Medal of Honor has been slammed by British Defence Secretary Liam
Fox, who is calling for its ban, saying he’s “disgusted” that the game allows players to ‘shoot’
British soldiers in Afghanistan.

EA’s Medal of Honor is a
first-person shooter game set during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
Players have the option of playing as either the invading U.S. Army
Rangers, or the defending Taliban forces.

Problem one with Liam
Fox’s argument is that no British soldiers appear in Medal of Honor,
making it embarrassingly clear that the politician has never played the
game.

In an anti Medal of Honor rant, Fox told The Sunday Times
it was “shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the
acts of the Taliban against British soldiers.”

“At the hands of
the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands,”
continued Fox. “It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would
wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game.”

Fox went as far as suggesting that retailers boycott Medal of Honor “to show their support for our armed forces.”

EA
were quick to defend the game, pointing out that Medal Of Honor “does
not allow players to kill British soldiers,” as “no British troops
feature in the game.”

However, this seems irrelevant and, more
pointedly, head of EA Games, Frank Gibeau has this to say in
justification of Medal of Honor:

“At EA we passionately believe
games are an artform, and I don’t know why films and books set in
Afghanistan don’t get flack, yet [games] do. Whether it’s Red Badge Of
Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for
the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that
platform.”

Fox’s singling out of Medal of Honor is also fairly random as this format of play is nothing new. An EA spokesperson said:

“Multi-player
combat is a long-standing, common and popular feature of videogames. In
multi-player, teams assume the identities of combatants on both sides
of the conflict. Many popular videogames allow players to assume the
identity of enemies including Nazis and terrorists. In the multi-player
levels of Medal of Honor, teams will assume the identity of both US
forces and the Taliban.”

What do you think about the Medal of Honor debate?

Have a look at the Medal of Honor preview: medalofhonor.com