Six Days in Fallujah

Six Days in Fallujah—a first-person shooter developed by Highwire games—was first set to be released 12 years ago. However, given the potentially contentious debate about a game set in Iraq, the release was postponed. The game was set to be released in 2009, however, due to objections from the families of fallen soldiers this game was canceled. Game creators stated that they wanted to focus on the marines and not the politics of the war.

Now the game is out on the game platform Steam, yet its arrival has already caused a backlash. Peter Tamate, head of the development team, stated that he does not want this game to be about politics. And says that no political decisions would be shown in the game.

Six Days in Fallujah tells the stories of marines during their time spent in Fallujah during the surge in 2004. Many believe that the game will misrepresent the events that took place in Fallujah. The trailer that was released had no gameplay, so it is unclear how the game will handle and there are no reviews.

Some gamers are unconcerned about the potential politics of the game. Nelson Pires, Joel Hernadez, and Roody Jean Louis stated that they were willing to play this game and that the backlash is

unwarranted. Hernadez notes, “I just feel like some people think that it is not ok to depict anything in video games… movies have done it so why can’t games do the same.”

In this modern era, almost everything can be politicized. And because of this, Six Days in Fallujah is being seen as problematic. Since this game is controversial, should it be taken down? The three gamers thought not.

“The game has had only one trailer with no gameplay.” Mr. JeanLouis said “Not only is a form of entertainment but a form of education”, and Mr. Pires also chimed in saying “Everyone is going to have negative opinions about certain games, people do not want the certain game to release, but even then there is no downside to releasing this.”

All three believe the game should be released, and all agree that there is no real problem as seen from the trailer.

By Nicholas Lesse

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