Meeting the Operators

Atomic talks to the special forces operators helping EA make the next Medal of Honor game.

For the original Medal of Honor, EA called upon the likes of Dale Dye, a Vietnam veteran, and numerous World War II veterans, to help deliver a sense of authenticity. For the reboot, the team is going one further, calling upon the experiences of serving Tier 1 operators - in other words, just about the hardest people you'll ever meet.

And meet them we did, when we got to preview the game late last year

To give Australian readers a comparison, these guys are the equivalent of our own SAS. And like our SAS, because these guys are serving, and likely to be back on-mission by the time you read this, we can't know their names, or even see their faces. We met three of them during our studio visit; they were generous enough to sit down with the press (these guys, as a rule, do not talk to journalists) and talk us through why they thought working with EA is important, what they bring to the game, and learn a little but about what makes them tick.

But before we met them, we asked Greg Goodrich, executive producer on the project, what lengths he had to go to even get these guys onside.

"There was a lot of back and forth, a lot of talking to a guy, who'd talk to a guy," he said. "It was about gaining trust, and letting them know we would honour what they do, and the people they do it with. When they understood that, they came on board."

Which is a hell of a coup, and still a shaky proposition. "We know they could leave the project whenever they wanted," he added. "We don't want that to happen."

Which is very fair, because these Tier 1 guys bring a lot to the table.

When they walk into the room, everyone kind of goes quiet. All three of them - who go by the call-signs Vandal, Coop and Pancho - are masked and balaclava-ed; it's obvious these are capable individuals just from the way they move, and when they sit down and look at you you get the real impression they've just summed you up and not found you much of a threat. It's kind of awesome and very humbling at the same time.

On conveying their work through the gaming medium:
VANDAL: The game is meant to be fun, but EA wants authenticity. Whether it's dialogue or gear or certain actions, maybe the more visceral aspects - it's incumbent on us to help them, but to do it in good taste.

On whether the game trivialises what they do:
PANCHO: EA brought us in to keep the game in check.

VANDAL: If it's about honour, no, it does not trivialise anything. The franchise has developed to what it is today, and we have the opportunity to continue to shape it. It's too often that we see in the news today, or read online, that the public is being force fed certain aspects of the war on terror. Politics aside, certain abuses and scandals... working with the gentlemen that I have, you get a different attitude. It's easy to focus on the negative, but throughout life you create your own symphony, and you hope your actions work for the good of things.

Politics aside, there are good men out there doing good things, despite the blemishes of some individuals. We have ardent belief systems - we believe our cause is just.

GREG: We've made this game not about politics or planning or even the war on terror. It's about these guys doing their job well. This game, this story, is about those guys.

VANDAL: We've had the opportunity to erase a lot of misconceptions.

If you're on the business end of my weapon system, you belong there. But I'm not a killer. It's not about glorifying what we do, and we're getting that across.