Resident Malcom X

A GAME WITH SO MUCH TO SAY, IT'S GOING TO TAKE 2 PARTS!

Actually, in terms of what the game's really trying to communicate, there isn't much to say beyond "hey, hey, SHOOT EVERYTHING". What is of note, however, is the setting of Africa.

Accusations have been flung that the game is depicts largely uncomfortable images to the American public on the basis of the game being set in a "not-Africa" country.

I'm here to assert those accusations are entirely correct.

Were I to keep it brief, I could point to the fact that most of the monsters you shoot have been changed from outright dark skinned Somalians to a mix of Iranians and Quasi-Asian characters. Sure you still get the occasional jet black character, but for the most part your opposition has been bleached. Capcom was attempting to avoid something, there's obviously some basis to this argument.

Being that our game buying and playing public has never heard of PC games before (as they are dead you see, the tombstone reads somewhere around 2004), nobody remembers the game Delta Force Black Hawk Down. Based on the movie/operation of the same name, you played as Sgt. Joe Shmoe as he goes in to kill everyone in Africa in his quest to bring one single really evil African (you know so as he wears glasses, the heathen) to justice... lead justice. The game was fun and very much ahead of it's time, jingoistic worldview aside, as it played like a combination of Medal of Honor and Call of Duty 4 before such a game existed.

As you meandered about the African countryside killing rebels- I assume, as your only motivation to kill everyone is that the government dictates so- you'd inevitably end up blasting your way through countless shantytowns and villages. What's surprising, however, is that the game faithfully rendered women and children in these villages as well. Not only would they run away from you, they'd even insult and chuck rocks at you.

Fitting then, that your only interaction with them was violence. Not only could you shoot them, they could be killed without mercy or penalty.

Why am I talking about this game within the context of RE5? Well, both have a section where you need to dodge alligators so my digression isn't completely lost. Above that, however, is that RE5 lets you perform the same actions and actively encourages you to slaughter that ever present "other".

Let's take a typical boneheads defensive post about the game FROM THE INTERNET. It's scary I know, don't worry, I'll hold you. These are all from the same fellow and his responses to another person who thinks like myself:

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To be honest, I don't care. You know why? You are always gonna offend someone, if you mean to or not.

I really don't think painting attrocities happening in a war torn african country is that hurtful, seeing as, you know, a lot of attrocities actually DO happen in africa, so it's not exactly an unrealistic liberty they are taking to show attrocities in a civil war torn land.

Uh.....what?

I've seen footage of africans beating their own people before, and of all sorts of violence...

Yes images of black people being violent were used as racist propaganda back in the day, but just because something depicts black violence does NOT mean it is evoking that spirit.

Maybe it tells you something about the people who draw the parelles between racist artwork and this, than the people who just see it as a violent scene without noticing race?

It's interesting how the ones shouting racism seemed to notice the race of the violent people, whereas most took it what it was: a violent scene in a war torn country. I know which of those two groups sounds like the real racists to me.

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Blah blah blah his boring point goes on and on. Now, before we discuss how he's a hood short of attending a Klan rally, let's debunk the counter arguement many players will have: Resident Evil 4.

RE4 had you visit, as the sexy white man you were, a completely fictionalized version of Spain where peasant farmers still exist. Obviously the were infected with the monster virus and you need to kill everyone. One person on the web even put forward a very interesting argument that you were taking part in the Spanish Inquisition as all the bosses/royalty characters lived in luxury with exotic torture chambers while the pesants toiled the fields. I'm not one to argue with that assesment. The fact you explore villages, castles, dungeons, and caves only supports it further.

Thing is, however, every monster you fight genuinely looks like something inhuman. Case in point:

http://www.gamethink.net/IMG/jpg/re4_ps2_2005_villagers_attacking.jpg

They speak pig-latin Spanish, sure, but from that blurry image you can see they're set up completely inhuman.

Now, let's look at RE5:

http://theblacksentinel.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/resident-evil-5-20070726113937477.jpg

A bit more realistic but, hey, it is Africa. I can dig it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj7pOOFcK5w&feature=related

Skip to around the 50 second mark, notice how they try to dodge a bullet by making the "kidnapper" character paler.

Nice try Capcom, you're not fooling anyone.

See this wouldn't be a big deal if the blonde girl was an established character. Problem is, what you see here is all that you see of that girl. She is set up to merely scream, be raped, and then quickly killed off. Why was she necessary? In Resident Evil 4 you could argue that Ashley provided a similar role, but her purpose was a game mechanic as well. You had to protect her lest you wanted your game to end. Here, we see a white, blonde woman in the middle of a quarintined African warzone. There is absolutely no justification, plotwise, why she should be here.

