Sledgehammer's Unfinished Vietnam Call of Duty Was Called Fog of War
Fog of War is a military term for the uncertainties of combat, but more importantly for this story the partial title of an amazing, Oscar-winning documentary about the life of former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara. It was also the internal title of Sledgehammer Games’ unfinished Vietnam Call of Duty.
The association is lofty. McNamara is regarded as the “architect” of the Vietnam war, and the game was going to focus on that war, including the little-known parts of it that took place in parts of of South East Asia other than Vietnam. If it had also managed to capture the documentary’s thoughtful ruminations on the moral uncertainties inherent in war, then we missed a heck of a game.
Sledgehammer made a 15-minute demo of Fog of War before being asked to develop Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Sledgehammer Co-founder Michael Condrey revealed the name to IGN and said the planned third-person game would have mixed Call of Duty with the play style of Uncharted. The developer has already revealed the game would have had some dark and horrific themes, drawing on its experience with Dead Space and of course the real-world horror that was Vietnam.
So will Sledgehammer ever revisit the project? Never say never.
“In our hearts, there’s probably a place for that game,” Condrey said. “You never want to say in absolute terms that you wouldn’t go back to it.”