Activision Plays with the Civil War

The publisher of Call of Duty 2 is turning it's time machine back almost a hundred years, and focusing on America's bloodiest war as the inspiration for a new game due out this fall.  History Channel: Civil War, developed in conjunction with the television station, is supposed to be a shooter/strategy game closer in style to Brothers in Arms than COD.

The game tracks 12 monumental battles in the War Between the States (or the War of Northern Aggression, depending on which state you're from), and is said to simulate the "authentic weaponry of the Civil War".  It is unclear how true-to-life the game intends to be.  Shoot - reload... - shoot does not seem like a method most gamers enjoy during their simulated warfare.

You will, obviously, be able to play as an American soldier.  Unlike the Call of Duty franchise, though, you will have the chance to pursue single player missions as the losing, politically incorrect side of the war.  This is a brave choice by Activision for a mass market game, though nothing new in Civil War games for the PC.

I have been looking forward to a civil war game for the 360, but this game worries me a bit.  It is slated for a release on November 14th, 2006 and this is the first I have really heard of it.  Games that limp onto the marketplace usually have serious development problems that have caused the publisher to give up on them.

Publishers who don't invest in marketing a title are basically letting us know they don't believe enough in the game to pour more money into it.  On top of that, the game is launching during the same week as Gears of War, the PS3 and the Wii.  It's almost like the game is being sacrificed at the altar of gaming.

I hold out a shred of hope for something new in the war simulation genre, but I won't get my hopes up too high.