I don't actually have that much of a problem with the CoD western-centric perspective on things: ok, yeah, constantly playing as westerners can get a little same-y, but the series is nowhere near the jingoistic pile of propaganda that detractors seem to want it to be: Modern Warfare 1, 2 and 3 are all rather cynical of war and the US's role within it (especially MW2, which was about America's manipulation of history to portray them as "the good guys" and the out of control military-industrial complex within the US).
The only real "'Merica, fuck yea!" of the 7th gen CoD games has been Black Ops (and maybe black op 2; I haven't played it), but Black Ops was so ridiculous all round that its political statement matters no more than that of a Transformers movie. I would actually argue that Medal of Honor and the (*gasp!*) beloved Battlefield (the main series at least)are both more guilty of this kind of attitude, as a whole.
Well to be honest, I would goble that up because I myself have been thinking about such a game. I also agree with most of the sentiments of the others posting on this thread, that the new faction can't receive the same gung ho portrayal that the US has been receiving from most of the video games this cycle. The change should highlight the technological difference between the two factions at war so that an influx of new tactics and scenarios could be introduced/created for us to experience.
It would depend how they they were portrayed, if they were still portrayed as dirty foreigners then I would not. But if they showed them to be human and did the same thing to the Americans instead of showing them as paragons of virtue and heroism then hell yes I would I could look past the dated gameplay for that.
i dont play it now so it doesnt really matter to me. also in fictional games/stories i dont care who the main role is. if it's americans or some other group, i wouldnt care. it's all about perspective, there are no good reasons for war and there are no heroes in war. the "bad guys" are the same as the "good guys" in their own territory.
hell it might be more interesting as an american to play as a different country for once.
I don't really care, seeing as this will probably just result in a palette swap rather than any meaningful change to the gameplay. But if it did genuinely explore different ways to fight as a different force and did it well, that'd be awesome.
I'd love a game where you have to fight as a guerilla of some sort, having to use hit and run tactics and needing to scavenge just about everything from the enemy. Operation Flashpoint: Resistance was a bit like this, the early levels were all about stealing stuff from the Soviets, then it kind of drops it a bit afterwards and you start fighting and doing levels more akin to the original game.
I recall in Call of Duty 1 & 2 the playbale character switched to a British and Russian perspective as well as an American one.
Also in Modern Warfare aren't the main characters British SAS? I mean you play as American Soldiers as well but they're never really the focus of the story and I think they're the characters that always end up dying...
...plus wasn't the main antagonist in Modern Warfare 2 an American General?
The point being are you sure this so called "America **** Yeah" attitude is really as prevalent as you say it is?
I would gladly buy Call of Duty: Rise of the Reich for the novelty of being able to play as a Nazi. I wouldn't buy it day one though and I'm sure the novelty would fade quickly enough. Honestly I'd like to see Call of Duty just say 'fuck it' and introduce a WW2 game where halfway during the Normandy Landing Aliens invade and force the Allies and Axis forces to join up so as to save the world. Hell, you can even add in a moral choice system where you can side with or, preferentially treat Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, Churchill, Stalin, etc so as to bring that person and their country into a Super Power position after the Invasion.
I don't actually have that much of a problem with the CoD western-centric perspective on things: ok, yeah, constantly playing as westerners can get a little same-y, but the series is nowhere near the jingoistic pile of propaganda that detractors seem to want it to be: Modern Warfare 1, 2 and 3 are all rather cynical of war and the US's role within it (especially MW2, which was about America's manipulation of history to portray them as "the good guys" and the out of control military-industrial complex within the US).
The only real "'Merica, fuck yea!" of the 7th gen CoD games has been Black Ops (and maybe black op 2; I haven't played it), but Black Ops was so ridiculous all round that its political statement matters no more than that of a Transformers movie. I would actually argue that Medal of Honor and the (*gasp!*) beloved Battlefield (the main series at least)are both more guilty of this kind of attitude, as a whole.
This. The first game has some criticism of US interventionism, Nuclear proliferation, and attacks the jingoistic American hero by killing him as a consequence of him acting like a hero rather than a soldier. The true stars of the story are the sociopathic SAS who torture and murder without pause, and who are expendable assets. The final mission is an actual Black Op (Black Ops had suprisingly few BLACK OPS in it) where the SAS team launch an assault on a nuclear armed facility held by the Ultranationalists.
