‘Heroes of 71’ sparks nationalism in gamers

The first-ever action game paying tribute to the freedom fighters of the 1971 Liberation War seems to have hit it big.

It was downloaded 7,209 times in the first few hours of its release on the Google Play Store.

Developers Portbliss say the game is designed to ‘portray the battles’ between the Muktibahini and the Pakistani occupation force.

 “A Game of Emotion!! A Game of Struggle!! It is giving me pleasure of play[ing], at the same time reminding me [of] the struggle of the real Heroes of 71,” says Ashib Hussain.

“Feeling emotional. Hats off to the developers.”

His comments on the Play Store nearly sums up the reason behind the game’s instant success.  

Set in 1971, the game follows the heroic tale of a guerilla group, ‘Shamsu Bahini’, who attacked and strategically captured Shonir Char on the bank of Madhumati River.

The vantage point had to be held until the pro-liberation forces could break through into Barisal.

“… played other shooting games; they were from western countries’ story and fiction. I always have had a dream to play games plotted on our glory, Muktijuddho or Liberation war….

“Now, I am very proud and happy to become a part of it,” was Akib Hossain’s reaction.

Since its release on the eve of Victory Day, the third person shooter has been lauded by Bangladeshi gaming enthusiasts with a 4.9-star rating on average.

The enthusiasm is not only based on the fact that it is Bangladesh’s first foray into presenting the Liberation War on the gaming frontier.

Reza Mahmud comments “… it will also teach us the history of the sacrifice of our courageous freedom fighters and make us respect them.”

“We Bangladeshis know our Bangladesh for 40 years. Now it’s time for other people to know…” wrote Abu Taher.

Like all promising releases, the gaming world has a lot of expectations from the developers.

Future updates turning the game into story mode, more levels, integration of more missions depicting various historic operations of the Liberation Force are all on the wishlist.