| "What are you playing?"
"Gun, that new western adventure game from Activision." I’m riding my horse hard through the backcountry, making a delivery for the Pony Express.
"What do you think so far?"
"It’s fun. Took me a bit to figure out how to get the controls working for me, but I’ve had no problem shooting the bad guys since then."
"You mean shooting the Indians."
"Well, yeah, some of the bad guys are Indians. Some are just regular bad guys." At this, I turn in my saddle, aim carefully, and take down one of the bandits chasing after me.
"You don’t have a problem playing a game in which you slaughter Apaches?"
"I’m a bit uncomfortable about it, sure. But it’s a fun game to play." Having dispatched the bandits, I complete my delivery to the sheriff. Mission accomplished. Time to visit the saloon.
"How accurate do you think Gun’s depiction of life in the Wild West is?"
"I have no way of knowing. What I know about the Wild West I’ve learned from Clint Eastwood movies. What do you think? You’re the one who worked for Indian and Northern Affairs."
"It’s hard to tell. History is written by the winners, right?"
"And years later, revised by the cultural conscience. Neither of which gets us any closer to the truth." A bar fight has broken out. Time to rescue the damsels in distress. I draw my six-shooter.
"Did you hear that the Association for American Indian Development in the U.S. has called for a boycott of Gun?"
"No kidding? I can’t say I’m surprised." I shoot one thug who’s using a girl as a shield, and take a bottle of whisky to the noggin from some coward behind the bar. "But if North American aboriginals are making a fuss, what must the Irish community think, given how they’re depicted in Gun?"
"As lazy drunks?"
"Yeah. And the Chinese characters are not much more than slave labour."
"Maybe the problem is that the racial characterizations in Gun support stereotypes that are narrow and misleading."
"So what should I do? Stop playing? I’m enjoying this game. So did you, if I remember correctly."
"Yeah, I did like it. I don’t know if there is a solution. These games need to be over-the-top and extreme, because they are, essentially, caricatures."
I look down at myself, and realize that even I am a caricature: an exaggerated, romanticized hero of the Wild West, in my dusty boots, jangling spurs and ten-gallon hat.
"Thanks to Clint, the Wild West narrative is one we are all familiar with, and the creators of Gun bought into that with their story. If they had provided insight into the Wild West stereotype, really looked at American Indians and Irish immigrants as characters instead of as fodder, Gun could have been something special."
"Gun is fast-food gaming."
"Quick, standardized but ultimately unsatisfying."
* * *
Lemmings (publisher: SCEA; platform: PSP; rating: everyone)
It’s a bizarre concept that underlies Lemmings: save as many of the creatures as you can from environmental perils. They’ll just follow the first in line, you see, and if the first lemming walks off a cliff or into a pool of lava, they all will. Your job is to equip the dim little creatures with the tools they need to circumvent the hazards: umbrellas for floating safely to the ground or building supplies to construct a bridge, for example. But supplies are limited, so you’ve got to think fast to guide the lemmings to safety. Lemmings is bizarre, yes, and also surprisingly fun.
Fight Night: Round 3 (publisher: EA; platform: PS2, Xbox, 360; rated: teen)
Translating the sweet science isn’t the easiest job. Boxing is a sport of subtlety, and unless game creators can find a way to make a series of buttons and thumbsticks emulate shuffle steps, jabs and guards, it just won’t satisfy. The third edition of the Fight Night franchise is a great boxing sim because of its clever system of mechanics. The left joystick controls the movement of your fighter, while the right joystick is used to throw all manner of punches, a system called Total Punch Control. Don’t try to win matches by mashing buttons, because succeeding at Fight Night means being strategic and selective in choosing punches to throw. Create your own fighter and manage him through a career mode, or just jump in and recreate the Fight of the Century (because both Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier are in here). |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.