Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Today is Independence Day. For some, it’s an excuse to show your passion for The Land of the Free in the form of fireworks and flags; for the rest of us, it’s Thursday and there’s a new season of Stranger Things but you still have work tomorrow but that you still have work tomorrow and it’s slightly too hot outside. Should you wish to hype yourself up and join in with the merry spirits of those across the sea, then allow me to assist. Here is a small and potent batch of some of the fourth-of-Julyiest games I could find. A short while with any one of these is sure to have you leaping up and down and screaming about the stars and stripes, venturing out to purchase a sequin-spangled top hat, and an eagle-emblazoned truck whose horn blasts the opening notes of the national anthem.
Freedom Fighters
In the world of Freedom Fighters, which was made by Hitman developer IO Interactive, the Soviet Union dropped a nuclear bomb on Berlin, bringing WWII to a swift and fiery resolution while communist states sprout from the ashes. The game gives you control of a squad of guerilla fighters, whose job it is to repel a Soviet invasion of New York. Standard stuff for those reared on Red Dawn. One of Freedom Fighters’ low-key triumphs was its hero, squad leader Christopher Stone. He doesn’t look like much – dour and doom-faced, with a knife clasped against his collar and an unwise sleeveless jacket. Christopher has a brother called Troy, who wears green dungarees, and we find out what they both did before their lives were swept up by the invasion: they were plumbers. The penny drops, and IO Interactive’s message is decoded: Bowser was a commie all along!
Contra
Contra came out in 1987, with the Cold War yet to thaw, but it was set in 2633. The villain of the piece is the Red Falcon Organization, and the heroes are two muscle-bound marines, both proud mullet owners, who mow down their foes amid rich greenery. Have you managed to pierce its thick hide of metaphor? Like Freedom Fighters, Contra, too, is about communists. It has the ring of a Reagan-era action movie to it – replete with an alien menace that, like the beast in Predator, squats in the heart of the jungle. The game’s iron-pumping patriotism is expressed in the only manner acceptable: fully automatic bursts. And if you need any further proof of its red-blooded, wholesome values, then consider the names of its heroes, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, both of whom sound like mid-level corporate executives, or corrupt cops in a ‘80s Bruce Willis film.
Army of Two
Hot on the tail of Rizer and Bean, in the two-man army stakes, are Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios, the heroes of Army of Two. The name ‘Elliot Salem’ launches an assault on our suspension of disbelief and joins ‘Deacon St. John’ in that rarefied category of ‘names’ that belong loyally, and exclusively, to video games. Army of Two brims with lines such as: ‘To fear the military industrial complex is to fear progress’ and ‘We’ll grab a beer when this war is over, you son of a bitch.’ The game sees the pair, paved with thick slabs of body armour, dispatched to a variety of places – Somalia, in 1993; Iraq, in the churning wake of 9/11 – to either kill terrorists or rescue wounded fellow soldiers. The two also wear helmets styled like skulls, the universally recognised symbol of peace and prosperity.
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich, a filmmaker of German stock, has built a successful career on a foundation of destroying the foundations of famous American Landmarks. Whether they be repurposed as a scratching post for Godzilla; swallowed as the earth is wafted like a duvet, as in 2012; or just plain blown to smithereens, as they were, in luxurious excess, in Independence Day. Fortunately, that film had a freshly brylcreemed Bill Pullman, playing the president, deliver a rousing speech about resisting the alien menace and celebrating the fourth of July as they would any other year – alien horde be damned. The game was a combat flight simulator, and it was as fun as flu. Still, it had some FMV scenes plucked from the film, so you may wish to play it for those. Alternatively, you could just watch Independence Day again.
America’s Army: Proving Grounds
This might be a little out there, and forgive me if I sound like I might suit a hat of the finest tin foil. I’ve my suspicions – simmering away since its release in 2013 – that America’s Army: Proving Grounds may harbour a wish to tempt you into joining the American Army. Consider the evidence: (a) it was developed by the United States Army; (b) it was published by the United States Army; and (c) the game’s deputy director has admitted that it is a recruitment tool. But either way, it’s apparently quite good: a team-based shooter with an emphasis on realistic combat. It’s free as well, so if you wish to feel patriotic on a budget then it’s ideal for you. If you’re actually in need of some cash, you could also consider joining the army.
Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul
Sadly, the running theme on this list, the spiritual tether that ties these games together, is violence. And it’s important to remember that patriotism doesn’t require savagery. Besides, is there anything more patriotic that the trucking industry? To play Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul is to be reminded that each 18-wheeler isn’t so much a vehicle as a vertebra in the great steel spine of the United States. What better way to champion uninhibited, hurtling commerce than to experience the sheer unfettered thrills of inching through the country’s blizzard-bound heartlands and dry-baked desert roads, periodically lashed by rain, while seeking a deeper connection with yourself, the country, and those who drift by in their cars, going no place. If all else fails, you can always paint a blazing pattern of stars and stripes to the front of your truck. Whatever works.
