I did think the homosexuality and racism was interesting, more so by the fact that it's both blatant and understated, at least in the sexual preferences category. There is a 15 year old lesbian that gets a boost by being around strong women, but it never is brought up as part of the story or anything, that's just who she is, take her or leave her. Jann is described in his profile as "Going crazy for muscles either his own or other men's" and again, it's not a story point, it's just a matter of fact. Jann is a gay man with a huge lance.
And the racism isn't just a story element, but actually plays into the game. Some characters are racist, and some characters are of that race. How do you balance that? It's up to you.
It approaches a number of things with unexpected maturity. It attempts to humanize the enemy, but doesn't let you forget that they still do bad things...but so do your own team mates. The scene with Fritz makes Gregor look like an honorable man, a decent guy that you just happen to be on the opposite side of. A few scenes later he's in a work camp showing depraved indifference to a race of people that are enslaved. Sounds bad, but how many people on your own squad are racist too and have the same attitude. Bad people do good things, and good people do bad things, but who's who? And is there really that much of a difference? I think it has more maturity than alot of game's stories, and I am utterly surprised by that, I wasn't expecting that going in. The characters actually have a certain degree of depth, the story operates on certain themes and messages without ever becoming preachy.
I was looking forward to this game, but it was lower on the list behind Resistance 2, and Little Big Planet. But in my opinion it surpasses both of them. I am enjoying it immensely.
You can find me on facebook as Markus Van Rijn, if you friend me just mention you're from VGchartz and who you are here.
