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| Flying a Wildcat over Wake Island as depicted in the game Easy Red 2 |
Easy Red 2 is a first-person shooter covering various World War 2 campaigns. Unlike the original game which follows the exploits of the American Easy Red company, Easy Red 2 allows you to participate in various conflicts ranging from the urban centres of China and the jungles of the Pacific to the fields of France and deserts of North Africa.
The game is really fun and brings me back to Battlefield 1942. However, I attempt to answer the question: Is this historically accurate?
What the game gets right:
The lesser-known battles
The minor campaigns have their day in the sun. Lesser know factions such as the New Zealanders and the British Raj are featured. In addition, battles like Kos and the multiple fights over the French town of Sedan are also featured.
Furthermore, the battles are often asymmetric. For instance, some factions will have limit armor or air support as it happened in the actual battle. Hundreds of weapons are distributed to in-game squad loadouts according to actual WWII field manuals, which is a more rigorous approach than most indie shooters take — loadouts are meant to reflect real unit organization.
What the game gets wrong:
The nitty gritty
The game does get several minor things wrong. For instance, the German paratroopers are deployed with their rifles in hand during the Kos campaign, when in reality the Germans were landed seperately from their equipment.
In another example, the Soviet soldiers are equipped with dog tags when they did not carry them until after World War 2. The soldiers carried death medallions instead, which were a paper certificate inserted in an ebony cylinder.
Conclusion
This game is one of the more realistic WW2 shooters, and I am happy to recommend it both as a gamer and a historian.
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