If you wanted my take on it though, which you're going to get since you're reading this, it's to play on white boy fears.

Now, another good counterpoint would be the recent Far Cry 2 game. You play a whitey in that, why is that suddenly ok?

Simple, all the enemies are as well armed as you are. In RE5, they're lucky to find enough pots and pans to toss at you. You could also argue that in FC2, Africans are being forced to kill one another and you by other Africans. RE5, on the other hand, very plainly sets up a collection of white villians manipulating the lives of Africans.

We also can't forget that the African female lead has a collection of Alternative outfits, once of which is her naked barring a rag and warpaint. Meanwhile the white male gets a whole safari outfit.

I could also point out the fact that one of the bonus multiplayer modes has you killing the infected Africans with a partner, trying to score more kills than the pairs in the level. Keep in mind, of course, that the female lead is the only other African character you can play as.

Speaking from a gameplay angle, it's fine and a fun concept. Video games are different from a boardgame or math equation though due to that external layer of graphics and sound however. Taking those rules within the context of setting, well...

They also resort to spear chucking enemies, can't forget that.

Of course, my concern about such things is because I'm entirely a racist of course. Yes, indeed.



Anyways, review of the actual gameplay is forthcoming. If you want a bite sized snipped you can take this to heard: A fun game exists beneath all the tangental bullshit mechanics they ruin it with.

Imagine having to play a Left 4 Dead map for 15 hours. Now imagine you had to do it with only 2 people and one of them was a bot. Now imagine if you and this bot had to share ammo.


Edit: Just have to add part of this other internet writing on the game. It's about the spear tossing zombies. Italics mine.

"I didn't think the game was racist at all. It's just based in a different country. The people who are all dressed like ancient tribal africans are just meant to have gone mental and reverted to some primal instincts or something, there was a diary about it in the game somewhere. Other than that, what the fuck is meant to be racist in the game?"

So wait... ancient Africans operated on primal instincts alone... oh dear.

Musing

Last weekend I picked up two titles on a whim, Tony Hawk's Underground and Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard.

THUG (hur hur hur) needs no introduction really since it's such an old game, but I'll get to it in a moment. Instead I want this post to focus on Matt Hazard.

Matt Hazard symbolizes why nerd humor isn't funny. It's akin to lolcats. Sure, a joke is funny when it's mentioned. It's not funny when you say the joke, the go into exacting detail about why that joke isn't funny.

Matt Hazard is guilty of the latter throughout most of the game. On paper, the concept of parody every action game within the last 25 years is wonderful. It's not like there's a shortage of material to work with there. What's inexcusable though, is taking those cliches and making use of them anyways.

Case in point: In the second level of the game you have to protect a buddy by sniping at enemies which come from all angles to attack him. To do so, you command a Slient Scope arcade machine. Funny, but it doesn't change the fact you're still forced to play an insufferable escort segment.

I think above all, as whiny as it sounds, you just die too fast. This is a comedy game, I don't want to have to actually try. I'd perfer a Monkey Island style route where there's no real failure.

In short don't be a sap like me and pay a full 50 bones for it. Around 20 bucks or a rental I'd say snap it up.

As for Tony Hawk, I had to rebuy it since it was the only sport game I ever owned on the PS2. I never really enjoyed any of the other Hawk titles, but for some reason this title clicked with me. Replaying it is a rude awakening in how much I suck, but eh.

Tomorrow Resident Evil 5 comes out. I look forward to killing minorities in a jungle/desert setting once again. It is something I haven't done since Crysis, Far Cry 2, Call of Duty 4, and probably a dozen other games that were all released in the past 6 months.

If you're wondering why the above reviews were short, there's not really much to say about the games. RE5 will provide some decent fodder soon enough. Till then, tootles.

FEAR 2:Electric Boogaloo

Monolith Software must have employed Bertha Rochester during the more formative years of the company, it's the only way to explain their track record.

For every excellent concept they develop, they somehow manage to screw up several other bad ideas in the process.

Two of their early titles, Blood and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division were excellent titles and solid concepts. The only drawback was that in both games most players wouldn't live long enough to see the actual game as your character was more frail than an anemic child.

Then came their problem with sequels... they are universally terrible in comparison to the first game 90% of the time. Ok, I'll grant you Aliens vs Predator 2 and maybe No One Lives Forever 2.

FEAR 2 breaks that curse... kind of. Perhaps a little bit of history is in order, both of myself and the game.

Back in 2004 I had first heard of Monolith's next titles, one for that new fangled Xbox 360 coming out the follow fall with the other being a PC only title through and through. I found out the console one was about beating up the homeless while the PC title would be a cross between the X-Files, John Woo, and Rainbow Six.

