As a high school history teacher, I often look for ways to relate the content I'm teaching to aspects of life my students are familiar with. As the WWII generation passes away, I find myself having fewer students with surviving relatives who experienced the war first hand. As such, I've resorted to mentioning movies and video games such as Call of Duty, and Medal of Honor to peak the interest of some of my students.
I've always wondered, what does the collecting community think of World War II video games?
Personally, I've played videogames since elementary school and World War II games have always been among my favorites. The games helped me imagine what it was like to actually participate in historical battles... and as a young person, they offered the closest thing to actually driving a real WWII vehicle or shooting a WWII weapon.
My favorite World War II games have come from the Close Combat series. They take place during historical campaigns (Barbarossa, Market Garden, Op. Overlord, Battle of the Bulge) and offer a birds eye view of the battlefield. You control individual vehicles and/or squads of (American/ British/ Polish/ Canadian/ Russian/ German) troops and maneuver them around the battlefield to capture strong points and push back the enemy. I really appreciated the ralism this game offers and the tactics you have to use.
Here are some pictures of Close Combat:
I really tend to dislike unrealistic games that allow you to mow down thousands of enemies while you take little or no damage.
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