Call of Duty 7’s Vietnam Setting Too Close to Home?
As you may know, we’ve discovered new information on Treyarch’s next game, Call of Duty 7. Activision Blizzard has released a COD game every year since 2005, so Treyarch would be next in line after the release of Modern Warfare 2. The insider discussed the music selected for this game:
“Mentioned were Vietnam War era tunes, as well as Cuban, African, and Soviet Union music.”
If Call of Duty 7 truly does put players in the Vietnam conflict, we may face a situation where gamers will have to question the ethics of game development. Filmmakers had to face similar issues with their depictions of war films, and hopefully Treyarch and Activision Blizzard stay wary of inappropriately representing, or even glorifying, the Vietnam War.
Yes, there have been plenty of World War II games made. But World War II happened in the 1930s~1940s, and was a lot more clear cut in terms of why the United States became involved. The Vietnam war, however, is still in many people’s memories and still under heavy debate. In fact, many individuals who play such a game would have direct family members who participated in this war.
ShellShock: Nam ‘67 is the only game series on the market that even touches this subject, and hasn’t been commercially or critically successful. The potential problem actually stems from the fact that such a high profile and respected franchise may be choosing this topic. What compounds this even more is that current-gen titles are becoming very realistic in terms of graphics and animation. It’s not like the older days when you could resort to the old copout of “games aren’t even that realistic,” because today’s FPS market demands incredible amounts of authenticity, from the way guns fire to how bullets impact bodies.
We have to ask. Would you be interested in playing through Call of Duty: Vietnam, or does the subject matter turn you off enough to just avoid the title altogether? Let us know in the comment section below.
34 Responses to “Call of Duty 7’s Vietnam Setting Too Close to Home?”
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May 5th, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Vietnam war shouldn’t be any different than any other war. Do we criticize COD 4 for being “modern”… NO!!! So why should we do the same for a vietnam war. That’s just plain dumb and if people are having shell shock from this war, then they shouldn’t be playing video games at all. If you have relatives that were in the war and you are playing the game, shouldn’t you feel that’s what they went through?
I for one can’t wait to play a vietnam war based game, everything has been WWII shooters for way too long, time for a change…and this could be such a good change.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:50 AM
@Sneeches
great points man. completely agree.
like why can a controversial movie come out about anything and people praise it for being innovative but as soon as a game steps on a line it has to be talked about and hated on? a game is an interactive movie and like sneeches said, i want to feel like what they felt. world at war and modern warfare both did a great job of making you feel like you were in the thick of things. why should we expect any different from this game? i say bring it on.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Well there was a vicious debate in political corridors about how it was handled. And how the U.S. placed itself into an internal Civil War, similar to the Korean War. The politicos of the time and in power manipulated situations to get involved, so that is where most of the friction comes from. Also in the way that the conflict was managed and fought. The U.S. Army could have defeated the enemy had they been allowed to take the fight back home to the Communist North. But that did not happen and now we see how life has been affected.
I think this is why it is such an emotional issue, many feel that this was a total waste of lives and equipment since we left the country to its own fate and now we see ourselves in a similar situation with Iraq and especially Afghanistan which is more closely related to the Vietnam conflict.
I was not old enough to serve but I followed the news accounts of the day and felt that soldiers who were only doing what there Officers were ordered to do were pilloried by the public when they came home that it created a lot of hatred on both sides. And it kept our Gov’t from engaging in anything close to military action anywhere in the world.
I for one think that games based on history should be allowed to either make it or break it on their own merits, if the game is good then it will sell. I was very disappointed to hear about the “Six Days of Fallujah” being canceled. I would have considered buying that game… So there is a lost sale…
May 5th, 2009 at 12:05 PM
i’m absolutely sick of ww2 shooters and have been since the ps2 rammed us with a multitude of medal of honor games.