They pretty much all die. You're left badly wounded on a bridge, surrounded by your dead comrades, and your badly injured CO
The second game has the US as the villain. The US military manipulates the entire thing, causing the war. The final boss? An American General.
The third game is probably the closest to the "America Fuck yeah" attitude that you'll find, but you'd be stretching to say that.
The games are certainly set-piece ladden monstrosities which have tended more towards film than game, but to call them jingoistic always makes me cringe. It's like those who criticised it have absolutely no knowledge of it. Funny that.
Would I play it from a different point of view? Yeah, sure. If you mean mechanically, play Harcore in Multiplayer, and you've got essentially that. If you mean, character wise, sure. I'd actually like playing as different protagonists. I enjoyed STALKER: COP because it had a nice setting, and was pretty interesting. Sleeping Dogs annoyed me because they saddled me with an American accented English speaking protagonist. News flash: I'm in Hong Kong! I wouldn't mind hearing some Chinese! I can handle subtitles. At the very least, some Chinese accents would have been welcome. That English was way too flawless (I work at a store with a bunch of Chinese immigrants.)
No, CoD has far too many other problems then racism.
First of all the games level design is awful. you walk a corridor that could not be any straighter only to be tunneled to the next fighting-stop, where you sit in cover and shoot at scripted targets like in a shooting gallery, with the exception that you reward is just another tunnel and another shooting-gallery. People who like the campaign are possibly distracted by some eyecandy-setpieces, but I don't care for that... at all.
Second, it is the way war is portrayed in these games and that won't change no matter what kind of soldier you play as, because it has got nothing to do with the nationality. this is something that must have broken a long time ago in the brains of the developers. Some cell up in there that usually tells people "hey, war is not fun and games, it is where people die or worse..." must be removed or damaged in order for anyone to be able to think of so much terrible stuff and make a game of it. There is no other explanation... even though I am scared of all those people loving those games to death :/.
Third it is the gameplay. Aside from the theme this game could be made for small children. Crosshairs fill the complete screen making is near impossible not to it anything, there is hand-holding right through the game till the last level, enemies never truly become a threat... and so on... There is this well done video showing what is wrong with CoD aside from the whole "war is great"-thing they have going on due to their braindamage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZtBCpo0eU
So would I?
No, because the complete concept of the game is downright terrible in a horrible way. So terrible in fact, that I can't even wrap my head around the game far enough to reach the racism.
The reason I don't play CoD is that it's just not my kind of game. I wouldn't care if they decided to invade America and call those guys heroes. I wouldn't experience it myself anyway.
However I like the idea of playing a game from the other side. It takes a lot to make it work though so it's hardly something I would trust the developers of CoD to do.
There's two sides to every story so... yes. At least it would be a breath of fresh air from the usual 'Merica, fuck yeah attitude. I'd just hope they didn't fall into the trap of characterizing all the major characters with tired stereotypes and ensure that it wasn't completely obvious that you were playing the "bad guy" (Assassin's Creed III being a pretty good example).
If they were somehow able to give both sides a reasonable degree of believability when it came to their goals (not just take over the world) then I think it would be amazing if they had a game where you played both sides. Maybe it could have a scene where the two characters you've been playing as for many hours meet and you have to decide which side is more right for causing/fighting this war and play that character to the end.
The game could have you playing as Hitler fighting against small children for all I care, as long as the gameplay is the same I really couldn't care less about the characters in CoD. I don't take CoD seriously at all, just sit back and enjoy the gameplay. To be honest, changing the characters/roles around in CoD really won't make much of a difference.
Mixed feelings really, Command and Conquer 3 did something like this when you played the terrorists. In a call of duty setting, I could never be a Chinese or a Arab/Persian but I could probably be a Nazi SS deathhead or a russian spetznas and keep a clear mind.
I remember playing a call of duty game one time. There was a building full of terrorists, so I decided to take cover behind a wall and shoot a few of the enemies until I felt it was safe to move in. I had hundreds of rounds of ammunition. I died a few minutes later when I ran out of bullets. Next round, I just ran into the house and they all seemed to have went away or died by my mere presence (or me crossing the checkpoint line). I had some other problems with the game, but I think it was then I decided that CoD wasn't for me. And waving a different flag isn't really going to change that.
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