• GinAndJuche [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    The early CoD games actually helped inoculate me against the soy brained “the Nazis and soviets are the same” bullshit. Sure, there was some enemy at the gate nonsense. That doesn’t mean a game whose strongest narrative arc is on the eastern front and revolves around the degree of dedication and sacrifice that was found there isn’t neutral at worst. You literally start a mission working in a tank factory and the tutorial is you, the soon to be hero of the Soviet Union and former factory worker, being like “oh shit, Nazis here let’s get in the tank I just finished working on”.

    • Yurt_Owl [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      The first game is a bit cringe when it comes to ussr but cod 2 and especially world at war are just incredible. Was there anything particularly problematic about the depiction of the ussr in world at war? I just remember reznov being exceptionally cool and storming Berlin and having much fun doing so. Been a really long time since i played any

      • kot [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        They didn’t intend Reznov to appear cool, they wanted the player to think he and most of the red army was too brutal and barbaric against the nazis. The game even chastises the player as “just as bad as the other soviets” and “no hero” if you shoot too many unarmed nazis, molotov the railway station ones, etc. They accidentally made their game cool as fuck by allowing you to btfo the nazis though, kind of in a

        “look at those evil Soviets? Isn’t this bad??” soypoint-2

        “no, it fucking rules” soviet-chad

        sort of way

        • Yurt_Owl [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          9 months ago

          But they made Reznov the legit hero in black ops. The coolest character literal lenin makes a revolution by breathing.

          Reznov is legit the coolest character ever.

          The ending of waw was the most powerful moment I’ve ever seen. Raising the flag on the Reichstag

          • kot [they/them]@hexbear.net
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            9 months ago

            They also put him in an actual gulag, and made his fellow Soviets betray him for no reason. They probably realized they accidentally made him too cool, so they made him into “one of the good Russians” in the sequel.

          • Tunnelvision [they/them]@hexbear.net
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            9 months ago

            He actually wasn’t the hero he died in prison for believing in the communist ideal too much and overshadowing the Soviet leadership by being a well known war hero. Everything after that was Mason’s delusion.

      • GinAndJuche [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        To us, the Molotov subway scene is a “hell yeah burn alive you nazi fucks” moment. To the average liberaloid it’s “barbaric” to not simply spend a bullet on easing their denazification.

      • Tunnelvision [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        The intended message of the Soviet campaign for world at war was supposed to show the player the brutality of the Soviet army in its vengeful campaign against the Germans. There is a moral mechanic that isn’t present in the American campaign at all where certain decisions affect the ending of the Soviet campaign. Things like executing surrendering Germans is a bad decision and will give you the evil ending for example.

        The obvious problem with this is killing Nazis is cool and good so it kinda flys over your head as the player and the message is kinda lost. It also didn’t help that they made Reznov easily one of the most memorable characters in the entire cod franchise.

        • Yurt_Owl [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          9 months ago

          They tried to make me feel bad but it wasnt working. Reznov is my Lenin

          Secure the keys (Obtain the keys from the guard).
          Ascend from darkness (Take the elevator to get to the surface).
          Rain fire (Use the slingshot to destroy the guard towers).
          Unleash the horde (Rally the prisoners with the broadcast system in Vorkuta).
          Skewer the winged beast (Shoot down the helicopter).
          Wield a fist of iron (Acquire the Death Machine).
          Raise Hell (Storm the prison guards).
          Freedom (Escape the prison).