FEATURE ARTICLE

December 2004

Marines Unveiling Two New Games

by Michael Peck

The Marine Corps is adapting two commercial video games-one a first-person-shooter and the other a platoon level strategy game-for training purposes.

Each side sees the deal as a win-win; the Marines get cutting-edge video game technology at a fraction of the price, while the game company marketers can bolster their products with a valuable Semper Fi endorsement.

The shooter game is appropriately titled Close Combat: First to Fight. In a strange twist, First to Fight started out as tool to help curb illegal drug use.

Officials at Marine Corps Community Services saw a Navy study suggesting that video games were a good way to reach young Marines, according to Lt. Col. Chris Sharp, who heads the Marine Corps Family Team Building Branch. They decided that video games could serve both to teach drug awareness and as a useful tactical simulator.

Marines will receive the version of First to Fight with the drug awareness module, which they can play on their home computers. They'll see how a stoned Marine can ruin a fire-team leader's day. At some point in the mission, one of the team members will scream incoherently or run out in the middle of a bullet-crossed street. While individual Marines won't have the option of turning off the drug module, Marine simulation centers will be able to shut it down, thus enabling them to use it as a multiplayer tactical trainer.

Sharp said various methods of distributing First to Fight are being considered. One possibility is to hold First to Fight tournaments, beginning with the battalions that provided subject matter experts for the game.

The Marines spent about $900,000 to develop First to Fight, with commercial developer Destineer picking up most of the tab and the Marines providing the subject matter experts. Sharp estimated it would have cost the Marines several million dollars to develop the game on their own.

"We have developed it with the full expectation that it will become a tactical decision-making simulation," said Michael Woodman, project manager for Marine Corps Systems Command. Woodman anticipates that First to Fight will become the primary fire team- and squad-level simulation.

The human players battle insurgents in multiple scenarios across Beirut in 2006. The player's fire team is part of a NATO task force battling various factions in "Operation Preserve Peace." The Marines fight as a combined-arms Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF). Players can call in Cobra attack helicopters, mortar fire and sniper teams. In multiplayer mode, humans also can play the opposing force.

First to Fight has a psychology model that simulates the "element of human will," said Tony Chiodo, director of product development for Destineer Studios in Minneapolis. No "oo-rah" Hollywood Marines in this game; friendly and enemy troops can panic if the battle goes against them. For example, Marines take a morale hit when they or their comrades are wounded or stressed. They get a morale boost when their wounds have been stabilized by first aid or when wounded Marines are evacuated.

The artificial intelligence of the game is designed around Marine doctrine and tactics, so that a human player going solo doesn't need to micromanage his virtual comrades. "One of your fire team members can use a grenade to flush an opposing force member from a location, and then the rest of your team can be positioned at strategic locations to pick them off as they flee," Chiodo said. The game generates an after-action report that rates the fire team as well as its individual members. Players and instructors can review their performance over the course of a scenario.

The game will feature weapons and ammunition similar to those currently in use in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also will include an editor that allows scenarios to be modified by Marine instructors.

Chiodo proudly notes that Marine veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq helped develop the game, while the majority of the actors providing voices for the game were former Marines who swore to the game's authenticity.

The second new game is Red Phoenix, based loosely on Larry Bond's technothriller about a North Korean invasion of South Korea. It is earmarked to be an anti-terrorism simulation for the Marine Corps Security Forces Training Company. Marines security units will practice defending an installation against terrorist attacks. "However, it is designed with functionality well beyond the anti-terrorism requirements, so it can be used as platoon- and company-level trainers," said Woodman. 

Red Phoenix can accommodate up to eight players, who can command a reinforced Marine rifle platoon, a South Korean special forces unit or a North Korean armored company. Destineer says the simulation will use a next-generation 3D engine to recreate authentic Korean terrain. Mortar rounds will blast craters in the ground, and soldiers may dive into them for cover. Animals will scatter out of the way of Humvees.

Red Phoenix's most distinctive feature may be its extensive psychological model for combatants and non-combatants alike. "We track psychology for the civilians. Do they flee? Do they turn and fight? What happens if you kill civilians?" asks Atomic president Keith Zabalaoui, a game developer.

The ultimate goal is to have a combined simulation. "The coolest thing the Marines want us to do next is to integrate those two products," Zabalaoui said. Company and platoon commanders in Red Phoenix will be able to issue orders to fire team leaders in First to Fight, whose actions will in turn be reflected in Red Phoenix.

Woodman believes the value of the two games lies in the cognitive lessons they teach, rather than specific skills such as marksmanship. He sees Marines learning the six C's: command, control, communications, cooperation, coordination and cognition.

These programs mark an increasing convergence between military and civilian games. Not only are entertainment game makers producing variations for the military, but the games themselves are virtually identical for both markets. Subtract a drug awareness scenario and a few other features, and "Close Combat: First to Fight" will be identical on a Marine's computer at Camp Lejeune and a teenager's computer in Salt Lake City.

Destineer spokesman Steve Charbonneau says First to Fight and Red Phoenix originated as projects intended for the Marine Corps. "But our previous investment in our technology and the very significant funding we've committed specifically to the games, which will get repaid in the commercial market, have significantly grown the scope and capabilities of the games."

Zabalaoui says, however, the games are primarily commercial games adopted for military use. They are betting the Marine connection will be profitable for marking their game. "The big advantage is credibility. We are providing the Marines with something they can use for training. Players say, 'If I have to choose between a fake wargame and one the Marines helped make, the Marine game sounds more interesting.' But you don't want to scare people off into thinking it's a really tough wargame. It's a fine line I have to cross."

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