So I wanted to follow up to the recent story of the seven members of SEAL Team 6 who were reprimanded for providing “consultation” to EA Games for their newest first person shooter game Medal of Honor: Warfighter. In lieu of the recent story and an awesome Black Friday deal that gets me Warfighter for $25 I decided to buy the game and see what all the hooplah is about.
I finished the single player campaign (storyline portion) of the game in a few days and definitely enjoyed it. As for OPSEC violations, I didn’t find much and I made sure to keep an eye out.
“It’s a slippery slope when you drill down on some specific terminology in some of the MOH video narratives. Stuff like embassy, meet ups, and breacher tactics.” said on SOCOM professional close to the SEAL community.
The two reasons why they were disciplined? They didn’t ask permission from their command, and they presented the game developers with their personal gear/kit of what they use in real missions.
When it comes down to it much of the focus on these seven SEALs is in regards to the “showing of confidential combat equipment.” I’ll tell you right now there is no piece of gear in that game that isn’t open source. EA Games could have easily hired a 16-year old Filipino airsofter and received the same accurate end-product. Good on the shooters for taking advantage of EA and making a quick buck. Weaponry, optics, uniforms, radios, and other equipment in the game can be found in many other games, movies, and multitude of other sources.
When playing the game, the ST6 operators all pretty much look identical (anybody who has worked with these guys know that you’d be hard pressed to find any two that look the same in terms of load-out (kit). Some guys would wear a simple plate carrier with a Vietcong style ammo bandolier over it and some could be wearing a Rhodesian-style vest. Whatever those SEALs presented to the developers, it was no different than what can be seen in the picture section of Mark Owen’s (real name Matt Bissonette) controversial book No Easy Day.
Like I said previously, I do recommend the game in terms of storyline/single player gaming experience (haven’t touched online play). But I also recommend it on a sentimental level. This game can be an emotional roller coaster at times and at the end of the day it is a great tribute to the special operations community and the incredible sacrifices these men make. On that note; the professionalism, attitude, and demeanor of the game’s characters is spot on with what I have seen at the Tier 1 level. Kudos to EA for doing an amazing job there.
Off topic but part of the game’s soundtrack includes a Linkin Park song called Castle of Glass. Whether you love em or hate em, check out the video as it revolves around a fallen Navy SEAL and the son he left behind:
(Some images courtesy PCGamer.com)
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