I thought the controversial first-person survival/shooter gameSix Days in Fallujahwas dead over a decade ago.
At the time, I felt its cancellation was good riddance to bad rubbish.
But today I learned its back on schedule for a 2021 release.
My complete disdain for this title has a bit more nuance today.
I enlisted in the US Navy exactly 21 years ago today, on 17 February 2000.
I knew at least two of the US Marines who died in the 2004 battle the video game portrays.
It was weird to imagine playing a video game based on a war my friends were still fighting in.
Its still weird today, especially considering the US is still fighting conflicts related to that war.
But I wasnt in theater during the events portrayed in theSix Daysgame.
Background
2004 was the yearThe Sims 2debuted on PC and Shrek 2 dominated movie theaters worldwide.
The majority of us believed we were liberating a people and protecting global freedom.
Games
Today, I woke up to learn thatSix Days in Fallujahis back.
After becoming mired in controversy, development on the game was stalled and it was canceled in 2009.
Now its slated to be released sometime this year.
Ive scoured articles from today and 2009/2010 to find an appropriate description of the game and why it exists.
And that is, its not about the politics of whether the U.S. should have been there or not.
Were focused now on what actually happened on the ground.
The games been dubbed a survival game and a first person shooter.
But what actually happened on the ground, cant really be shown in a video game.
At least not unless that video game faces civilian death head-on.
To this, I respond with traditional military jargon: Bullshit.
Six Days in Fallujahisnt the first game to convey a controversial period of conflict.
Outside of gaming, there are countless movies and books about every possible facet of war.
Yet seldom are the creators behind these films and texts accused of whitewashing or glorifying atrocity.
Hell,Call of Dutyrecently revisited WWII and hardly anybody batted an eye.
So why isSix Daysdifferent?
Because, inmyopinion, its a disingenuous piece of propaganda.
We have to give players the context for why theyre in the city, why this battle exists.
There were very specific things that led up to the battle for Fallujah.
None of this adds up.
you might describe the events of a war without making a political statement.
The classic Battleship game does a fine job of that.
But neither of those games trucks in controversy because theyre not willfully peddling a soldier-porn emotion simulator.
The problem
We know war is horror.
There are no good guys, in war, no matter the conflict.
In World War II, for example, more than 400 thousand German civilians were killed by allied bombs.
Thats nearly half a million innocents killed in response to the Reichs war atrocities.
Six Dayswill apparently focus on squad-based tactics.
The second battle of Fallujah didnt happen in the streets or deserts of Iraq.
It happened in houses, apartments, and shelled-out business buildings.
Hence the survival horror claims made by its devs.
This particular war game just seems to be a Muslim slaughter simulator dressed up as a historical battle sim.
I like war games.
Approximately 1,200 insurgents were killed in the second battle of Fallujah, butmore than 800 civilians died as well.
The firefighting that occurred in Fallujah wasnt the kind of battle you see in big budget war movies.
It was defined by short, sporadic, indoor engagements between desperate insurgent militia groups and well-armed military forces.
Insurgents in Fallujah turned the citys Mosques, religious sanctuaries for its people, into arms caches.
So allied forces destroyed around 60 of them.
Stores, universities, and fast food restaurants were destroyed in Fallujah, not military bases or encampments.
While US forces and their allies held Fallujah shortly thereafter, the organized insurgency suffered few casualties.
It was mostly local militia fighting the marines in Fallujah during that battle.
As best as I can tell,Six Daysdoesnt intend to teach anyone anything about the conflict.
And the courageous men and women who fought in the Iraq conflict deserve better than that.
Propaganda doesnt help those whove fought in wars, just the those who start them.
The second battle of Fallujah didnt play out like a video game.
It was more like a mass-scale law enforcement operation.
This involvedindiscriminate attacks on the Iraqi people.
To put this into perspective, when the German Reich demolished Warsaw in 1939 around 18,000 civilians were killed.
Nearly 40 million civilians lost their lives in WWII, a global conflict featuringmore than 70 million combatants.
But what about all the other war entertainment media out there?
And, withSix Days,we see what gives the impression of a propaganda game.
This will only serve to legitimize the whitewashed version of events the developers are putting forward.
In the end,Six Days in Fallujahmay turn out to be an amazing game with top-notch gameplay.
Nobody needs a PR-friendly version of a war werestill not completely done fighting.
