Too Soon? New Russian Videogame Replays War With Georgia

A Russian videogame that touches on the still-fresh war between the former Soviet homeland and Georgia is set for an imminent release, but as the Moscow Times points out, "those who suffered during the war may find it hard not to see it as triumphalist propaganda."

The game is called Confrontation — Peace Enforcment, a reference to the euphemistic name adopted by the Kremlin for its military campaign to back rebels in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions of Georgia. The intervention sparked a short war between the two nations and tarnished already shaky U.S.–Russian relations. The war became a minor issue in the American presidential campaign when John McCain accused Barack Obama of failing to take a strong enough stance against Russian aggression.

Confrontation takes place in the near future, when Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili gets support from the West and attempts to retake the breakaway regions. A description of the plot released by Russian mega-publisher Russobit-M sets the stage:

NATO does not stay out of it, pushing Poland forward as its representative and Ukraine blockades the Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Russia cannot remain out of it and launches a strike in response.

Matthew Collin, writing from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi for the Moscow Times sarcastically pens:

It hasn't yet been revealed whether there is a special role-playing function allowing gamers to torch and bulldoze villagers' homes while stealing their cars and shooting their cattle, or if players get bonus points for every refugee they create. But screenshots from the game do show fighter planes swooping low over blazing houses and a tank opening fire close to a Georgian Orthodox church.

A spokesman for Russobit-M, which is based in Moscow, says that "politics are politics, and a game is a game. These things should not be confused."

Critics of Russia's handling of the conflict, or Russobit's remix of that war, may find comfort in another game coming out of Eastern Europe, called Arma 2. Developed by Bohemia Interactive, Arma 2 is reportedly a more West-friendly exploration of strife in the Caucasus, tracking an elite U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit that gets caught up in the conflict over a fictional former Soviet nation called "Chenarus." Bohemia Interactive also developed Operation Flashpoint, which was modified by DARPA to train soldiers in the U.S. Army.

As Matthew Collin notes, neither game is the first to tackle a Russo-Georgian war. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon centered on Kremlin ambitions to restore the former Soviet empire, the first phase of which involved invading Georgia. Ghost Recon, which was made in 2001, was also set in the (then) near future — 2008.