Let’s start with a confession: I am insufferable about the storytelling and the premises of modern shooters. I’m self-aware enough to know this. I consumed plenty of literature and cinema around the Second World War as a child, and my formative years were spent watching the so-called Global War on Terror on every TV channel. It’s no surprise that theBattlefield 6reveal has hit me in the face harder than the volleyballs did during P.E. lessons, as it ticks every box for a grounded modern shooter.
From the Italian condottiere to the Russian Wagner Group, merc outfits of all shapes and sizes have been injected into wars, sometimes starting them, to try and tip the balance in their clients' favor.As the American war think tank and philosopher collective Megadeth said, ‘peace sells… but who’s buying?’
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The use of mercenaries makes war even dirtier and depressing, but when you take that away from the real world, it makes for perfect entertainment. Operating in the grey zone, navigating your way through missions unbridled by the shackles of flags or laws. Games are a brilliant medium for that, whether you are a merc or fighting against them.
Final Fantasy VIII starts with the highly questionable idea of schools for child mercenaries.Escape from Tarkovgives you a taste of what happens to mercs when things go wrong. Henry’s journey inKingdom Come: Deliveranceis set in motion after mercenaries raid his home. While these are all great games, the mercs are not the main selling point. But then came Kojima.
An Army Without Borders
The Metal Gear franchise is built entirely on what happens in the shadows of big politics and war, but 2015’sMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Painis Kojima’s magnum opus on mercenary work. It is unafraid to show the ways in which private military companies affect conflicts, not just inthe guns-blazing phase, but also the destruction left in their wake. Yes, it is camp, over-the-top, and at times downright comedic, but that is Kojima’s way of making a heavy topic accessible.
The blurred lines that marked conflicts after World War 2 made a perfect breeding ground for private military companies (PMCs). Wars were no longer declared, territorial occupation no longer dictated victory or defeat; so long as you either won or covered your tracks well enough, everything became fair game.
Although set late in the Cold War,The Phantom Pain was well in tune with the zeitgeist of the 2010s. Conflicts old and new were flaring up across the world, opportunistic corporations maneuvered to try and secure their slice of the cake, and soldiers of fortune from near and far moved to get into the action. It was dirty business, the consequences of which are still playing out today.
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Kojima never stopped making on-the-nose commentary on global affairs.Death Strandingwas a direct assault on the loneliness crisis that affects many parts of the world in spite of the world being more connected than ever, and the sequel served as a reflection on the first game after most of the world shut down around 2020.
In contrast with Metal Gear and Death Stranding, Battlefield has traditionally sidestepped current geopolitical crises in favor of either original or historical ones. For many years, this formula worked well, with Bad Company becoming a staple of military humor, and Battlefield 3 giving an original spin on Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears (minus Ben Affleck).
From the extensive look we got into Battlefield 6, including interviews with developers, the game tries to bea spiritual successor to Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4(we don’t talk about the campaign there). That much is evident, but what is not talked about enough is how it tries and—at first glance at least—succeeds at copying the Kojima formula for sociopolitical commentary.
Peace With Guns
The antagonist in Battlefield 6 is Pax Armata (Armed Peace), which could have been a perfect Kojima naming, except he’d also call the commander Mercman. Guns for hire with access to a massive arsenal of weapons, and the European alternative for its security after old alliances fell apart. Sure, it’s extra, but it’s relatable.
The outbreak of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has pushed the world into a geopolitical crisis not seen since the end of the Cold War. It plunged Europe into chaos, and brought cohesion within NATO to the forefront of public debates.
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In the battlefields in eastern Ukraine, Wagner Group mercenaries fielded tanks, helicopters, fighter jets and artillery on a scale reserved for large armies. They eventually turned their weapons on the Russian government itself, and while that failed, it was the first time in the modern era where a massive private army took on a nuclear power. I don’t know if it will be the last.
The tense political climate in Europe and in North America has gotten a lot of us on edge, and that seeps into art.Battlefield 6 plays into that modern underlying worry that we are always just a couple of months away from having whatever crisis is going on this week escalate wildly.
There are no cool heads, and as Clancy explains in his book, ‘the sum of all fears’ in a nervous crowd is enough to lower the escalation threshold to a level that can easily be reached through seemingly small actions.
We Get Dirty, and the World Stays Clean
In stark contrast with Battlefield 6 is Call of Duty, which is following up on the surprisingly grounded Black Ops 6 with another round of pseudofuturistic shenanigans so far removed from reality that it would have played out just the same if it were set on Mars.
And yet, having observed how friends and family around me reacted to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, sometimes from the frontline, I get why it’s there. It doesn’t do it for me, but that’s because I’m on the wrong side of that divide.
Battlefield 6 copies the Kojima format of dramatic depictions of perfectly tangible manmade horrors. Law enforcement officers fighting shoulder to shoulder with soldiers as explosions ring through a metropolis is something many people saw with their own eyes in 2022. Mercenaries riding tanks with air and artillery support happened not long after that.
To some of us,a crisis gets us transfixed, powerless to make a change but also unable to look away. Maybe, just maybe, if you stare into the abyss long enough, you’ll understand what’s happening in the world.
Others, however, deal with the horrors of the world by avoiding them. The same Nicki Minaj skin and colorful palettes that make Call of Duty unappealing to some help others put some distance between their entertainment and the harsh realities outside. There is value in that as well.
Now that Battlefield 6 has made its statement, we enter an era where players finally have a choice again. Battlefield is bringing the grit. Call of Duty keeps it strictly fictional. Maybe in five years time, as other developers try to answer EA, there will be a lack of more lighthearted content. Until then, those of us who can’t look away from the world will stay entertained. Thanks, Kojima.
