Has anyone seen the trailer for this game? Or even better: the negative reactions? The main character in a World War II game is a disabled female Tracer ripoff. Do you think the game will also has pan-sexual dragon-kin? How about gay Muslim furries? Only time will tell.
Okay, I'll be less facetious. I'll give credit where it is due: - It is great that EA is allowing DICE to create a game with a singleplayer campaign. EA had made it sound like they were axing single player games entirely. - No season pass DLC. - The falling down from blasts mechanics are supposed to be a really neat addition to gameplay. However, the entire concept is a bit ridiculous. Very little about that trailer resembled WWII. I'm very confused about the scenario. And I'm not opposed to women characters in games, but Captain Hook Tracer looks out of place and sounds obnoxious.
My grandfather was a paratrooper and forward observer in Normandy. I'm sure that he would have been very enthusiastic about WWII being portrayed this way. Inclusion and avoiding hurt feelings were always top priorities of former military in my family. I'm hoping there is character creation tool so I can make a blind transpregnant genderfluid Sudanese-Burmese amputee otherkin with a penchant for pup play.
There are ways they could be both more inclusive and historically accurate at the same time. They could have done a flying segment with the Tuskegee Airmen. Russian women fought on the Eastern Front. Mariya Vasilyevna Oktyabrskaya was a Russian tank commander who sought revenge for the Nazis killing her husband and had a very distinguished combat record before she was killed in battle. The way they did this is just lazy. The characters look like something out of Overwatch or Fortnite, just thrown into a WW2 setting.
If they had a character in one of the stories that had a resemblance to Lyudmila Pavilchenko, I'd be perfectly fine with that. She was an extremely accomplished sniper during that time period with over 300 confirmed kills and was somewhat of a celebrity of the time. Amputee Tracer with the spiked cricket bat was just ridiculous.
It doesn't bother me any. But I wouldn't call myself a gamer anymore and won't be buying this. I also think all the backlash is overblown. These companies don't make decisions to be politically correct or for social justice. It's always always always about the money. They must have the metrics to support their decision and believe it will either boost sales or at the very least not harm sales.
I'm sure they're trying to compete with Fortnite, PUBG, and Overwatch. Those and CSGO are the big shooters right now. COD and BF type military shooters have been in decline. But it looks silly in a WW2 setting. If they are going to have characters like this maybe they need to abandon any kind of realism and just go to a sci-fi/fantasy type setting.
Oh boy. Could see this backlash coming here BUT I do understand. I think EA wanted to be inclusive but actually this is a bit of a mis-step. If gaming wants to be welcoming, it must fit everyone. Sure, most normal and well adjusted people - whatever that means - will be fine with the gender thing but not all. What about those who find eye contact with women difficult? When a cut scene starts - as they invariably do in modern ‘games’ - then what about the discomfort caused by a female character talking and facing the screen? AKS could look out the window to avoid this pain but he’ll miss important storyline about the Nazis and the guns and things. What if the main character is a strong and independent woman? Hawk’s checkered past with women will float in front of his eyes and the subsequent tears will no doubt lead to an unwarranted death. At best, just in-game. Worst case, well, I daren’t say. My great grandfather also fought in the war. He couldn’t have imagined this kind of interpretation of that hellish time. He didn’t talk about what he did much at all but he killed during the invasion of France. He had to. Does his sacrifice mean this game shouldn’t happen just because he was a ‘hero’? No. He just returned back to Berlin yet it wasn’t the same. Things had changed. It wasn’t home anymore; history had changed and he didn’t belong there anymore. He moved to England and began a new life. A better one. It’s a fitting metaphor for this current ‘battle’ outside the game. It’s a choice now, like it was then. Should we be my grandfather shooting approaching landing craft from a bunker? Or the one who, in his new life, chose to welcome tourists from all over the world to his novelty shop with a smile? I think it’s an easy choice. See you in the shop, I hope.