Pong and Beyond

644th played so far

Genre: Strategy/Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 2007
Developer: Ubisoft Paris/Red Storm Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft

The meaning of ‘strategy’ is, as so many genres, quite broad. While we’d normally think of an RTS like Command & Conquer or the Civilization series, for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 it refers to tactical shooting. Not only do you attack yourself, you direct a squad to aid your attacks.

It’s not quite what I’m looking for personally, but it does add some variety to the genre and should make things interesting.

Our Thoughts

I played through the tutorial first – always good to get used to less orthodox element of a game like this, and aside from the many fighting options, it really emphasized during its tactical tutorial how to let your squad mates attack, and rely on them. As a mediocre FPS player, this was really useful – I can hang back and try to keep some control while letting them battle it out!

And then it started getting uncomfortable. I already knew the Tom Clancy series leaned towards the conservative end of the spectrum (with some other Ubisoft productions seemingly wanting to balance that), but I didn’t realise quite how deep it went. We’ve talked about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s terrorist scene before, which was uncomfortable, but ultimately skippable. Here, the xenophobic tendencies are on display. It’s set in Mexico, called out as such, which in the game is an unstable country with a fight over control of the country. Not quite representing real life, and using a fictional setting would have worked just as well. It’s a joke, at one point, that Mexico would demand the US doesn’t invade them, because of course the USA would do so anyway, and it has a right to do so. There’s a whole spiel about undocumented immigrants, not considering how the US shaking up the political situation may lead to some guilt there…

It’s gross, it’s unnecessary, and while I’m sure my personal politics play a part here, it is reactionary in a way that seem intentional. The writers seem to want you to be afraid of Mexicans invading the country after some political upheaval – but don’t worry, the marines can sort it out.

Final Thoughts

The game was decent to play, but the politics on display here feel unnecessary aggressive and make me distinctly uncomfortable.  I am really not looking to more of this.