Nam would be a breath of fresh smoldering body air on the shooter front.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Being currently in the military myself and i am 24. I see no reason why they should not make a COD Vietnam game. the problem was the U.S. civilian and military leadership failed to heed the lessons of the past during the Vietnam
war. They underestimated them and the nature of the war. It was a ruthless battle. ala “anything goes”. Ho Chi Minh reveals the determination of the North Vietnamese to do whatever necessary to resist foreign occupation which over the centuries has included the Chinese, the Japanese, the French, and the United States. U.S. military leaders did not completely understand the nature of the war. The U.S. civilian leadership fail to
invoke the national will with a declaration of war. This produced a vulnerability that they exploited. Regardless of those past actions it should not handicap a game or sensor it. Its part of History. it should not be edited due to a few having flashbacks on a war that most likely they were never in. Not to sound cold hearted but those that can have flash backs are mostly DEAD and not interested in gaming. Yeah they will be remembered especially by there family. in the end its just a game. im sure the ones that did DIE in that war wouldn’t have a problem being depicted on a game.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:38 PM
As stated in the article, there HAVE been countless number of WWII FPS’s, however, since this new FPS is during the Viet Nam era, I think I’ll actually play this game… I’ll rent it first, though, obviously.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:23 PM
There would be nothing wrong with a game set in the Vietnam or Korean or Desert Storm or Afghanistan or Iraq or any war. As has been said, there are plenty of movies either directly related to or peripherally related to those wars. That even includes Iraq and Afghanistan, which are relatively recent wars that are still in the headlines here at home. They will be controversial, for sure. But I would be happy to see a publisher with the balls to produce one.
It is all in how the story is told and how the war is portrayed. As long as it is done thoughtfully it could still be as wildly successful as CoD4 was, even though it may have been a little more controversial as it touches on some timely topics. CoD4 skirted the current wars and told a fictional story in a modern setting.
I have a feeling that if they DO go with a Vietnam setting, it will be something on the sidelines that doesn’t focus on actual real-life battles, similar to how CoD4 was handled.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:29 PM
I don’t think people ae as sensitive as you might think. If we can games about other wars than this will be no different.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:42 PM
I am not a COD fan, so it all reality it doesnt really matter what war is depicted, to me.
However, the people who complain about gaming subjects and content are going to complain no matter what. ‘The game is bad for kids because of the violence, the subject matter, the music, the realism’ blah blah blah blah. These people would attack Mario games for violence against turtles, that stupid Wii cooking game for attracting children to the stove, and the hula hoop game on Wii exercise (whatever the hell it is called) for causing children to act out a humping motion.
Vietnam is fine subject matter for movies and there has been tons films that take place at or around the war (I can think of nearly a dozen off hand),
Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, We were solders, First Blood, Good Morning Vietnam, Apocalypse now, Forest Gump and Born of the 4th of july … and many of those won awards.
not to mention the fact that there are films about Korea and both wars in the middle east … so I see no reason it wouldnt be fair for a game to depict the war no matter how unpopular it was.
Speaking of which, WW2 wasnt exactly a popular war either. The US was not supposed to get involved despite pleading from our allies. Even after the attack on Pearl Harbor, more than 50% of the US was against our involvement.
All that really matters is that Blizzard keeps to the high standards the COD fans expect from the franchise. The setting doesnt mean shit compared to the actual game play when it comes to the people who are actually going to buy it. The people who are against it wouldnt buy it anyway, so they arent the target demo and dont matter when it comes to the bottom line… screw em.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Exaclty a game set in Vietnam would be great , however noone wants to ride through the wave of pre-teens on PSN and Live screamin Dang tojo’s or whatever they called the enemy during Vietnam.
As long as it Honors the memories of those who fought the war than I as a Veterean have no problem with it.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:04 PM
No I really wouldn’t mind and others have said more. I’m good as long as it has a flamethrower.
May 5th, 2009 at 4:21 PM
All politics aside, another shooter? Add in a “Heart of Darkness” storyline, and maybe.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:30 PM
MGS3 took place in a fictional Russian rain forest, but it was clearly a game designed to be evocative of the Vietnam war. The Vietcong series of PC games are FPS games set in Vietnam that are very well thought of.
The games industry is never going to be taken seriously as long as developers and publishers are too cowardly to even approach serious subjects like Vietnam, or in the case of “Six Days in Fallujah”, Iraq. That people think videogames are somehow fundamentally incompatible with certain subjects is part of the problem. To perpetuate this sentiment is to cast your lot with the Fox News sensationalists of the world.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:32 AM
‘Six Days…’ was cancelled? well that sucks. i totally would have checked that out. as for COD7, i’m all over that one. maybe the XBOX 720 will be out by then so the PS3 version won’t be dumbed down. *crosses fingers*
May 6th, 2009 at 9:42 AM
[...] Call of Duty 7’s Vietnam Setting Too Close to Home? Having an uncle who was basically mentally destroyed by this war, I would say no, it’s not. Now, do I think the general public/media will have a problem with it? Yes, I do. Free advertising, though, can make companies do crazy things. [...]
