Black Ops Zombies: Why It’s Controversial
‘I Am Not A Crook’: Why Treyarch Made A Terrible Decision
by exterminat
©2010 Nicholas Laborde
Call of Duty: Black Ops is shaping up to be the best [selling] game of 2010, and one of the biggest attractions is the game’s post-campaign Zombie mode.
World at War had an extremely entertaining mode called Nazi Zombies, and Black Ops will continue with the mode. But this time, Treyarch isn’t focusing on nameless soldiers bound by coincidence: they’re using real-world figures.
And these figures? They’re not random people, as in the original. In fact, they’re some of the most important people in the past fifty years of our world. The names of these four assailants of the undead are John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro.
• Call Of Duty Black Ops Zombie video
The Problem
One of the oldest and hottest topics in our industry is the basis of stories around modern events. Why can World War II games be made without any second thought, but games about the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan be shot down? Didn’t people die in World War II, too?
A consensus reached on the subject matter is that a large amount of participants in the Second World War have passed away, or are too old to want to speak out on this type of thing, and as a result, it is a socially acceptable thing to do. We’re past the age where people wanted to forget about the War, and it’s acceptable to have media concerning the event.
Modern events are an extremely touchy topic, and as a result, modern media chooses not to delve into the topic apart from educational/informative pieces. You may recall how the end of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had to be altered due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City.
But this Black Ops idea is not simply a humorous recreation provided for entertainment value; it’s indefensible, it’s a violation of the images and reputations of the people portrayed, and is not something that should even be CONSIDERED to be included, especially in a title as big as this.
Elaboration
Each of the people portrayed is very unique, which is precisely why Treyarch included them in the game. For those of you who aren’t American, or who generally don’t have any clue who these people are, I’ll elaborate very briefly.
John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, and the youngest President to ever be elected to office, at age 43. Kennedy is known for a vast majority of things, most notably his religion, his involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and how he took money out of his own pockets to fund the Vietnam War. An all-around good guy, JFK was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963.
Richard Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, and is one of the biggest scandalists the United States has ever known. The Watergate Scandal led to his resignation on August 9th, 1974, in an effort to avoid his impeachment. He is the only President in United States history to resign. Nixon died on April 22nd, 1994.
Robert McNamara was the eighth Secretary of Defense, and served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He provided new ways to look at military-related decisions (systems analysis, as it is called) and led many campaigns on world starvation. He died on July 6th, 2009.
Lastly, we have the infamous Fidel Castro. Deep analysis is not necessary, because he’s still alive and kicking (barely). Castro was a key figure in the Cuban Revolution and a secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.
Why It’s Disrespectful
The inclusion of this band of luminaries is disrespectful and gives an entirely wrong message. A foreign forum-goer asked, “So it’s acceptable to make games based on soldiers who died for their Motherland, but wrong when some joyrider who got shot is in one?”
It’s a perfect example of why these people should not be presented in a game, especially in a scenario such as this.
These people have their own legacies, and those legacies did not include banding together to fight Hitler’s undead army.
You simply don’t demean JFK in any way; it’s an American thing. You don’t make fun of him, you don’t undermine him, and you most certainly do NOT put him in something such as this. Kids that play this game are going to know John F. Kennedy not as one of the most notable Presidents in history, but as the guy who killed zombies in the Pentagon with Richard Nixon, McNamara and, of all people, Castro.
This was all revealed in leaked gameplay footage showing the opening cinematic to the mode. It opens up with the group at a table attempting to have a discussion about something, most likely the Cuban Missile Crisis (as Castro jokes about it) or some sort of world policy (which, in itself, makes no sense, because JFK was dead before he even knew Nixon).
All of the people are portrayed demeaningly; JFK is laughing around with Castro, McNamara is being overly serious, and Nixon is represented as an overall idiot.
Zombies break in, and JFK parodies a speech, telling his cohorts to lock and load after slapping the wall of the Pentagon, revealing a large wall of armaments.
