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Six Days in Fallujah Preview

Scheduled release date:
TBA 2010
Publisher:
Konami
Developer:
Atomic Games
Number Of Players:
TBA
Genre:
Action


It’s guaranteed to be a sensitive topic – heck, it already is amongst peace groups and the like – but we have to remember that real-life American troops are behind Atomic’s Six Days in Fallujah . We believe it’s their wish to honor the lives of those lost in that deadly battle by giving gamers the chance to view true hell; the chance to see what they went through; the opportunity to experience the chaos and fear of war. For this reason, we’re giving Atomic Games the benefit of the doubt, as 42 U.S. Marines have offered information and details in the form of memories, photos and even videos so as to produce a game that’s as authentic-feeling as humanly possible. On top of which, you needn’t concern yourselves with moral or political messages sitting at the core of the game; it’s not about assigning blame or ragging on Bush or whatever. It’s simply about what our troops faced in a situation most of us can’t comprehend or identify with, and that alone is intriguing. There have been many WWII shooters in the past, but this one hits a whole lot closer to home as it’s not only recent, but almost current .

Atomic and Konami have provided the media with a brief glimpse of Six Days in Fallujah , and although it was short, we can give you a basic idea of the gameplay. This isn’t a first-person shooter as some may have expected; it’s a third-person action title that reminds us a little of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter or Rainbow Six . A few standard elements of the genre will be in effect: you can take cover behind walls and other obstacles that will sufficiently hide your body from enemy fire, and if you’re getting nailed, you can use this cover to regenerate lost health. But there’s a twist to the cover concept: no matter how sturdy you may perceive it to be, a well-aimed blast can eliminate your safe cover in a matter of seconds. This may be the most appealing aspect of the game: the environmental destruction. When you see footage of towns that have suffered battles in any war in history, few structures remain intact. This is the atmosphere Atomic Games wants to recreate for the player, which means that most anything in the landscape may face its imminent demise.

They’re using a custom-built engine that will let this happen, and it reminds us of the early days of GeoMod technology first displayed in Red Faction way back in 2001 on the PS2. We’ve come a long way in nearly 8 years and in Six Days in Fallujah , you can even blow away obstructions to create new paths for the troops, which indicates the existence of limitless possibilities. Say, for example, the enemy is hunkered down somewhere and they’re fairly well entrenched; a direct assault with the infantry would lead to many casualties. Well, remember that scene in “Saving Private Ryan” where the Germans took out our talented sniper in the bell tower with a massive shell fired from a tank? These are the kinds of solutions both sides may consider in this game, which is why we imagine there should be a healthy amount of strategy and tactics involved. In other words, you’ll need more than just a steady hand and fast reflexes to survive Fallujah; you’ll also need to examine your surroundings at all times. Run ‘n gun may not be the best idea at all times, you know?

You can also expect to see some of those video interviews with the soldiers who experienced the battle first-hand, as they will be included at certain points in the game. Very likely, you’ll see a few of the Marines talking about a particular event during the six days in question, and you will play it either before or after they discuss it on screen. This should add another sense of realism and even reverence to the subject matter, as the player will better understand the reality of the situation. Of course, we’ll still need to have a solid gameplay mechanic or the entire production falls to its knees, and we’d like to think the third-person shooter foundation has been solidified over the past few years. We’ve already seen fantastic examples of how a developer should approach this concept in the past, and really, Atomic only needs to emulate the successful examples of the past few years. There’s enough in the way of freshness and originality due to the premise itself; we wouldn’t mind in the slightest if they basically just used a mechanic we’ve all seen before. This is likely to happen, anyway; from what we can tell, the core gameplay won’t be anything we haven’t seen before.

But again, given the content included, there’s more than enough here to make Six Days in Fallujah stand out in a crowd. The game won’t release until some time next year, but we’re hoping for a solid performance from Atomic Games, and something that will sufficiently pay homage and respect to the Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror.

27 Comments
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Schmitty
Schmitty
15 years ago

do you pronounce it "FA-LOO-JA" ?

BikerSaint
BikerSaint
15 years ago

Yes, that's correct

Neurotoxiny
Neurotoxiny
15 years ago

I think it's pronounced "FA-LOO-JA" but it might be pronounced "FA-LOO-YA". I don't know for sure.

Hopefully the marines that risked their lives don't catch to much negative flak from the media… Their sacrifice has been so much already.

N a S a H
N a S a H
15 years ago

I'm Iraqi, it's pronounced Fal-oo-ja.

Godslim
Godslim
15 years ago

Go nasah I luv u!