December 24th, 2009 at 3:07 PM
MAKE THE GAME!! IM DYING TO PLAY A GOOD VIETNAM WAR GAME.. AND U
NEED TO PUT A GOOD LATE 60s 70s SOUND TRACK, YOU HAVE TO PUT “FREE BIRD” ON THERE FOR SURE.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:27 PM
Well, I think that it is about time that the United States start recognizing what our troops did over in Vietnam, video game or not. I get so sick and tired of all these ungrateful hippies, anti-war protestors and so-forth talking about it being a mistake or a war that shouldn’t have happened (the same thing goes for the War in Iraq). Everyone should stop whinning about it and put yourself in the shoes of the men who fought and died over there.
Anyway, yeah I think a video game should be made to honor the Vietnam veterans. They shouldn’t make it unbelieveably gruesome and gory or anything like that but give it an honorable emotional atmosphere to it.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:56 PM
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January 4th, 2010 at 5:57 PM
I am enthusiastic to hear Call of Duty is making a Viet Nam series of its own. I hope Call of Duty will consider a couple things to add to Call of Duty 7:
(This is what I would like to see in Call of Duty: Viet Nam in my opinion)
Add a breathing sound to the character while playing the game like in Shellshock 2 Blood Trails.
Do not make the guns sound weak when firing and pathetic looking, like the variations of M16s and AK47s in Call of Duty 6.
Do not have a white streak or any other kind of streak when throwing a grenade. In addition to that when a grenade blows up, let us see a bigger explosion!
Have weapons and explosives make different sounds; for example, firing a weapon in a house or building sounds a lot different than firing a weapon in the field.
Allow the player to choose a weapon before entering a combat zone (from sidearm to primary weapon).
Allow the player to choose what types of clips for his weapons of chose he makes; for example like a 50+ round drum magazine to his AK47.
In Medal of Honor Airborne, the First-Person-Shooter has the ability to move around while aiming his weapon behind cover (if you do not know what I mean, play the game MOHA. It is awesome and type of thinking out of the box I like).
Allow an enemy soldier to “jump” the player should the player get too close to an enemy foot soldier (wrestle in hand-to-hand combat) like in Call of Duty 3 with German foot soldiers but in open combat in the field this time!
Have the M60 machinegun look like the M60 in Shellshock 2 Blood Trails with the tan ammo pouch!
Have soldiers wear the Tan Flak Jackets and Helmets!
Allow a player to customize his or her own character! (If this will be possible, add many things a player can choose from!)
(If it is possible) Try to mix Third-Person-Shooter-Mode with First-Person-Mode while playing the game.
PLEASE!!! Put some damn CIVILIANS this time in the game, but allow the player to shoot if he wants without their always being a penalty and its game over!!! Because that is just laborious!!!
To add more missions to the game, allow the players to have nightmare missions like in Max Payne the game (note: NOT the movie version – gay).
Have a character like Max Payne be the main character or similar!
PLEASE (DO NOT) ADD THE SAME BORING-ASS HIPPY MUSIC THAT WE ALL HEARD FROM MOVIES LIKE “PLATOON” – BORING AS HELL!!!
Allow the player to RUN FASTER and none of that Bullshit walking like in the massacre at the airport in Call of Duty 6 please!!!
STOP making every leader like in Call of Duty 4 and 6 a black person!!! How about a white person for once!!! (No, I am not racist, just saying “for once”).
Allow the player to be a LEFT handed or RIGHT handed shooter.
Have a soldier with a medium white or tan towel under his helmet (see Born on Fourth of July to know what I mean when they cleared out a hut, look at the black person when the officer tells his men to move out, saying “it wasn’t your fault…)
Allow the player to have his primary weapon of choose (like the M14, M16, Clot 45, M79…) change hands. For example, if the is a right handed shooter and he is on the right hand side of a wall, it will automatically witch to his left side to allow the player fire without exposing most or all of himself to enemy fire.
I hope the American GI depicted in Call of Duty 7 DO NOT walk as they do in the other Call of Duty games. I would like to see something different, like Gis holding their rifles in the middle with their right or left hand and with the butt of the rifle under their arm as they walk because in Viet Nam it rains a lot and can be very hot and humid.
