Fall of Liberty (Think COD, but we lose)

[YSSMAN]

America Occupied by Nazis!
Codemasters rewrites World War II history with Fall of Liberty.
by Alex Simmons

UK, August 31, 2006 - Imagine an alternate reality where World War II wasn't won by Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy, but instead the Nazis overthrew Europe and, within a decade, had invaded and conquered America. That's the premise behind Fall of Liberty, a first-person shooter that promises to turn the WWII genre on its head.

Developed by Spark Unlimited, the team behind Call of Duty: Finest Hour, Fall of Liberty will be released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC and casts the player as a resistance fighter battling not for the liberation of Europe, but for their nation's freedom in enemy-occupied America.

In the game's alternate reality, Winston Churchill is hit by a taxi on 5th Avenue in New York, but rather than surviving as his did 65 years ago, he was killed. Without his battle cry to inspire the Allied troops, the Nazis emerged victorious and - on December 7, 1951 - launched an all-out attack on the United States. The rest as they say is history. Well, sort of.

Although the game is still at an early stage in its development, with only a teaser screenshot of German troops marching through Washington in circulation, Codemasters promises an "intense and cinematic" experience with real-world locations to fight through, including a White House draped in Swastikas and a Manhattan Island that's under threat from nuclear attack. It's a totally fresh approach and with Spark's pedigree of creating believable, compelling gaming experiences, Fall of Liberty could give the historical FPS genre the shake up it needs when released at the end of next year.

...I like this idea, a lot. I was actually playing with a short story idea that followed a similar path, although I had the Nazis invading the US by different means. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the game, and just how "orgainized" the resistance would be. Would technology be different? Would the Godless Commies still be Allied with the Nazis?

I'm allready loving this game when there is so little to know about!

 

[DuckRacer]

Is this game supposed to take place, like, in the late '90s or early '00s? Or is this supposed to take place a lot earlier?

Either way, this looks awesome. I'm surprised no one thought of this before.

 

[YSSMAN]

The game takes place in 1951-1952 ish, so what would have been the early days of the Cold War. Without Churchill to "warn" the world of the dangers of Hitler and his Nazi party, everyone is pretty much caught off-guard by his actions, and it is only a matter of time before the UK and US is overrun by the Nazis.

My biggest question is "How did it all happen?" There is going to have to be some great storytelling in this game, and I can't wait to hear the details. Was it an air invasion? By sea? Were nuclear weapons used by the Nazis? How far has their control reached in the US? Were the Japanese involved in invading the western states? Are there citizens who support the Nazis?

This game has HUGE potential, and I think it will be a welcome change to the WWII-shooter genre.

 

[CDailey]

Sounds pretty awesome. It's about time the WWII genre got spiced up.

 

[El Gigante]

Looks cool 👍

 

[Master_Yoda]

Early 50's? WTF! To me this looks like a WWII type scenario. Which it would be mid-late 40's since that was the time that US was involved. Maybe a little earlier maybe 42/43 ish. And besides, Nazis counter-attacks were only screwed up cause we screwed up The Landings were everywere. It tooks days, even weeks for people to get into there companys. Even then it was mixed up. How ever this is a different approach. I would like to know were the Nazis attack from. Well if it's going to take place early 50's surely USSR won't be allies with us. Cold War era, but Nazi Germany didn't really see that era. Hmm.. I would like to see more.

 

[Pebb]

If they make a 2nd one, they should make it be set in many places, with one location being the UK, with resistance fighters battling to win back the UK and other parts of Europe.

 

[YSSMAN]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the franchise continue on to Europe to finish off the resistance, or maybe having seperate titles that tell the story of British, French, etc resistance fighters in their respective countries.

The best part about this game is that the story has quite the "wide open" feeling to it right now, and thats awesome. It will be fun to see if they can get us to do some urban combat in NYC or Boston, maybe some tank warfare in the Midwest, and the grand finale being the fight for Washington D.C.