The_R0gue_Ninja
The_R0gue_Ninja
15 years ago

Most people in the media are pacifists, and should not ridicule our faithful troops. Newscasters should realize that their right to criticize is palpable only because the military fights to protect it. Our troops are like a parent who still loves their child, even though the kid treats them with disrespect.

I praise all those in the military who take pride in killing as many of the enemy as humanly possible.

MadKatBebop
MadKatBebop
15 years ago

Agreed man our troops go through sh*t and America's want to blame the war and deaths on them, I know to many people that do that. Sometimes I don't like being apart of this country….we don't help the people we need to.

BikerSaint
BikerSaint
15 years ago

My only hope is that these developers honor our troops by really doing this game right

BTW, until the media is popping out of a foxhole, fully entrenched in a "real life" ammo battle, and firing M16's at the enemy……..

Then f*ck what the media thinks!

"I Support our troops"!

AntDC
AntDC
15 years ago

"I praise all those in the military who take pride in killing as many of the enemy as humanly possible."
You praise the deaths of people? And people wonder why America is not a popular country as far as international relations go…

"I Support our troops"!

This comments column reads like a Bush Administration propaganda poster.

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
15 years ago

The statement was a little over the top, but it's the liberal propaganda you should be worried about right now.

GuernicaReborn
GuernicaReborn
15 years ago

Oh, thats right. We're supposed to hope the enemy kills us, and not support our troops. How foolish of us Americans.

Many of us over here weren't huge fans of Bush. But that doesn't mean we don't love our country or should turn our backs on the soldiers who fight for our freedom.

Congrats on coming off as a huge jackass, though. I hope you go far with that.

AntDC
AntDC
15 years ago

As expected, my comment was misread. Thanks TEG3SH, you got it.

GuernicaReborn, I wasn’t going to stoop down to your level with name calling, but I’ve changed my mind. YOU’RE the jackass. Did you even bother to read my comment? NOWHERE did I say that US troops should be treated like crap on their return home. What I did say was that I think it’s despicable to think that some people actually praise killing. How many citizens do you think were killed in the Second Battle of Fallujah GuernicaReborn and Lairfan? It’s estimated around 6000.
6000 innocent civilians. Men, woman, and children. You praise that? What excuse can you possibly pull off for that kind of violence, on that kind of scale? It’s unacceptable that a country can get away with that and it not be pulled up for Mass Murder. But of course, when the US do it, it’s OK. It wasn’t OK when “The Evil Empire” invaded Afghanistan, oh no. But when a certain country thinks that “Hey, we have reason to believe that this country MAY have weapons of mass destruction”, it’s perfectly acceptable for them to invade and kill hundreds of thousands in the process for the bountiful reserves of oil.

I made it quite clear that the Bush Administration are to blame for this, NOT the troops, although of course you guys were quick to pull apart that comment.

Despite what sounded like a very Anti-US comment, I love the United States, make no mistake about that. A lot of the greatest inventions and people were born and breed in the US, no doubt about that. But every country has their issues.

And sorry Ben for bringing this argument up, although you probably expected it.

Godslim
Godslim
15 years ago

but GuernicaReborn they arent fighting for your freedom….ths isnt a war like the nazis in ww2 the troops have no right too be there

GuernicaReborn
GuernicaReborn
15 years ago

There wasn't much to read. And I should ask you if you read mine. I never said anything about How troops should be treated when they return home. You mocked BikerSaint for supporting our troops. That is why you are a jackass.

And I NEVER said anything positive about the killing of innocent civilians. You are the person that came to an AMERICAN site and started with the comments.

You need to read your comment, and read mine, and then reword that response. Because you seem to have a problem with what a bunch of other people said, and then you directed all your comments at me.

And godslim, they may not have any right to be there, but it's not the soldiers fault. If you get called up, you go fight or you cross the border. It's the politicians. I haven't met one person who was over that said we were doing anything of great value… but I'm not going to turn my back on those troops.


Last edited by GuernicaReborn on 4/20/2009 10:18:35 PM

Godslim
Godslim
15 years ago

but u sed "should turn our backs on the soldiers who fight for our freedom."
thats all the point i was trying to make dude in this case they arent fighting for your freedom

GuernicaReborn
GuernicaReborn
15 years ago

Oh, I see. I agree, I probably should have said 'who fight for our nation' instead, but I was more concerned with getting my opinion across. Bush himself said that the biggest failure of his presidency was the intelligence failure in Iraq. That whole war was a mistake.