Let there be for the first time in any game LEFT HAND riflemen, not just the player.
Let the player operate an M60 in a Huey in combat.
Let there be RAINY missions!!!
Allow the player to type in a code or choose weather condition in menu options; for example, if the player wants to change the weather condition he can by simply activating a “rainy”, “sunny”, “night” or “daylight” something like that to keep a player interest a little more in a level.
Please have BIGGER and VAST battlefields with lots and lots of heavily camouflaged enemies and more maneuver abilities for the player!!!!
STOP with “INDICATORS” and “CROSS-HAIRS” If the player wants to aim at something get him to aim down the sight instead or having a “white cross” in the middle of the screen – it is boring!!! And in the way… At least let the player turn it off in menu options.
Please bring back “Cluster Bombs”, “Unlimited Ammo” and have “God Mode”.
NO TIMERS during missions!!!
Allow the player in a bonus level or mission (without their being a timer involved) be a fighter or fighter-bomber pilot giving air support to troops on the ground.
Have Vietnamese women fighting against American troops because this was true!
Let the player use a Colt. 45 instead of the worthless 9mm sidearm.
Allow players flown into battle or a location by Huey choppers!
DO NOT make the M14 just a sniper rifle because that would just be gay!!!
I hope this time (like in the PlayStation 2 game called “Black”) we can choose “semi-automatic”, “single-shoot”, or “fully-automatic” for weapons like the M16 and the M14 rifles.
Have the weapons when firing them, sound more rusty-like and not pathetic like the AK47 in Call of Duty 6 Modern Warfare 2 but something along the lines like Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.
I hope the game beginnings its plot before the TET OFFENSIVE, sometime in 1967 and leave the next game, Call of Duty 8 deal with the TET OFFENSIVE.
January 4th, 2010 at 6:16 PM
My uncle at age 19 drafted for Viet Nam on January 19, 1967. In October 1967, wounded in a motor attack on patrol and sent home in November 1967 due to his injurys.
January 4th, 2010 at 11:49 PM
I almost forgot:
I hope the Colt 45 looks something like Call of Duty 4’s Colt 45.
I am also interested to see a differance when holding a rifle or assault weapon in the game. For example, don’t have a rifle or assault weapon always in the “ready-position”as I call it, but something like when the player is walking in the game, make the weapon look as if the weapon is walking with the player… like in running mode, how the gun looks but turn it around in a walking mode-like action.
Oh and one last thing, I am interested when having two weapons (like two 9mms, or mini guns) don’t have the weapons just pointing forward but each weapon locks on the nearest enemy and gives the player a much greater chance to take down enemy numbers. Note: this could be optinal
in menu option simply by activating it or turning it off.
I hope this is not going to be a love and war movie romance!!!
January 5th, 2010 at 12:00 AM
I agree with OTS_SCOTTTHUNDER, please put “FREE BIRD”!!!!!!
AND PLEASE PUT LOTS AND LOTS OF BLOOD AND GORE!!!!!!
January 8th, 2010 at 4:30 AM
PLEASE PUT THE VOICE OF “RADIC” FROM KILLZONE 2 AS THE VOICE OF OUR COMMANDING OFFICER!!!!!!
January 8th, 2010 at 4:34 AM
I would call the game in my words…
CALL OF DUTY 7: UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE
January 8th, 2010 at 9:50 PM
WTF is wrong with people. Mw2 showed our soldiers dying in afghanistan and russia but no one turned a blind eye to that. For me this is a step foward in gaming, it shows that people are not afraid to take risks even in the recession today
January 12th, 2010 at 10:20 PM
I hope Call of Duty can also add a white muzzle flash to each weapon instead of a yellow muzzle flash… like in Medal of Honor Airborne. Or at least give the player the opinion to turn on or off “muzzle flash” for sidearms or primary weapons.
I hope the player can heal comrades who are badly wounded like in KillZone 2.
January 12th, 2010 at 10:23 PM
I hope there will be racism-name-calling in this game since there was a lot going on at the time!!!! fuck public opinion on this subject that think there should not be any of this sort of thing…!!!!