It even goes so far as to show Nixon as “awesome” by letting him dual-wield what appear to be Uzis (Nixon was one of the most corrupt presidents in history; he should not be viewed with much positivity except from a professional point of view). Castro can be quoted saying “Viva la Revolution…” when they grab a weapon.
What Will Happen?
In all likelihood, this will cause massive controversy among American media outlets for reasons I have mentioned already. Fox News will undoubtedly be all over this very, very soon.
As to the effects of this on sales, it will not only help sales, but let more people know about the game (precisely the same concept as the No Russian mission included in Modern Warfare 2, and the massive media attack it spawned).
From a strictly gaming and entertainment point of view, I find this interesting, and almost humorous. It’s a band of some of the biggest political figures from the past half-century fighting undead Nazis in the Pentagon! (Of all places to have such a thing occur; you’d think they’d have better protection than to allow the undead anywhere near the Pentagon…)
From an analytical and professional point of view, it’s disrespectful, distasteful, and completely out of place.
But it’s exactly what Treyarch and Activision want: publicity. People will do precisely what I am doing, and say why it’s wrong. That spreads word around, and makes more people take note of it.
It’s the world we live in, and we can’t do anything about it.
I’m still going to purchase Black Ops, and I’m still going to play Zombies. I’ll just have to ignore the ridiculously moronic fact that some of the biggest dignitaries of near-modern times are fighting zombies in the Pentagon.
©2010 Nicholas Laborde
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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Editorial, Game Impressions, GameBanter, New Game Information, New Xbox 360 Games, Xbox 360 Tagged: | Call Of Duty Black Ops, Call Of Duty World at War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, World War II
this is retarded why would you fight a game just because it has a stupid mini game in it which has some of the most important figures to the world who cares their are movies with sexual content and kids watch it so basically your fighting a fictional game their is a reason people play it TO RELAX! not to think when this happend and to think zombies arent real
can’t wait to be castro or kennedy. both are true legends and both a misunderstood and lied about leaders.
It’s just a GAME. Furthermore it’s a game sold only to adults! We don’t need censorship for stupid jokes among upgrown beings.
Every adult person believing in JFK fighting zombies in the past might also believe that Super Mario fights Bowser in reallife too… Come on? Are people really that stupid, that what they are allowed to see must be controlled? Somehow this scares me more… That every jerk thinks stuff must be forbidden, because people wouldn’t understand.
Look after your kids! If they are able to play adult games instead of going to school, then you failed as a parent.
If people like you think that JFK is not allowed to be joked about, then why the hell are they complaining about Mohamed restrictions on tv ^^? This points into two directions.
Stop censoring STUFF which only adults can purchase…..
“JFK was dead before he even knew Nixon” – Not true. Nixon was Eisenhower’s VP. JFK ran against Nixon and the two debated on the same stage.
Nixon wasn’t nearly as currupt as some of our more modern presidents, including the current one. I’ll put Nixon’s character against Clinton’s any day.
For someone who acts concerned for how historical figures are portrayed in a game, you need to portray them more accurately here.
This sounds like you’re trying way too hard to inject controversy into a game strictly because its popular.
Kennedy and Nixon are parodied constantly, specifically when it comes to Kennedy’s private life and all it takes is a short viewing of Futurama to look at how Nixon is usually portrayed in media. They are not above parody, jokes or any other form the developers took strictly because they’re famous figures and they shouldn’t be.
Saying they should be because this is a game is just making a double standard in media as well since these characters, except for McNamara to the best of my knowledge, are constant targets for political humor especially back in the 90′s. So if anything, all Treyarch is guilty of is being about a decade late on the joke.
I think this is blown WAY out of context. For example, if you’ve seen the movie “Bubba Ho Tep” the two hero’s were none other than Elvis and JFK(disguised as a black man after actually surviving the assassination attempt) played by the late Ozzie Davis, and no controversy there, as they were doing battle with an evil mummy….. My point being, I think the idea is brilliant, and in no way disrespects any of these men. I think its humorous and if you really look at the group of characters, its bi-partisan, and with the inclusion of Castro, even shows cooperation between opposite forms of Government. In a strange kind of way, maybe the folks who run our government on both sides, should grab a controller and take a lesson.
