Assymetric Warfare - the antithesis of Modern Warfare

[Blackpapa]

Most of us have played CoD and have an idea of what it's like. Most games on the market today feature the Americans as protagonists to a bigger or smaller degree. There are tons of games out there that feature a native English hero slaughtering colourful people. And while that's fine I find it to be a rather uninspired gameplay device, the coalition forces having vastly superior training, equipment, technology and funds.

This thread is about turning the table.

In case you haven't guessed it yet, I'm talking about a game where you play as an insurgent or leader of an insurgent cell. It could be set in Afghanistan or a generic eastern Val Verde, that doesn't matter.

There are so many unexplored gameplay possibilities here in compare to playing a coalition soldier. Since you're effectively outgunned and in a disadvantage you have to use underhand tactics, stealth and cunning to outwit your opponents. You'd daisy-chain IEDs to blow up yanks, undertake stealth missions to sabotage oil/city infrastructure. Not only that, there's huge potential for some interesting Alpha Protocol-like interaction and tension.

Discuss.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Haze could have been so awesome, it had such a promising premise.
Instead of changing gameplay, it just switches colors.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I dunno. You'd have to do something really differently to make it seem anything more than another FPS. Infiltration, enforced stealth, sniping and so on all crop up in FPSs as they are, a cosmetic story change wouldn't make much difference.

Like many things, it could be done well, but there doesn't seem to be a market for it as such. People prefer patriotic waffle with no hint of serious criticism of their nation's militaries.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well until the modern shooters came along you were always the underdog, so I really can't say we are missing choice in that area.

But don't go pushing the "play as terrorist" idea, people will tear you apart for it.

 

[TheIronRuler]

I dunno. You'd have to do something really differently to make it seem anything more than another FPS. Infiltration, enforced stealth, sniping and so on all crop up in FPSs as they are, a cosmetic story change wouldn't make much difference.

Like many things, it could be done well, but there doesn't seem to be a market for it as such. People prefer patriotic waffle with no hint of serious criticism of their nation's militaries.

You could have made Homefront a shining example of awesomeness as you playing an american guirella fighter. But no... mass graves and linear chest high wall filled levels. Bleh.
Most abrupt ending ever.

 

[TheIronRuler]

The closest thing you're going to get to asymmetrical warfare in an FPS game that I've seen is the resistance movement in Operation Flashpoint: Resistance. You're taking on the Soviets rather than the Americans, but the principle still holds. It's unfortunate that more games like this haven't been tried, but for what it's worth, at least it was tried once.

It is difficult to implement mechanics that aren't too foreign, make some sense and immerse you in the action.

 

[jakko12345]

Any game where The Americans are the bad guys would be instantly labelled a TALIBAN TRAINING SIMULATOR!!! and would never survive the controversy intact

 

[Thaluikhain]

You could have made Homefront a shining example of awesomeness as you playing an american guirella fighter. But no... mass graves and linear chest high wall filled levels. Bleh.
Most abrupt ending ever.

I don't think you could. Too much patriotic rubbish, which wouldn't really allow for development of the grey area of guerilla warfare.

For example, during WW2, the UK recruited various people into what would have been a resistance force if the Germans had occupied them. Unknown to the recruiters, the first thing the resistance would have done would have been to murder them all, because they knew their identities.

Stuff like that would really be necessary to give the right atmosphere, but it wouldn't be palatable for your flagwaving FPS shooter market.

[small]A German occupation of the UK in WW2 would be a decent setting for such a game, except the Germans had no chance of actually pulling it off[/small]

 

[Stilkon]

Any game where The Americans are the bad guys would be instantly labelled a TALIBAN TRAINING SIMULATOR!!! and would never survive the controversy intact

I'm afraid this might be true. Unless it was about a war that didn't involve the US. Wasn't there the Ruso-Japanese war before WWII?

 

[TheIronRuler]

You could have made Homefront a shining example of awesomeness as you playing an american guirella fighter. But no... mass graves and linear chest high wall filled levels. Bleh.
Most abrupt ending ever.

