BlackSite: Area 51: politics should not ruin the game
Harvey Smith is the man hired by Midway Games to work on BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), and he had some things to say about the gameplay and the story behind the gameplay. This article will look at his interview and focus on two things:
- Smith cares about politics, and his take on US and world politics is included in this game.
- The politics don’t ruin the game because the politics are not the game. If you don’t care about politics, that’s fine – it’s an FPS sequel to Area 51 and you can enjoy it as an edge-of-your-seats adventure. (And it has original gameplay elements like a morale system.)
The bad guys in fiction match the real fears of the audience and creators of that work of fiction. This is true whether the creators did it on purpose or not, because the audience will watch the movie or play the game and interpret it according to the things they are currently experiencing.
It’s interesting how different generations view the world differently – and how these views make it into their art and fiction. During the Cold War, some people said the Empire in the early “Star Wars” movies symbolized the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, some people said the Empire is a democratic Republic that allows itself to be ruled by a military-oriented executive branch of government.
“Often people go after basic primal things, like the enemy is the other, the unknowable,” Harvey Smith said in an interview with MTV News. But for Smith, this frightening “unknowable” is US politics, so the game echoes Smith’s fears:
- The game starts out in Iraq in a search for WMDs (weapons of mass destruction).
- The enemy is bad and evil and is obviously the enemy. Just look at the screenshots. But the enemy was created “with some sort of American backing.”
- Most of the game takes place in the USA. The bad guys are the Reborn. They are recruited from among the millions of poor Americans. They wear the American flag on their uniforms.
- Smith has a point: these are issues that TV shows (adventure shows, science fiction, and prime-time drama) tackle on a daily basis. Why shouldn’t video games be part of the discussion?
The politics don’t (and shouldn’t) get in the way of the game. That’s good. A non-serious video game is for entertainment (like the prime-time TV shows and the big movies that tackle real-world issues). “The Day After Tomorrow” tackled environmental issues, and although the political posturing was heavy in some parts of that movie, it was still a blockbuster movie that anybody could enjoy. “The Abyss” condemned US Cold War military paranoia, but it was really just a movie about aliens.
A good video game usually has a good story (and good gameplay, too). Sometimes – and often – that story has strong political, historical, or sociological themes. Many games tackle the issue power: the innocents who are harmed (and the millions who are killed) by governments, businesses, militaries, or by government-business-military alliances – and how the world is saved despite it all.
BlackSite: Area 51 from Midway Games should be out summer of 2007.
Harvey Smith is the man hired by Midway Games to work on BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), and he had some things to say about the gameplay and the story behind the gameplay. This article will look at his interview and focus on two things:
- Smith cares about politics, and his take on US and world politics is included in this game.
- The politics don’t ruin the game because the politics are not the game. If you don’t care about politics, that’s fine – it’s an FPS sequel to Area 51 and you can enjoy it as an edge-of-your-seats adventure. (And it has original gameplay elements like a morale system.)
The bad guys in fiction match the real fears of the audience and creators of that work of fiction. This is true whether the creators did it on purpose or not, because the audience will watch the movie or play the game and interpret it according to the things they are currently experiencing.
It’s interesting how different generations view the world differently – and how these views make it into their art and fiction. During the Cold War, some people said the Empire in the early “Star Wars” movies symbolized the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, some people said the Empire is a democratic Republic that allows itself to be ruled by a military-oriented executive branch of government.
“Often people go after basic primal things, like the enemy is the other, the unknowable,” Harvey Smith said in an interview with MTV News. But for Smith, this frightening “unknowable” is US politics, so the game echoes Smith’s fears:
- The game starts out in Iraq in a search for WMDs (weapons of mass destruction).
- The enemy is bad and evil and is obviously the enemy. Just look at the screenshots. But the enemy was created “with some sort of American backing.”
- Most of the game takes place in the USA. The bad guys are the Reborn. They are recruited from among the millions of poor Americans. They wear the American flag on their uniforms.
- Smith has a point: these are issues that TV shows (adventure shows, science fiction, and prime-time drama) tackle on a daily basis. Why shouldn’t video games be part of the discussion?
The politics don’t (and shouldn’t) get in the way of the game. That’s good. A non-serious video game is for entertainment (like the prime-time TV shows and the big movies that tackle real-world issues). “The Day After Tomorrow” tackled environmental issues, and although the political posturing was heavy in some parts of that movie, it was still a blockbuster movie that anybody could enjoy. “The Abyss” condemned US Cold War military paranoia, but it was really just a movie about aliens.
A good video game usually has a good story (and good gameplay, too). Sometimes – and often – that story has strong political, historical, or sociological themes. Many games tackle the issue power: the innocents who are harmed (and the millions who are killed) by governments, businesses, militaries, or by government-business-military alliances – and how the world is saved despite it all.
BlackSite: Area 51 from Midway Games should be out summer of 2007.