I think the part where you’re absolutely right is that Fox News and the likes will be all over this thing. You have me worried that the game launch might be delayed because of this (after all, we’ve had game launch troubled for lesser reasons (like a song in LittleBigPlanet)).
Otherwise, I think you’re a bit too touchy about the subject but since you represent the way too many people think, we definitely have to take notice of your opinion…
I have given up hope people will do something else but overreact in situations like this… maybe a few more thousand years of evolution will solve the problem if humanity ever makes it this far…
I have a sad feeling that the publisher, rather than the developers see this as a good cash-draw for public attention, like you saoid, such as FOX News etc etc, and even the likes of Mr Thomp[son, if he got his hands on this etc, could spin some off-beat reason why the game should be banned etc etc etc…
I feel they are perhaps going just that little too far (creating public awareness in the wrong direction) pushing the games they publish these days. Trying to etch out some sort of public outcry, yet knowing that that is what attracts the purchasers and the lookers of today. It’s a sad place when we are only attracted to the things that stand out or are shocking, rather than those which support or complement, be it games, movies, books or lifestyles.
One needs only see how popular the stupid reality TV shows have become to see this.
you have got to be kidding me…. its a gameeeeeeeeeeeeeee if kids are stupid enough to think about presidents and such maybe they should go to school and learn these things… and maybe just …. maybe not let the underage population of kids buy the god damn game after all it is and adult game.
I don’t see what the big deal is. Video games have a long history of unlocking famous characters that have nothing to do with the theme.
One example Michael Jackson in Ready2Rumble boxing.
So these characters are not unlocked. Who cares? It’s just a silly bonus add-on. No one takes zombies seriously. If you don’t like it, don’t play it.
Perhaps kids thinking of JFK as the guy that killed zombies might not be bad. They might perk up when they hear his name mentioned in history class and actually want to learn about who he really was.
I can see your point of not making fun of JFK being an “American thing”. But come on, freedom of speech trumps that any day.
You have the freedom to whine about the game and everyone else has the freedom to enjoy wiping out Zombies as JFK. Doesn’t get more American than that.
While you at it, why don’t you ramble about animal cruelties on Super Mario Bros or Pokemon.
It’s a VIDEO GAME!
The point is, it’s NOT Mario Bros, it’s a game deplicting events. Sure, it would be fine in games designed for such things, no problems, but come on,just about every game that has a sensible storyline now, and is not normally associated with zombies, is having zombies inserted with rediculious results.
Basically pushing what was/is a great game, down the ladder to just a simple run-shoot-fest. Why bother making a war game like this if all you’re relying on for sales is immature zombie nutters buying and playing the game, and forgoing the main game.
Games like Left 4 Dead, Res Evil etc etc etc are great games, and well worth the fun, but how would fans of that series feel if all of a sudden, those developers started adding sensible, story driven modes where there were no zombies or undead, and you had to follow the story to finish the game, rather than kill as many zombies in any way possible.
Genres need to stay within their boundaries, otherwise the developer, usually at the behest of the publisher btw, end up diluting a game that really needs no added fluff. Zombie additions are becoming the norm, rather than the funny exception to the rule. They are becoming ‘the rule’ – which is just wrong.
I don’t think that this portion of CoD is supposed to be taken seriously or be viewed as offensive. It is simply a very, VERY ridiculous “What if” situation, and I view it to be a very creative way to put Nazi zombies in the time period the game is set in. I don’t think it will be as offensive as “No Russian”, as the point isn’t to kill these figures, but to help protect them. Plus, the overall craziness of this will make anyone that views this seriously look like a complete moron.
*BREATHES*
I’m done.
Nixon and Kennedy did know each other very well…they were the two Presidential candidates in 1960 and debated in person several times. Also, Nixon can be looked to with positivity. Yes, he was corrupt, but he did more for the environment and international relations than any other President in the past century. If you’re going to mock the game for being historically innaccurate, you should have your facts right.
the zombies in that mode are nazi’s there just regular zombies they wear suits like they worked at the pentagon and got contaminated somehow