MadKatBebop
MadKatBebop
15 years ago

If the marines who fought in Fallujah wanted this game to be made I think the media should leave it alone (I hate the media).

Lairfan
Lairfan
15 years ago

Who gives a crap about the media? They only care about getting a good, riveting story that gives them higher ratings. How many stations do you actually think are devoted to giving us unbiased, no-nonsense news?

AntDC:

I don't know where to begin, but I'll try not to make this into a rant.

In short, IMO, you're a jackass. Why would we not support our troops? You want us to harass them when they come home? We already did that when they came back from Vietnam, and it was shameful and disgusting at best. They survived the worst this world has to offer, and we treated them like crap for it. No one should have to survive a war just to come back to an ungrateful nation and a persecuting media. No one.

Naga
Naga
15 years ago

Yet other S***** game that includes guns so what if its in honour of the fallen these type of games just keeps getting worst

TEG3SH
TEG3SH
15 years ago

i know i'm gonna get flamed for this. honestly i dont care but truth has to be told
i hate wars and all, respect to all the soldiers and civilian lost in any and every war
but the thing is americans(what antdc was trying to say(i guess))
he wasn't disrespecting the troops , he was raged by The_R0gue_Ninja's comment "I praise all those in the military who take pride in killing as many of the enemy as humanly possible."
so am i to understand invading a country , killing lots of innocent ppl is KILLING THE ENEMY ???!!!!
and ppl dont give me that whole WMD argument cause as we all found out that the only WMD in iraq was that reporter's shoes .
again not disrespecting the troops cause i blame all of it on politicians .
RIP to all the ppl(soldiers,civilians) who died,dying in this so called rescuing.
will abu-ghareeb be a stage .lol

GuernicaReborn
GuernicaReborn
15 years ago

I agree with everything you said. I just didn't like AntDC mocking someone who supports our troops. And then he put words in my mouth in his little rant. And now I end mine.

NonProphet
NonProphet
15 years ago

I agree with TEG3SH.
Give me a game fighting Al Qaeda or the Taliban and I would be happy to play it. This is the same reason games featuring Nazi's as the enemy are so abundant, not many people have qualms shooting Nazi's in the face, its fun and they deserve it. But this war was based on a lie; the lie that there was a connection between 911 and Iraq and that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the US and had the capability to carry out that threat (WMD's: Never found) A lot of reasonable, moral people had a problem with the Iraq war because of this despite all the propaganda to the contrary. And these people won't want to play a game where the enemy is to some extent the victim of an unjust invasion based on a neo-conservative agenda. I hated Bush but if some country invaded the US and that invasion was predicated on the idea that Bush was a fascist war criminal, I'd be one of the first to raise up guns against them, not to protect Bush but the sovereignty of my homeland. Now some people will feel perfectly comfortable fighting the insurgents (code for rebels) and thats fine with me, if I were an Iraq war vet I'd probably feel the same way, but a lot of people won't. Because to certain extent, whether you can enjoy a game like this comes down to political idealogy. And respect to the troops for enlisting to protect the rest of us, especially when the mission is worthy of them.


Last edited by NonProphet on 4/19/2009 8:10:04 PM

aaronisbla
aaronisbla
15 years ago

The rouge ninja said he praise all those in the military who take pride in killing as many of the enemy as humanly possible.

Although i don't like wars, the key word in his statement is "enemy", as in someone shooting at our soldiers. Nowhere does he mentions innocent people. And even though i think a loss of life is sad, some of you need to Learn how to read.

AntDC
AntDC
15 years ago

Ok you make a point, but I made that statement because the killing of "the enemy" in war will ALWAYS result in the killing of innocent civilians, and people are ignorant to think otherwise. War is war, and casulties are inevidble. A life lost is a life lost.
e.g with 1,350+ of the enemy killed in the Second Battle of Fallujah, 6000 civilians were killed.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
15 years ago

Settle down guys, just because Obama won't prosecute war crimes doesn't mean congress can't.

LightShow
LightShow
15 years ago

First off, i will start by making a deliberate point of NOT talking about POLITICS in the comments section of an article on a GAMING news site.

Second, Ben, is the environmental destruction similar to Battlefield: Bad Company, or does it go to the point of being able to actually topple buildings? In Bad Company you could take out almost all the walls in a structure, but the building itself wouldn't collapse.

AntDC
AntDC
15 years ago

Sorry, I forget that it's up to you to decide what people talk about in the comments section.

And politics is related to the article so it's all relivant, just like how when Ben posts his personal articles about his situation with the ex etc. the comments made to those are relivant, and yet not related to gaming.