Ten of the major WW2 events listed below were skipped over, though it would be interesting to see future franchise entries shed a light on some of them. There was a time when gamers grew tired of WW2 games, and some of the events were covered in other first-person shooters, but next generation hardware could bring some of these moments to life in entirely new ways.
10 Pearl Harbor
As the game deals with the European front, it was not necessary to include Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. For a game detailing this event, one can always dust off a console from two generations ago and play Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. Despite the technological limitations, the levels depicting this harrowing moment from U.S. history are still impactful.
9 Battle Of Stalingrad
The biggest and bloodiest battle of the whole war lasted more than five months and resulted in over a million deaths. The victory marked a turning point in Eastern Europe and allowed the Soviet Army to push back the Axis forces. Call of Duty 2, an Xbox 360 launch title, features the battle. A whole game covering Eastern Europe during the war would be interesting, following not only the Red Army, but the partisan forces in Belarus and Ukraine.
8 Iwo Jima
Call of Duty: WWII does not dive into the invasion of Japan or Operation Detachment. Granted, covering Iwo Jima and Normandy in the same game perhaps would have felt like déjà vu, considering they both consisted of assaulting a beach.
The iconic photo of soldiers raising an American flag on a hill comes from this battle, and films like Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima detail the devastating fight that took place.
7 Hiroshima And Nagasaki
It would be difficult to portray this moment in a video game, which explains why it so rarely is. The two bombs dropped on these cities marked the end of the war and Japan’s surrender, but it came at the cost of massive civilian casualties. Depicting such a massive real-life tragedy with maturity and sensitivity is difficult. However, the gaming medium has grown up a lot in recent years, so perhaps they could find a respectful way of portraying it.
6 North Africa
An often overlooked part of World War II is the fighting in North Africa. Whenever the characters talk about Kasserine, they are referencing a battle in Tunisia. Few games deal with this area of the world, though anybody interested can play Sniper Elite 3. While it plays differently than a Call of Duty entry, it is still worthwhile for any fans of historical fiction in video games.
5 Dunkirk
While the Christopher Nolan movie shone a spotlight on this battle, video games have consistently shied away from it. It makes sense for Call of Duty: World War II to ignore it, too. Dunkirk mostly involved European forces, and the 2017 game follows an American platoon on their journey through Europe. In the game, British forces only play a role in two levels, though they are arguably two of the best levels in the game.
4 Battle Of Midway
This naval battle between America and Japan, taking place only several weeks after Pearl Harbor, proved a devastating loss for the latter’s forces.
The U.S. lost just over 300 men while Japan lost over 3,000. It mostly consisted of aerial combat, which makes some thankful it was not included in a Call of Duty entry. Dogfighting in WWII was not particularly entertaining.
3 Battle Of Berlin
One of the battles that ended the war is also absent from the game, mainly because it was a conflict between the Soviet Army and the Nazis. It started on April 16, 1945, and by April 30 Adolf Hitler had killed himself, and the battle was over just two days later. The ending of the Andrei Tarkovsky film Ivan’s Childhood shows the ending of the battle and the destruction it unleashed upon the city.
2 Bombing Of Dresden
While not a battle, per se, the bombing of the German city was a major event in the war. Like with some other entries, it would be difficult and perhaps insensitive to gamify the attack, because the forces were met with little resistance, so playing it would just be dropping bombs on civilian areas. Writer Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in the city during the bombings and used his experience as inspiration for one of his most well-known novels, Slaughterhouse-Five.
1 Invasion Of Poland
Since the game starts off with the Normandy invasion, or D-Day, all of the other prior events are brushed over. Playing through Germany’s invasion of Poland, the event which marked the beginning of World War II as a whole, would be heartbreaking, considering the country fell to the Axis powers. However, it would still be valuable in a historical fiction context. The Call of Duty series is no stranger to having the player fight a loosing battle, and it could make for some interesting storytelling possibilities.
Next: 10 Most Historically Accurate Games That Are Also Tons Of Fun
