After spending some time looking for working links to a playable game, I finally settled on FaithFighter, pedo-priest-arrest-game, 3rd World Farmer, and Brooklyn Judge, along with several others.
I didn't see much of a point to Faith Fighter. Each fighter had unique powers that some how applied to their religious background, though I couldn't figure out exactly why some powers were chosen. The game came across as an extremely vanilla fighter, no different than any other, however this one featured religious deities as the combatants. There was zero educational aspect to Faith Fighter. I learned as much goofing around with this Flash game as I did playing ClayFighter on Super Nintendo in 6th grade.
Similarly, the game about arresting priests that molested boys held about as much merit. The Church has been under fire for some time about the abuse of young boys by priests. This is not new news. The game is an attempt to make old news more news, and the attempt fell flat on its face. From a purely entertainment oriented point of view, the game fails as well. The sounds are weak and the controls are clumsy. Overall, the game is about as shallow as the amount of work that went into it. I was entirely disappointed, and not because of the subject. I have a thick e-skin, and have seen worse, but this was just a disgrace.
The game about becoming a Brooklyn Judge wasn't exactly a game (and neither was its counterpart about saving a city). The game was a repeatable trivia game where the user simply answered factoid questions about Brooklyn and New York. I suppose these two games could be considered educational, but the simple fact was, they were boring. If you got the question wrong, you could just go back and enter the correct answer. Woohoo.. a challenge.
The only game worth playing, out of anything listed on all 3 websites, was 3rd World Farmer. The game is actually well thought out and put together. It has a logical interface, is easy to use, and has a variety of outcomes as you play. I played an older version of the game with less options, but this was a new experience. At first, just as I expected, I was having trouble keeping my family alive. Health levels were important to keep up, and various problems each year would usually destroy whatever I was growing. However, I slowly accumulated money over time by planting corn (the most resilient crop). This was dangerous, but being that corn is a hardy plant and almost always the cheapest, it posed the least risk. The key to success as the game went on was balance. I split my crops between corn and wheat and balanced my livestock so no one disease, etc. would destroy all of my income. Over time I built up huge funds and a large family. I think the game was supposed to portray how difficult it is to survive in a 3rd world country, but I ended up proving it wrong I suppose. Before I got bored and quit I had a 10 person family (3 marriages into my own through my sons) and over $60,000. I also had put in all achievements but the school, as installing that would have finished the game. Overall, it was a well done game, though I think I bypassed its true message.
1 comment:
I also found the social commentary involved in the game very interesting. There were a few times when money would be offered at the cost of your family being exploited in some way. Although I jumped at the opportunity to get $80 to allow american troops to set up a base on my property, I realized afterward the way that resources in third world countries are taken advantage of.
Post a Comment