why do no games feature 'the great war' (world war 1)

[shootthebandit]

im not suggesting we have a 'great war' shooter but a strategy game would be good.

in a strategy youd have to manage your trenches, use artillery, mines, try to flank with your navy, try to bury underground and the bomb enemy (actually happened), manage aircraft (biplanes/blimps)

its a much deeper war than we traditional believe, theres alot more depth to it than people running into a machine gun.

what do you think, would a 'great war' strategy have depth or not?

 

[JRCB]

It would pretty much be run toward the trench, run back, fight off guys charging at you, and repeat.

Not very exciting, in my opinion. Although I do want to see more World War One games (maybe a combat flight sim?).

 

[Klumpfot]

Because it isn't as interesting to most people. You didn't have the Nazis as the obvious bad guys, and the political climate that fostered it isn't as easily distilled, and so would be rather hard for mainstream audiences to digest (in the video game medium).
I would suspect.

 

[shootthebandit]

@JRCB thats exactly what i was trying to disprove as a shooter yes it would be like that but a strategy would be alot more deep with alot of focus on timing

 

[shootthebandit]

@klumpfot yeah i suppose it always comes second to WWII but there were some really unique battles. its a shame really that media as a whole neglects such an important war

 

[freedomweasel]

There were the old Red Baron games, I think Sierra made em? I loved that game so much, I'd probably by a new one of those.

 

[CitySquirrel]

It would pretty much be run toward the trench, run back, fight off guys charging at you, and repeat.

Not very exciting, in my opinion. Although I do want to see more World War One games (maybe a combat flight sim?).

There were the old Red Baron games, I think Sierra made em? I loved that game so much, I'd probably by a new one of those.

Exactly. The exciting part of WWI would be the newfangled airplanes.

 

[ShakesZX]

http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/world-war-i-games

here's a list of WWI games. Most of them are either mini online games, but there are a few for consoles

 

[Judgement101]

im not suggesting we have a 'great war' shooter but a strategy game would be good.

in a strategy youd have to manage your trenches, use artillery, mines, try to flank with your navy, try to bury underground and the bomb enemy (actually happened), manage aircraft (biplanes/blimps)

its a much deeper war than we traditional believe, theres alot more depth to it than people running into a machine gun.

what do you think, would a 'great war' strategy have depth or not?

Toy soldiers for the XBLA was WWI and I enjoyed it.

 

[snafu11485]

The problem with WW1 is that it was trench warfare and except for the early stages it pretty much ended up in a stalemate with most victories measured in yards rather than cities. There's very little technology to use, bi planes were mostly recon and could drop a couple of 25lb bombs, big explosions there (TIC), gas was quickly countered with gas masks on both sides, tanks were slow moving with machine guns as their main weapons, and nearly all attacks were front on infrantry charge into machine gun nests after an artillery barrage.
Yes there are significant battles and moments in WWI but it's extremely hard to turn into a game, even as a strategy game for the most part your only options would be artillery barrage, gas shells followed by infrantry charge and like in the real war hope that your artillery has destroyed the machine gun nests and created a hole in the line which you then need to defend against a counter attack which is kinda hard when you've pretty much got no defences as you've blown them up.
There are a few games out there that have tried WWI and most have failed. It's a hard war to create a game for especially when there are easier ones to make, eg WWII
Probably also the fact that the USA was only in it for just over a year so probably not a lot of interest from American developers.

 

[Pielikey]

Trench Warfare really sucked and wasn't all that fun. You would sit in a hole for days and days, possibly with some sort of horrible illness until the entire team runs forward and possibly getting killed, or the possibility of the enemy team doing the same. Basically a WWI game would be a Misery Simulator. Half Life 2 had a Mod, WWI source, which I never really tried. Look into it on ModDB or something.


Also, this thread has been done a million times.

EDIT: I just now realized you mean a strategy game. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that thread has been done a million times too.

 

[Irridium]

It would pretty much be run toward the trench, run back, fight off guys charging at you, and repeat.

Not very exciting, in my opinion. Although I do want to see more World War One games (maybe a combat flight sim?).

There were the old Red Baron games, I think Sierra made em? I loved that game so much, I'd probably by a new one of those.

Exactly. The exciting part of WWI would be the newfangled airplanes.

I'd love to play a Red Baron game.

OT: Yeah, it would basically be one big camping match.

 

[Worgen]

real ww1 wouldnt work well in a game since it was mostly trench warfare with poison gas but Im suprised no one has really made a horror game out of ww1 since it could work really well as the setting for it.
Think about it, some new poison gas comes out and it starts to transform solders into monsters or a zombie plague happens, or a rip in space time opens the way for an elder god to come in. I know that eternal darkness had a ww1 chapter but there is so much more you could do with it and since all the rifles were the bolt action type it could have guns but still be scary since you get a shot then it takes a bit to get another since the only real automatics were pistols or mounted machine guns

 

[Nomanslander]

Because with today's popular culture WW1 isn't very popular, back in the late 90s what sparked all the WW2 games was actually Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Since the war on terrorism we've seen a shift to a modern army setting mostly taking place in the middle east.

The sign of the times usually has a tendency to influence on mainstream culture, and within mediums like movies, books, comics, TV shows, and video games, they have a tendency to influence each other.

So another words the day a WW1 movie comes out and tops the box office is the day you might see more video games taking place in that setting being green lit.

 

[Lyri]

Must video games drag every historical period through the muds of indignity kicking and screaming?

 

[voetballeeuw]

I don't think crouching in a trench for long periods of time is very exciting. The only thing you would do was sit, shoot attackers, then charge the enemy line. Rinse and repeat.

 

[MagicMouse]

I just read "All Quiet on the Western Front". I don't think I could handle a WWI game, lol.

I recommend the book though...

 

[Snarky Username]

Because WWI didn't involve Nazis.

 

[mr_rubino]

Because WWI didn't involve Nazis.

Ding!
No centralized story arc.