author: Michael Pajda
War Games that aren't About Killing
War never changes. But perception thereof by players does. Here are nine games that deal with the subject of war in an unconventional way – rarely encouraging the player to behave like John Rambo on speed.
Table of Contents
- War Games that aren't About Killing
- 11-11 Memories Retold
- Valiant Hearts: The Great War
- WARCO: The News Game (unfortunately cancelled)
- Combat Medic: Special Ops
- Radio Commander
- Plane Mechanic Simulator
- The Snowfield
- Long Gone Days
Combat Medic: Special Ops
Combat Medic: Special Ops is surely the ugliest item in our lineup. Even in 2002, when the game came out, it didn't impress anyone with graphics. Remember, it was the year of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. But here, it finds a perfect spot. CMSO enabled us to take control of the medic, usually not considered a sexy subject in video games.
At first glance, it looked like a cheap mobile game from the age of Java, with isometric perspective, horrible textures, and terribly unrefined objects and polygons. But the production gained a lot of momentum once the fighting broke out. Our job was to find wounded soldiers, get them away to safety, beyond enemy fire, and try to save their lives. In that moment, the camera switches to FPP, showing to wounded soldier, whom we had to examine to judge what kind of help they needed. There was a different treatment for missing limbs, or different types if wounds. We could also use a broad range of tools and utensils, and we could also decide whether to evacuate the soldier or not.
Side note: PlayWay, the publisher known for undemanding simulators, recently announced their new game will be called MEDIC: Pacific Corpsman, and will be released in 2021.
