The classic video game created by Steven Spielberg
When most people consider the work of Steven Spielberg, they think of blockbusters such as Jaws, E.T. and Jurassic Park. Yet, many people don’t realise that the American director also had a significant impact on the world of first-person shooter video games. The director created the iconic Medal of Honor franchise, emerging when he produced 1998’s epic war film Saving Private Ryan.
The first Medal of Honor arrived in 1999, setting the standard for future first-person shooter war games, such as Call of Duty, in terms of plot and depth. Notably, the game is set towards the conclusion of the Second World War between mid-1944 and 1945. Players are tasked with completing missions for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), such as rescuing an American pilot and going undercover to destroy a U-boat.
The game followed Spielberg founding DreamWorks Interactive with Microsoft in 1995 as part of a broader trend of Hollywood studios establishing interactive divisions. The story goes that Spielberg had recognised the entertainment potential of the flourishing video games industry earlier than his peers and had already served as a consultant on projects for LucasArts and Atari.
Medal of Honor was a passion project for the director that materialised during the production of Saving Private Ryan, with the game’s development starting in November 1997. This followed a meeting with his staff, wherein Spielberg outlined his idea for a first-person shooter set in the Second World War, the same setting as his hit blockbuster Saving Private Ryan.
The idea came from Spielberg’s lifelong interest in World War Two and his fascination with the possibilities offered by the gaming industry after being particularly captivated by his son Max playing the hit James Bond game GoldenEye 007. The filmmaker also sought to create a game that could be educational and entertaining, making it one of the first times that war games were instilled with such genuine substance.
Things weren’t straightforward for Medal of Honor, though. As violent games were the most controversial topic at the time, following the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, it was not safe from criticism. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society also denounced it for turning a severe subject into what they thought was a relatively weightless video game. Remarkably though, the game’s producer Peter Hirschmann persuaded the society’s President, Paul Bucha, that the intentions behind the game were honourable. This saved the project from being cancelled and, in a brilliant twist, even earned Bucha’s endorsement.
Jamie Russell’s 2012 book, Generation Xbox: How Video Games Invaded Hollywood, explains how Spielberg took a hands-on approach to developing Medal of Honor.
The author writes: “Spielberg, who was then in post-production on Saving Private Ryan came into the Dreamworks Interactive offices and outlined his idea. He saw Saving Private Ryan as an educational experience as much as an entertainment property… He’d watched his teenage son and his friends play Goldeneye on Nintendo 64. Could Dreamworks build a World War II shooter, he wondered, that would let them learn about the conflict through playing?”
At first, the game developers weren’t enamoured with the project. In the book, Hirschmann says, “People were really dubious. They said, ‘World War II is old, it’s got cobwebs on it. People want ray-guns, hell-spawn and laser rifles’. The idea of doing something with historical relevance set in a low-tech game environment was a challenging sell.”
However, Spielberg stuck to his guns. He maintained that the game should be set in the Second World War and asserted that historical accuracy was key to the project’s success. This dedication saw him enlist historians and military advisers to give it that extra sense of realism.
Demonstrating how pioneering this was, this practice is now ubiquitous in the industry. It has dramatically impacted games not being just entertainment anymore, but immersive experiences that give something back to the player. However, one criticism people did have of the game was its lack of blood and gore, an inversion of what consumers wanted during this era, which was removed from the game before release due to the heat around video game violence following Columbine.
Regardless, Medal of Honor was a big hit. Whilst Spielberg would not spend long in gaming, moving on to other projects, it kicked off a majorly successful franchise. As is well known, it would eventually be overtaken by Call of Duty, a series still going strong today.
