WW2 Games from a Nazi Perspective...

[teebeeohh]

it's shooters that don't do this probably because people would want to play a reverse Normandy mission(trying to hold out against waves of landing allies and stopping them from getting off the beach) and shooting americans would not go over so well.
because most non-shooters allow you to play as the germans.
and i should mention that nazi is probably the wrong term for this since (unless you play as part of the waffen-SS) most german soldiers were just guys who got drafted. they were trying to survive and get home, like every soldier fighting a war (except maybe that crazy british guy)

 

[Meatspinner]

Hearts of Iron 1, 2 & 3. Grand strategy game

You can play as ANY nation during WW2. The Axis being the most mechanically fun to play (world conquest)

 

[Yopaz]

Seeing Bulletstorm was accused of making people turn into rapists due to an achievement called "Money Shot" I don't see this happening any time soon. For some reason the game industry is very concerned about their public image and don't want their name soiled by the media if they can avoid it.

It's silly since the games that stir up the most negative criticism from Fox News usually sell well because of their free advertisement about the game being awesome enough to make Fox name it hell spawn.

 

[katuysha]

There was a mod for Call of Duty (the very first one) called German Front mod that was to make a campaign where you played as a German soldier that was suppose to be about the emotions of fighting a ruthless and senseless war.
It's been cancelled for years now, but they released a single player demo where you defend against the D-day landings, it should be around somewhere.

Found a trailer
<youtube=KrJdD4PV-sk>

 

[Himmelganger]

It is obvious some of you don't know too much about 3rd SS-Division "Totenkopf". They were orginally drawen from the guard componant of the KZ camps, SS-Totenkopfverbände. Initially they were formed into Kampfgruppe Eicke, as part of the SS-VT. Eicke had instilled in his KZ guards an attitude of "inflexible harshness". This translated into the the behaviour of the men that were to make up the cadre of the future Totenkopf-Division.

That said, I am all for making games from the german perspective, I think that it would be a usefull tool into telling gamers about the brutal history of WW2. Because of the diffrence of the two fronts, the west/mediterranian front, and the eastern front, they almost play out as two very diffrent wars.

Lastly Rommel was not very good General, Major-General yes, but not General. His leadership of the 6th Pz Division was inspired, but when he comes to the desert he constantly outruns his logistical tail and care little for it. That is not the mark of a good general. In many respects he is glorified by the western allies as their "magnificnt bastard",whereas many of the really good generals of the germans, about 70% of the army, fought mainly on the eastern front.

 

[Baron_Rouge]

I'd play it. I mean, I don't think the soldiers are really to blame for the atrocities committed. It's not like German people were any more evil than the Allies, but psychological experiments have given pretty convincing evidence that people will do almost anything if an authority figure tells them to, or if they themselves are in a position of power. They could even make it a harrowing journey through the human psyche, like Spec Ops, as the player character is forced to come to terms with the horrific crimes he's committed.

 

[GoaThief]

I can just imagine the hordes of Nazi apologists coming out of the woodwork if this were to exist, you can see hints of it here. No thanks, I find their ideology one of the most terrifying things in the known universe, especially as it all happened within the last one hundred years and neo-Nazi (plus related) movements are gaining in popularity with each generation.

 

[MrPeanut]

It is obvious some of you don't know too much about 3rd SS-Division "Totenkopf". They were orginally drawen from the guard componant of the KZ camps, SS-Totenkopfverbände. Initially they were formed into Kampfgruppe Eicke, as part of the SS-VT. Eicke had instilled in his KZ guards an attitude of "inflexible harshness". This translated into the the behaviour of the men that were to make up the cadre of the future Totenkopf-Division.

Only initially recruited from Camp guards.

After manpower shortages came apparent, they took in just about anyone who could hold a gun, convicted murderers, court marshaled soldiers and even political prisoners from concentration camps.

 

[sextus the crazy]

There are some Axis Campaigns in Company Of Heroes and you can play as the Germans in one of Earned In Bloods extra modes.

I don't think we'll ever get one from a Nazi perspective, maybe a Wehrmacht soldiers perspective.

ninja'd on the first post. Of course.

OT: Because of the anti-Nazi laws in Germany and other such countries, it generally isn't feasible to release games that experience the war from the nazi german perspective, no matter how mature they are. Valkyria chronicles is the only "WWII" game that actually goes into depth on the whole "racism" thing (and that's only because it takes place in "bazi bermany" as Yahtzee put it).

 

[Himmelganger]

It is obvious some of you don't know too much about 3rd SS-Division "Totenkopf". They were orginally drawen from the guard componant of the KZ camps, SS-Totenkopfverbände. Initially they were formed into Kampfgruppe Eicke, as part of the SS-VT. Eicke had instilled in his KZ guards an attitude of "inflexible harshness". This translated into the the behaviour of the men that were to make up the cadre of the future Totenkopf-Division.

Only initially recruited from Camp guards.

After manpower shortages came apparent, they took in just about anyone who could hold a gun, convicted murderers, court marshaled soldiers and even political prisoners from concentration camps.

The espirt de corps of an fighting organization are formed by their founders, they set the tone for the follow on recruits that are taken into the organization and hence the nature of the unit is thus formed by its inital members, but it is true as you say that many of the replacements that were used to reconstitute the unit throughout the war were not men of the highest quality.