I don't think you could. Too much patriotic rubbish, which wouldn't really allow for development of the grey area of guerilla warfare.

For example, during WW2, the UK recruited various people into what would have been a resistance force if the Germans had occupied them. Unknown to the recruiters, the first thing the resistance would have done would have been to murder them all, because they knew their identities.

Stuff like that would really be necessary to give the right atmosphere, but it wouldn't be palatable for your flagwaving FPS shooter market.

[small]A German occupation of the UK in WW2 would be a decent setting for such a game, except the Germans had no chance of actually pulling it off[/small]

If the Americans didn't bomb the massive rocket launcher the Nazis put up in northern France, It could have raised all of Britain.
EDIT: the name's the V3 cannon.
.
I think that playing as the french resistance is more viable, or as one of the russian/ukranian partisans in the east.
The French suffered greatly under the Nazi regime. For example, when a german soldier would go missing, they would yank a dozen civilians and publicaly execute them. Damn.
The Partisans had to counter the elements in the east, which is equally difficult and life threatening.

 

[Stilkon]

A German occupation of the UK in WW2 would be a decent setting for such a game, except the Germans had no chance of actually pulling it off.

What about a game about the German occupation of France? Or better yet, a game about smuggling scientists out of Nazi Germany?

 

[TheIronRuler]

A German occupation of the UK in WW2 would be a decent setting for such a game, except the Germans had no chance of actually pulling it off.

What about a game about the German occupation of France? Or better yet, a game about smuggling scientists out of Nazi Germany?

Just make a damn game about nazis fleeing Europe through Milan.
Here, there's your controversy. Humanize Nazies.

 

[Thaluikhain]

If the Americans didn't bomb the massive rocket launcher the Nazis put up in northern France, It could have raised all of Britain.
EDIT: the name's the V3 cannon.

According to the people that built it, yes. The Nazis liked their wonderful weapons at wonderful cost which almost maybe might do something.

...

A French resistance operative would be a good choice, but I was thinking more of how game characters get made. A British character more likely than anyone else who isn't a USAlien.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well until the modern shooters came along you were always the underdog, so I really can't say we are missing choice in that area.

But don't go pushing the "play as terrorist" idea, people will tear you apart for it.

I've never actually understood that.

Two sides to every conflict, it would be interesting to have a story centered around the other side.

I completely agree, but people are quite fanatic with their beliefs, so offering to kill the "good guys" will always turn into a huge hissy fit, so it's best to keep things fictional.

But it could be a huge story device when showing both sides are just people following some strange ideal.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Actually, C&C was supposed to be like that. A first world western military vs third world terrorists, except they have crazy technology.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Well until the modern shooters came along you were always the underdog, so I really can't say we are missing choice in that area.

But don't go pushing the "play as terrorist" idea, people will tear you apart for it.

I've never actually understood that.

Two sides to every conflict, it would be interesting to have a story centered around the other side.

I completely agree, but people are quite fanatic with their beliefs, so offering to kill the "good guys" will always turn into a huge hissy fit, so it's best to keep things fictional.

But it could be a huge story device when showing both sides are just people following some strange ideal.

These days, there is no damn good guy.
If there is one, then you're forcing that role upon him.
All commit crimes, all kill - the casus beli makes no difference, neither does the charisma of their leaders.

 

[Cyanin]

Parents - "You're training my children to be terrorists!"
Patriots - "This game supports terrorism!"
Politicians - "We won't support people supporting terrorists!"

This game, as interesting an idea as it is, would be razed to the ground under a clusterfuck of do-gooder objections. It couldn't work.

That said, I'm near certain it's been done before in different guises.

I think my objection with a game like that would have to be that with uprising's in general there's a lot of cruelty. By and large, coup's are not bloodless. You can't make a game about a coup and supporting this random army without adding the good oul grit and realism we all know and love. If you did make a game omitting those crimes, you're bordering on propaganda.