I'd be willing to bet there will be some "Oh my God!" moments in this game, especially when they show the presumable destruction laid out by the Nazis on the American east-coast. Will they destroy the Statue of Liberty? Will the Empire State be destroyed? How many monuments in Washington will be defaced or destroyed?

...I want more details, NOW!

 

[iceburns288]

I think this game would be better as an American fighting off the Nazis as they're invading North America, not while trying to get them out. Just my take .

 

[Eric.]

Sounds like a must buy. Brilliant idea for an alternate result of the war.

 

[harrytuttle]

Early 50's? WTF! To me this looks like a WWII type scenario. Which it would be mid-late 40's since that was the time that US was involved. Maybe a little earlier maybe 42/43 ish.

The early 50's is appropriate. If the German army didn't start to run out of steam by 1943, and if the US didn't keep supplying just about everyone in Europe since 1938, then this situation is entirely plausible. It seems to be assuming the US maintained its isolationist policies all the way through 1945, and the Germans just kept working their way through Europe. Figure another long winter in Russia, finishing off Uncle Joe, and then Germany could have turned around and taken their time with England. That puts it right around 1950.

There's dozens of books like this, "fictionalized history". All sorts of what-if's, like if Kruschev developed the atomic bomb first, or if the South won the US Civil war. This is one of them, but I can't remember by who. I should search Amazon or something.

I would like to know were the Nazis attack from. Well if it's going to take place early 50's surely USSR won't be allies with us. Cold War era, but Nazi Germany didn't really see that era. Hmm.. I would like to see more.

There'd be no such thing as a cold war if the (defeated) US & USSR have nothing to fight over, having gained nothing from a Germany that's still undefeated.


Although not entirely an original idea, it's nice to see some diversity in WWII games. There were actually getting boring (despite being quite good individually) and extremely repetitive. How many French resistance operatives can you rescue? Aside from playing for the Nazis (or was that done already?), this is the next logical step. Kudos to them for seeing the obvious. 👍

 

[YSSMAN]

...Kinda makes you wonder what happens to Canada and Mexico in the process as well...

 

[Eric.]

I wonder how much of America they have taken over. We have to have something left if we are going to be able to liberate the entire country. Maybe we retreated to Canada?

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

Hmm....

WWII Alternate Reality?

Fall of Liberty?

Fall of Man?

Resistance?

WWII Alternate Reality?

bahahaha, j/j We'll see how it shapes up. Looks very interesting

 

[DuckRacer]

I wonder how much of America they have taken over. We have to have something left if we are going to be able to liberate the entire country. Maybe we retreated to Canada?

Either that, or that the Americans have some little village in Montana or Kansas. After all, I don't think Hitler would feel like spending time and money capturing a bunch of land that is seemingly lifeless (well, except for maybe the cattle).

 

[Eric.]

I guess we'll get a lot of questions answered, won't we?

 

[YSSMAN]

I wonder how much of America they have taken over. We have to have something left if we are going to be able to liberate the entire country. Maybe we retreated to Canada?

During the war, we moved many of the "essential" parts of the American economy and government to the midwest should an attack ever come from the Japanese or the Germans on American soil. That way, we would have a place to "retreat" to before having to resort to Canada or Mexico for escape.

 

[McLaren]

Hmm, I like the idea of this. Though it could end up like another Nazi Killer game, the whole point is that now you're fighting to save what's left of your country with just a short amount of people compared to the Nazis which could make this very interesting.

BTW, if the Axis took over the US, does this mean the game will hint at what happen to our allies like the British?

 

[YSSMAN]

I'd assume so. I'd bet on some kind of war footage like the old news-reels that explain a lot of things at the begining of the game, but given the context of the era, the radio will play a large role in how information is shared and presented.

