Top Three Politically Charged Games Coming Soon
#3- Haze
Another upcoming addition to Ubisoft’s ambitious next-gen initiative is a title that first debuted at E3 this year. While details on Haze are still (oh dear) hazy, what we do know leads us to believe the game is shaping up to be a politically charged action title. Haze is set 25 years in the future and stars Jack Carpenter, a newly enlisted solider fighting in South America for a private military firm called Mantel. But the Mantel corporation seems to be behind a darker conspiracy; from what we gather using mind control on its fighters. When Carpenter goes haywire and overcomes his, will he enact revenge on the true villains?
The development team, Free Radical, is best known for its well-received console action title, TimeSplitters. While TimeSplitters was a tad more light-hearted, the theme of Haze is much darker and foreboding. With a formula ripe for commentary on the state of worldwide military affairs, Haze is gunning for a 2007 release.
#2- Alliance: The Silent War
Alliance: The Silent War was undoubtedly the sleeper hit of this year’s E3. The gorgeous visuals and addicting gameplay might win gamers over, but the reason why the game made this list is simple: its storyline is centered on a shadowy, behind-the-scenes organization responsible for major armed conflicts throughout the 20th century. The player will journey from the trenches of WWI to the sands of the current-day Middle East, not only blazing his way through with a staggering array of accurately modeled weaponry, but also slowly unraveling the truth behind this global conspiracy.
We’re impressed with the ambition Windwardmark has for its premiere title. Alliance is still very much early on in its production and shouldn’t be expected before 2008. Look for an in-depth preview soon.
#1- Mercenaries 2
It doesn’t take much for games to piss off certain lawyers and politicians in the US. But you know a game has really got something going for it when it manages to enrage the president of a foreign country. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames made headlines late in May, not for its unique gameplay or impressive visuals, but because Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez found its content to be objectionable.
The game itself does in fact center around the elimination of a “power-hungry tyrant†who has a solid grasp on Venezuela’s oil supply, thus turning the country into a war zone between guerilla fighters and those hired to protect certain interests. The message hit a bit too close to home for Chavez, who boldly declared that the game was one of Washington’s campaigns to foster support for an actual invasion.
Pandemic denied the allegations (which was probably not even entirely necessary) with this statement issued by Greg Richardson, the studio’s VP of commercial operations: “Pandemic has no ties to the US government. Pandemic Studios is a private company, focusing solely on the development of interactive entertainment.â€
Whatever the case may be, one can’t deny the underlying political themes behind Mercenaries 2. So much so, that a publicist for Pandemic went on the record to state that the team “always wants to have a rip from the headlines†and added “although a conflict doesn’t necessarily have to be happening, it’s realistic enough to believe that it could eventually happen.†We’ll be wrecking havoc with this one sometime in 2007.
Related Stories
Comments
One Response to “Top Three Politically Charged Games Coming Soon”
Leave a Reply
-
Top News
Latest Articles
Listen to Primocasts
Newest Previews
Recent Reviews
Fresh Media
-
Sponsor
Links
[…] You’ll need to suppress your destructive inclinations a bit longer, as Mercenaries 2: World in Flames developer Pandemic revealed today that the game has been pushed from a late 2007 release to the first quarter of 2008. Allegedly, they just need the extra time to give the game that extra layer of deliciousness, but I think it has something to do with Hugo Chavez. […]