games and released by Konami. It’s set in the Iraq war, and aims to give players as realistic a view of 2004′s Battle of Fallujah as possible. Atomic says it will not editorialize. But despite the game’s just-the-truth attitude (and the fact that all that’s been released so far is a concept, a title and some screenshots) just theidea of a realistic Iraq war game has angered a number of peace activists and military veterans

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Tim Collins, a former colonel of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, told Britain’s Daily Mail, “It’s much too soon to start making video games about a war that’s still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history. It’s particularly insensitive given what happened in Fallujah, and I will certainly oppose the release of this game.”

On the other side of the idealogical coin, Tansy Hoskins of Stop The War Coalition, had this to say about Six Days:

“To make a game out of a war crime and to capitalize on the death and injury of thousands is sick… The massacre in Fallujah should be remembered with shame and horror not glamorized and glossed over for entertainment.”

These are some strong opinions, but I doubt that the people who are most outraged by Six Days are gamers. To get the true scoop of the rank and file of the U.S. military, I contacted some gamers in the armed forces and asked them what they thought about Six Days.

Sgt. Casey J. McGeorge served three tours (36 months) in Iraq, and told me, “As a combat veteran and as a gamer, I have no problem whatsoever with the game…As long as it’s made as realistically as possibly, I believe that this could be a good thing for both combat veterans and for the war in general.”

While former Army Sgt. Kevin Smith worries that the game could be used by anti-war activists to further their agenda, he said, “Let it be made, and hopefully it will bolster support for military veterans by giving civilians insight into what this war was actually like for them.”

Marine Corps. Gunnery Sergeant John Mundy thinks the game might actually help Marines train. “I know Marines would use this as a tool to not only give each other knowledge on the battle itself, but also have another tool to get the Marines thinking about Rules of Engagement and such so that they can play the game together and maybe learn a thing or two.”

As for how civilian gamers will like a realistic depiction of war, Smith points out that real combat is not a game of Call of Duty 4. “You can’t just lob a frag down the street or launch a RPG at a couple of guys if you have to reload,” Smith said. “There are restrictions on what types of weapons you can use and when. Depending on what the Rules of Engagement were for the Marines in Fallujah, and if Atomic Games has consequences for violating them, I think some gamers might find it a little frustrating.”

Gunnery Sgt Mundy sees potential problems with the “humanity factor” that multiplayer would bring toSix Days if the feature ends up in the game.  ”You will have your group of idiots that try to be the terrorists and kill Americans and shout obscenities through the TV, damning American military personnel,” Mundy said. ”But hey, those individuals can make fools of themselves all because of the protection that we military people give them each day.”

Both McGeorge and Smith brought up a point that both the makers of the game and its detractors failed to mention: Perhaps playing a game that depicts war realistically will lead civilians toward a greater understanding of what military people go through during battle.

“It can be extremely difficult for the average person to understand why a person who returns from a combat zone may seem so jumpy and alert all the time,” McGeorge said. “The first time in the game they get too close to a car and are blown up; the first time they are killed in the game without knowing what is really going on, they might be able to get a small understanding of what we have had to go through on a regular basis.”

“A lot of soldiers have had a hard time readjusting when they return from war, and this has caused an extremely high suicide rate,” Smith said. ”I really hope that this title receives positive press and encourages more empathy towards veterans after gamers have ‘experienced’ what they have gone through. On a side note, I really hope this game includes co-op!”

Gunnery Sergeant Mundy summed up the feelings of the three military men we spoke to with this simple statement: “If someone doesn’t agree with the game, they can spend their money elsewhere.”

Given the endlessly bad press it receives, you’d almost think Grand Theft Auto was the ruin of Western civilization. But while its hooker-beating and indiscriminate violence come up every time some culture critic wants to rag on digital entertainment, gamers have their own reasons for liking it. Reasons like limitless freedom, unfettered exploration and infinite possibilities for running over old ladies at high speeds. And with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you’ll get more of that stuff than most people can handle.

Giving players three full-sized cities to go nuts in, San Andreas is the biggest chapter in the urban car-crime series, as well as one of the most convincing virtual worlds ever created. As former gangsta Carl “CJ” Johnson, you’ll explore the massive, fictional state of San Andreas, a California/Nevada hybrid complete with analogues of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, with miles of countryside and small towns in between. It’s all supported by an epic, misison-based storyline that takes CJ and friends from fighting lowly turf battles to pulling jobs for the CIA to planning a massive casino heist. And then, as the game winds down, they’ll finally go gun-to-gun with the people behind CJ’s misfortunes.

Until then, the gameplay is classic GTA, which means players are generally free to do as they please in a big, open 3-D world. Any vehicle you see can be taken for a joyride, and thanks to GTA’s mix of tongue-in-cheek mayhem and fine-tuned controls (when driving, at least), this is a hell of a lot of fun even when cops are chasing you around town (and they will, the second they see you doing something illegal).

The rest of the action still revolves around shooting or beating folks, and this is a little less enjoyable thanks to an auto-aiming system that locks on to the nearest person, rather than the nearest threat. Is there a gang member shooting at you from across the block? Too bad! You’re locking onto that old lady behind you, whether you want to or not. And since she’s behind you, CJ will just point his gun straight up until you turn him around. To be fair, San Andreas adds a first-person-style control scheme that makes aiming a little easier, but it still gets clumsy in firefights with squads of enemies.

Did you feel that the ending wasn’t satisfying? Did you find yourself becoming bored at higher levels? Here are your answers.

Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG, Fallout 3, is an amazing game to be sure, garnering near universal praise and game of the year honors from such outlets as Gamasutra and IGN. Just like every other game out there, however, it’s by no means perfect and for fans of the series, Bethesda has a lot of questions to answer. The most common of which being, “What was up with that ending?” MTV’s Patrick Klepek took three of these common grievances and laid them out to Fallout 3 executive producer Todd Howard.

Criticism the first is an odd one, being that when judged as a first-person shooter, Fallout 3 comes up short. Howard’s response is curt and to the point: “Agreed.” I hadn’t heard of this one myself, as comparing Fallout 3 to Halo would be like comparing Grand Theft Auto IV to Gran Turismo. Just because you get to race cars in the two games, it doesn’t mean that they should be held to the same standards.

The second criticism is one that a lot of players feel quite strongly about, which is that the ending isn’t very satisfying and, when compared to previous Fallout titles, it doesn’t quite stack up. “Based on the feedback I’ve seen, most people are pissed off that it ends, not the ‘ending’ itself,” levels Howard. “That’s another thing we’re changing in ["Broken Steel," the third piece of downloadable content due in March]. We really underestimated how many people would want to keep playing, so that’s probably the last time we’ll do something like that.”

For those unaware, completing Fallout 3 renders your current game essentially useless as you can no longer continuing playing with that character unless you made sure to hold on to a previous save. Reversing this decision via downloadable content opens up a whole other can of worms, specifically for PlayStation 3 owners. While Xbox 360 players have downloadable content to look forward to and PC users can easily modify their game to go around the ending, PlayStation 3 fans are essentially boned with neither option being made available to them. To be fair, its not as though these gamers weren’t given proper warning, as word came as early as July 2008 that Fallout 3 DLC would not be made available for the PlayStation 3 edition of the game.

The final criticism is that V.A.T.S, the auto-targeting system found within the game, is boring once your accuracy rating makes for easy head shots later in the game. Howard responds, “Depends on what you find entertaining. I like to blow people’s heads off, so, well, it never got old for me.”

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