 

[exessmirror]

There are some Axis Campaigns in Company Of Heroes and you can play as the Germans in one of Earned In Bloods extra modes.

I don't think we'll ever get one from a Nazi perspective, maybe a Wehrmacht soldiers perspective.

ninja'd on the first post. Of course.

OT: Because of the anti-Nazi laws in Germany and other such countries, it generally isn't feasible to release games that experience the war from the nazi german perspective, no matter how mature they are. Valkyria chronicles is the only "WWII" game that actually goes into depth on the whole "racism" thing (and that's only because it takes place in "bazi bermany" as Yahtzee put it).

and even then you play as the allies

 

[sextus the crazy]

There are some Axis Campaigns in Company Of Heroes and you can play as the Germans in one of Earned In Bloods extra modes.

I don't think we'll ever get one from a Nazi perspective, maybe a Wehrmacht soldiers perspective.

ninja'd on the first post. Of course.

OT: Because of the anti-Nazi laws in Germany and other such countries, it generally isn't feasible to release games that experience the war from the nazi german perspective, no matter how mature they are. Valkyria chronicles is the only "WWII" game that actually goes into depth on the whole "racism" thing (and that's only because it takes place in "bazi bermany" as Yahtzee put it).

and even then you play as the allies

There's a "from the empire's POV" DLC featuring selvaria, but otherwise, nada.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

For one, as it was mentioned way up top was the Silent Hunter series in which it's not about how fast you win, but how slowly you lose.

Best case scenario for the fabled popular Nazi WWII shooter? Probably something along the lines of being a front line German trooper, pushed to go fight for his country by the harrowing depictions of German soldiers to fight for their country and the good of the world. As you progress you find war not as pretty as depicted but you still fight as best you can. Eventually you do something and become a German hero and are promoted into the SS. Your character quickly realizes that Hitler isn't this grand hero but a monster and everyone in Germany is being fooled. Knowing that slander against their great leader would be suicide, your character decides to flee to the Allied front and risk giving himself up to fight for the Allies. Along the way, you have a espionage-esque chase over several missions where you collect secrets and free rebels from the various freedom fighters and P.O.W.s (preferably not just Americans, if any) and gain support for not locking you away for the rest of your life and making it known that you're not a bad guy.

The one thing I know that wouldn't get by, but should, would be a No Russian style mission of your character's first day on the job with the SS. There should be a moment where your character is faced with a line of innocent Jewish people and you're forced to kill them, preferably through something extremely unnecessary like a flamethrower. You refuse? Your squad leader threatens immediate execution. Still refuse? Game over, because he just shot you. It would be his very poignant turning point and hopefully push that message of "not all German soldiers were terrible, they were told to do terrible things" deal, but also give insight as to how horrible some of the higher-ups in the Nazi army really were. As much as people want to gripe about something like this being a Jew-killing simulator and such, it needs to be said, lest we forget and history repeats itself.

The biggest problem? Gamers aren't mature enough for this game. Not yet. =(

 

[busterkeatonrules]

There are some Axis Campaigns in Company Of Heroes and you can play as the Germans in one of Earned In Bloods extra modes.

I don't think we'll ever get one from a Nazi perspective, maybe a Wehrmacht soldiers perspective.

Seconded. The leaders of Nazi Germany were as evil as they come, but most of the actual fighting was done by ordinary people whose only crime was having been born in the wrong country at the wrong time. These people deserve some acknowledgement.

Maybe someone should make a game based on author Sven Hassel [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SvenHassel]'s work?

 

[Baldry]

See I've thought about this and I thought it'd be good if that was the twist but it's kinda hard to do with Swastika's, German accents and other things that people relate the Nazi floating about giving away the fact you are a Nazi.

 

[Erttheking]

It's possible, but I probably wouldn't buy it if it was a cackling SS officer that had missions where you rounded up Jewish families to kill or how Hitler was actually a pretty cool guy. On the other hand, a game about a Wehrmacht soldier that's just fighting for his country, and doesn't even know about the atrocities being committed (Or Rommel)? Oh Hell yeah. I think it would be for the best though if it was set on the eastern front, and if the game took a Spec Ops the line approach to the horrors of war, don't just have a token shocking moment that says "War is Hell" have an overarching story and tone that says "War is Hell" and the eastern front could reflect that. Imagine those Soviet levels in COD World at War, where you just steamroll through the Germans and they're powerless to stop you...and imagine being on the German side. You're outnumbered ten to one, you're losing the war, and the Red Army is extremely pissed off at you and will stop at nothing to personally tear your throat out, even if it means charging your lines directly. Hey, they've got the numbers to handle those losses, you don't. I'd buy a game like that, though I would prefer it if the character was voiced and had a personality (preferably a sympathetic one because that's how I like my characters). So yeah, there is some potential for a game like this, but you have to handle it carefully.

 

[Angie7F]

I would love to play a game from both the German and Japanese perspective.
I know there are some out there, but i think the idea deserves more exploring.
If they can make good movie out of this topic, they should be ablt to make good games too.
kamikaze, Yamato, SS and Storm Troopers...Would be sooo cool.

 

[JochemHippie]

I would fucking love a game based on Sven Hassel's books.

As long as enough focus is on the story it'll be good, but if it ever happens, it's going to be a controversially bloody FPS anyway :/