An Iranian hard-line student group has produced a new videogame simulating the rescue of two Iranian nuclear experts from the clutches of American and Israeli troops, called Rescue the Nuke Scientist.
Designed by the Union of Students Islamic Association, the game is intended as a response to Kuma’s Assault on Iran title, which depicts U.S. special forces destroying the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mohammad Taqi Fakhrian, a student group leader, said, “This is our defense against the enemy’s cultural onslaught.”
In the game, U.S. troops capture a husband-and-wife team of nuclear engineers as they make a pilgrimage to the holy site of Karbala. Players take on the role of Iranian security forces as they undertake “The Special Operation,” tracking the scientists from Iraq to Israel. To successfully complete the game, the player will have to enter Israel, kill U.S. and Israeli troops, rescue the scientists and retrieve their laptops which contain secret information.
Failure brings the message, “With resistance, you can battle the enemy,” and the Iranian flag flies in the corner of the screen throughout the game. “We tried to promote the idea of defense, sacrifice and martyrdom in this game,” Fakhrian said. He said that while his group was trying to market the game in Iran and other Muslim countries first, they also planned to offer it in Western countries.
The student group that produced the game was also behind the 2005 “World Without Zionism” conference, during which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”
Ali Reza Masaeli, leader of the design team, said Save the Nuke Scientist took three years to develop. Its release comes close on the heels of the similarly-nationalistic Save the Port, the first entirely Iranian-produced videogame, which was released in May.
