Great War movies

Come to think of it, why is WW1 so overlooked in videogames? I mean, there are elements that would lend quite well to that.

I have only every played one and it was terrible (ground game)... the air games for ww1 have been around for a while they were ok... would still be interesting to maybe have a history channel game for ww1 play as a brit, frenchman, german, russian, italian etc
 
Come to think of it, why is WW1 so overlooked in videogames? I mean, there are elements that would lend quite well to that.

There are some WWI miniatures rules out there.

I played some 6mm trench warfare games. It always seems to come down to throwing huge numbers of troops at the enemy, they get mowed down, and you always come up short of breaking the last trench line because you run out of troops.
 

MrP

Banned
There are some WWI miniatures rules out there.

I played some 6mm trench warfare games. It always seems to come down to throwing huge numbers of troops at the enemy, they get mowed down, and you always come up short of breaking the last trench line because you run out of troops.

I really could do with painting some more of my Germans. That said, I could do some Brit vs. Brit games with my current forces. Hm . . .

Clarification: 28mm chaps; although I do mean to get some 6mm fellas to use with Great War Spearhead eventually.
 
Come to think of it, why is WW1 so overlooked in videogames? I mean, there are elements that would lend quite well to that.

IIRC, there were a few WW1 air combat games, although those are all fairly old games, and there is a WW1 naval game out there, but other than flight simulators or naval games, WW1 isn't that great of videogame fodder for the same reasons Hollywood hasn't shown more interest in it. After all, trench warfare would make for a rather boring and often frustrating first-person shooter, real-time-stratgey game, or a more wargame.
 
Surprised no mention of Joyeux Noel, especially considering the season and that it happened 95 years ago right now.

Especially effective is that respective actors are all of same nationality they protray in the film, and also the beginning scene in each respective language.

Also poignant that the German officer is Jewish.

Highly recommend for a watch.

WW1 film I wish they'd make, using some amalgam of Titanic-Beowulf-Avatar method: A story arc covering German Asiatic fleet from Tsingtao to the Falklands, taking a lot from Castles of Steel.

For those that think WW1 is boring just play Paths of Glory one time.
 
Passchendaele, a Canadian movie released last winter. I think it was Canada's most expensive film project. It's pretty good, and also Caroline Dhavernas is decent looking.
 

MrP

Banned
IIRC, there were a few WW1 air combat games, although those are all fairly old games, and there is a WW1 naval game out there, but other than flight simulators or naval games, WW1 isn't that great of videogame fodder for the same reasons Hollywood hasn't shown more interest in it. After all, trench warfare would make for a rather boring and often frustrating first-person shooter, real-time-stratgey game, or a more wargame.

I thoroughly disagree with the idea that WWI would make for a boring game. Video games don't need to demonstrate the first 24 hours of the Somme Offensive from the perspective of Private Jones, whose entire battalion was shot to pieces by a trio of German HMGs, to provide a compelling gaming experience.

Take this as a counter-example:

1st level: house-to-house fighting in a town or village in Belgium or northern France. Simple introduction, limited weapons (pistol, rifle, HMG, bayonet). Supporting artillery fire is coming from friendly and enemy artillery. Either way, it's blowing the hell out of the town. Can you throw the enemy out?

2nd level: standard capture the hill stuff. More weapons, more troop types.

3rd level: trenches - at night. Yet more weapons, more troop types, maybe body armour.

4th level: it's a videogame, so we don't need to stay in the same geographic locale. How about the Eastern Front? Or perhaps the Middle East? Who wants tanks? Light tanks? An armoured car? Flamethrowers? Maybe an incredibly difficult naval assault on a hardened enemy base? Who fancies an attack by Japanese troops against Germans in Tsingtao? &c, &c for future levels.

Tbh, I am useless as hell at all these FPS games (except Goldeneye and its successor), so I don't play 'em. But I do watch other people play 'em, and WWI has a variety of theatres and weapon types* that renders it suitable for videogame play. The real problem for such games is that it isn't seen as a suitable arena, not that there is no way to make the game work. Trenches don't even need to be a major feature of such a game, tbh.

* Pistol, rifle, bayonet, shotgun, hand grenade, rifle grenade, light machine gun, sub-machine gun, heavy machine gun, flamethrower, and (effects felt onscreen, but used offscreen - usually) artillery shells and poison gas.
 
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For those that think WW1 is boring just play Paths of Glory one time.
The wargame or film... I know what you meant ;)

The film is one of my favs set in WW1. Some consider it an anti war film. To me it's more of an anti big bureaucracy film set in WW1. You see the same characters in corp-gov hierarchies (the ass kissers, the spiteful, the “nice” evilness of Adolphe Menjou’s character, the way Macready’s Gen Mireau got caught up in getting a promotion, and of course the Kirk Douglas character that almost never shows up in real life). The consequences are just more extreme in a war setting - life/death vs getting/not getting that promotion or bonus.

The wargame by Raicer is considered to be a modern classic.
 
The wargame or film... I know what you meant ;)

The film is one of my favs set in WW1. Some consider it an anti war film. To me it's more of an anti big bureaucracy film set in WW1. You see the same characters in corp-gov hierarchies (the ass kissers, the spiteful, the “nice” evilness of Adolphe Menjou’s character, the way Macready’s Gen Mireau got caught up in getting a promotion, and of course the Kirk Douglas character that almost never shows up in real life). The consequences are just more extreme in a war setting - life/death vs getting/not getting that promotion or bonus.

The wargame by Raicer is considered to be a modern classic.

I've seen the film and liked it, but was talking about the game - and about it that's certainly true. As is Wilderness War and Here I Stand as well.
 
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