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:55 AM
vietnam war game would b awsome mostly cause world war 2 is gettin old and its more modern then wwll,but i was lookin forward 2 mw3 to b the next call of eduty
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:19 AM
i agree wit @aufseherinnen on everything he has to say especialy the civilians running around i’ve been waiting for a game to have civies running every where mw2 had civies but didnt have that much,there is 1 thing @aufseherinnen missed the soilgers should have more emotion like in mw2 wen D.C. was burning i mean 4 goodness sake there country is under attack they should have atleast cursed the russians or get mad or sad.anyways online should be good too because the heartbeat sensor piss’s me off in mw2 but @aufseherinnen has really good ideasw
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:12 AM
personally… i dont believe that a game based around Vietnam should be frowned upon.discrimination over a game, because of the war? what is that… honestly. my grandfather was drafted for this war when he was 18 years old and he came out alive. now he died when i was young… he had cancer, so i naver heard of any stories from him… what it was like… first hand… in vietnam… my uncle on the other hand died last year in the line of duty due to a roadside bombing. but that doesnt stop me from playing modern warfare, or modern warfare two. ever since i got my xbox i been waiting for a game about vietnam, and thats been a loooonnng time. so yeah, i wanna see, hear, witness… a majority of what my grandfather was practically forced to deal with. and that one dude that was going on about what it should be like is right…. ENOUGH, with this “heres your equipment and your setting now take it” i think this game should be a breakthrough in gameing… completely user configurable, very realistic.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:13 AM
hahahahahaha i have an xbox 360. fuck the playstation. i lost interest after the 1st one. lmao
February 6th, 2010 at 8:29 PM
Legend916 thank you so much for your comment!!!!
I agree with you on what I missed to mention with soldier’s and emotions. Sometimes I forget what I like to mention. I can only hope some important desiners had looked at our views on how the futurer of games should also include and not include.
I hope Call of Duty Viet Nam we can costomize weapons and add an AK47 with a bannet in front of it.
And since this is Viet Nam, I really do hope they add some sort of naughtiness to the game, for example add some Vietnamese Hookers or Nude Vietnamese or American women posters (Note: please add BIG HOOTERS!!! lol).
In Resistance Fall of Man, they have the most awesome gameplay I cannot believe no-one other game of FPS had not picked up on it. It is an achiveiment that allow the player (while during a mission) to witch the battlefield up-side-down as if you the player is fighting a different way in a mission.
I apologize but I had forgotten what it called… I think it is call ” Mirrior “.
I think Call of Duty should look into it and add it to COD Viet Nam 7 and if they do but players do not like my idea, there should be no worry anyway because it (like in Resistance Fall of Man), it is opinional.
February 6th, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Legend916 brought up a good point on the “heatbeat” thing COD got going in its MW games. It should be more like Killzone 2’s heatbeat. In KZ2 the heartbeat is 2x more longer and faster than Modern Warfare has ever come up with and when the player’s heartbeat runs out, all the player has to do is wait 2 or no more than 3 seconds and your chartactor is off and running again – fast.
In Modern Warfare 2 the player has to wait at least 15-30 seconds before gaining enough power to run again… all i will say to that – GAY!!!!
I also thought of one more and that is to have an opinion of whose voices the player is interested to hear in the game.
For example:
Like in KILLZONE 2 I really so badly what to shut Graza’s voicebox but it could not be done, so if there will be any annoying people in COD7, I hope all I have to do is choose a box in Opitions like below:
Gameplay Voices:
[Off] Voice of Graza
[On] Voice of Rio
[On] Voice of Natko
[On/Off] Enemy voices (Note: or could add more detail opitions like witch enemies the player would like to hear and not hear – if COD7 is going to be anything like or similar to Killzone 2)
[On/Off] Allied Voices
And So On…
For the record concerning KILLZONE 2’s weapons all of them SUCKASS (I do not even need to go into detail – for those who had or not played the game, play it for a while and see for yourself.)
February 8th, 2010 at 11:57 PM
I am interested to note to the makers of Call Of Duty (COD) stop with the disappearing bodies of dead ememies and good guys. In actual “Modern Warfare” dead bodies do not just vanish in a couple of seconds after they are shoot to the ground!!!!!!
I want to see like what Brothers In Arms offers and that is ZOOM-IN BODY PARTS!!!!! Like throwing a grenade and watching the enemy blow-up into pieces or zoom-in head shoots!!!! PLEASES!!!!!!