I just pray they don't go "Red Dawn" on us with resistance fighters doing small-scale skirmishes between whats left of the American resistance and the Nazi forces. For some reason I can imagine a platoon of American soldiers fighting in the resistance ala "Band of Brothers" against the Nazis, fighting for and defending points of interest on the American landscape over a period of a few years in the game.

It is a very interesting title, and I'm very surprised it has taken the folks this long to think of this kind of game...

 

[McLaren]

Good point YSSMAN. I was thinking that maybe since the game is in the US, we could possibly be seeing destoryed landmarks or fighting around them.

 

[Max_DC]

Well, it is a critical issue for a German, but nevertheless it sounds very interesting and refreshing.
Personally I already thought about this idea, but not in a game, but in a movie.
Hitler had so many insane plans, like building Germania, a gigantic city and whatnot. I thought of a 3 part movie, as big and as professional as Lord of the Rings... would be a great movie imo...

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

^^^ Only if he was killed in a violent way in the end and everyone lived happily ever after.

 

[YSSMAN]

There are a lot of "what ifs" if Hitler had gained more power than what he had, and many of them have been very interesting. It has been said that if the war in Europe would have lasted for another year, the tables could have been turned once again with the Luftwaffe going to jet-power, further development of the long-range bomber, and the German nuclear weapon.

Of course, there are plenty of things the Allies were working on as well, and the detonation of a nuclear device over Berlin doesn't seem to be too far out of the question either, that is unless "sane" hands would have destroyed a city like Hanover, Munich, etc.

---

You know what would be a cool level?

Fighting alongside the crime-bosses in Chicago against the Nazis. Combine Al Capone and the "Chicago Typewriter" along with a US Army platoon, and its a recipie for fun!

 

[Max_DC]

Yeah, imo this game - if it has good gameplay/graphics - could be the start of a popular and successful series. As it has been said, the ideas are almost endless and therefor every sequel could be alot more refreshing than COD3,4,5 Brothers in Arms 7, Medal of Honor 15 etc

 

[McLaren]

Yeah, imo this game - if it has good gameplay/graphics - could be the start of a popular and successful series. As it has been said, the ideas are almost endless and therefor every sequel could be alot more refreshing than COD3,4,5 Brothers in Arms 7, Medal of Honor 15 etc

Side Note* Call of Duty I believe is ending its WWII wars after #3.

 

[YSSMAN]

Really? I'm surprised they haven't covered the efforts in the Pacific yet...

As long as we don't have that Vietnam fad once again, I'll be very happy. But I wouldn't mind seeing these "theoretical" war games, they sound like fun...

 

[harrytuttle]

I just pray they don't go "Red Dawn" on us with resistance fighters doing small-scale skirmishes between whats left of the American resistance and the Nazi forces. For some reason I can imagine a platoon of American soldiers fighting in the resistance ala "Band of Brothers" against the Nazis, fighting for and defending points of interest on the American landscape over a period of a few years in the game.

The "Band of Brothers" style is currently available. In fact, it's just about all war video games until now. I would actually hope for a "Red Dawn" style, only you have to build up your army. Sort of like how the resistance was started in pseudo-future of the "Terminator" movies, culminating in all-out war.

It is a very interesting title, and I'm very surprised it has taken the folks this long to think of this kind of game...

It's only been 7 years since MoH, and that's about the usual gestation time for originality within a genre. Look how long MMO's have been going on in their current xerox-able state. Is there really a big difference between the first Everquest and WoW?

 

[DuckRacer]

New screenies.

 

[slackbladder]

Someone has mentioned "Freedom Fighters" yes? www.ioi.dk

It was on the PS2 and Xbox about a Russian invasion of the US. I quite liked it. So this Fall of Liberty isn't wholly original. Still, could be good.

 

[YSSMAN]

I was getting a bit worried when I hadn't heard much about the game in a while. It still looks like fun, and I'm still pretty interested. Based on those shots, it would appear as though they are focusing on a lot of the prototype German weapons that were either too little too late, or never existed at all...