As any punk kid with a new Alienware would do, I bet on FEAR being the megahit.

So thus the waiting game began, but the game of life took greater precidence. Notably, I went off to college like adultescent boy my age and fell into the rut of excessive boozing and studying.

Put blunt, life was damn good.

Near the end of my first month, I remembered that both FEAR and Quake 4 were to be released and thus immediately picked up my copies.

Now, it's important to note that I purchased my copies at the Leominster Circuity City. At the time, it was the only electronics store within a 30 mile radius of my college outside of Gamestop. Though the prices would fluxuate wildly, I ended up making that store my third most visited location in the glorious Fitchburg/Leominster area, behind the liquor store and Tiki Tiki- the best Chinese takeout in Fitchburg fyi.

Eagerly rushing back to my dorm to install all 5 cds of FEAR, I came to a horrific realization within two hours.

It sucked.

It wasn't a straight up suck that just has the marks of a bad game written all over it, but it was a special kind of suck where every good idea an intention they may have had with the finished product resulted in a disaster.

In short, it was pretty analogus to the Leominster Circuit City.

Now, four years have passed and everything has been turned on its head since then. My PC continues to age and languish while I buy dongle after dongle for my 360, I found to my pleasure that Condemned's hobo murdering was game of the year material, and I've since been forced off campus due to my aforementioned lifestyle.

More importantly though, Circuit City will probably be nothing but an abandoned storefront by the time you read this.

Fitting then, that Monolith finally brings its A-Game to the table when I'm at a point in my life that it means so very little.

Anyways on to the game itself. FEAR 2 is a retooling of FEAR 1. Monolith discovered the hard way no one cares about PC games anymore, therefore the entire game is nothing but a retelling of the first game.

It's also in this retelling they loose a wondeful plot to the throes of stupid designs. Goddamned Bertha.

Watch out, I'm going to spoil the game for you and not care so stop here I guess if you want to play this and not have the ending ruined. In all honesty though, you can enjoy the game more if you know the disappointment that follows.

FEAR 2 ends with your protagonist being raped by the ghost of the 14 year old clone of the Ring girl.

Yes, that is the ending. It is as stupid and as contrived as one can get in a first person shooter. It resolves no plot, provides no closure, it just simply ends with your character feeling his seed in the belly of Alma.

Were the writers and designers of Monolith actually intelligent, it could have made for a great play upon the suburban nightmare of teen pregnancy. Moreover, they could have explored very real prejudices and "fears" within their target audience. After all, for the 15-25 year old male, nothing is more terrifying than the idea of unwittingly becoming a father.

Interestingly, and perhaps a sign of silent protest against Bertha, levels are designed around the concepts of areas in which teens meet and fuck. It's quiet ingenious in all honesty. Of course, there are the science labs, test areas, and all the other shlock that comes with the territory of a sci-fi shooter, but brief moments of insight shine through.

For instance, at one point in the game you're forced to explore a school. Simple, straight forward, and insipid once you realize it's an underground testing site!!!!!! (Those exclamations are to represent your shock you see)

Nevertheless, the crux of the spooky sequence in the level take place in the dimly lit broom closets of the school. Wearing nothing but her hair, Alma meanders the coridors always two steps ahead of you, seemly luring you to follow her. When you do eventually catch up to her, which occurs only at her discression, you're momentarily pinned up against a locker while she seems to smile while inspecting your body.

Later in the game, as you meander through the city streets shooting spacemen or the storm troopers or whatever they are, you discover lines of cars parked outside a movie theater. Expected within a city, yes, but the fact it is still standing with Alma waiting inside for you suggests that the developers wanted to simulate a sort of destructive relationship between the player and his fictional "girlfriend". Hell, there's even 14 levels in game, which mirrors her age.

Now obviously all of this sounds like fan fiction bullshit above, and it's ignoring this potentially fun mindfuck with the player that the game falls apart.

After trying so hard to use subtley and smart AI tricks in the first game, FEAR 2's guards run at you with like minded purpose. Your ability to slow down time is rendered moot, as plentiful armor and weapons exist around every corner. In all honesty, you can tell they wanted to go for a regenerating health system but were afraid of scaring away their former audience. Your comrades in arms all die expectedly and offer generic shits, fucks, and "what the hell is happening" for you to groan at.

But it's during these groans you notice another feature of the game, the prevalance of water. Everywhere you turn water is dripping out of pipes, onto your mask, etc. I'd like to pretent it's a silent reference to the fact that when Alma's water bursts the world will be left as ruinous as the cityscape you're currently exploring.

That'd probably be out of Bertha's realm however.

The core combat is fairly satisfying, but slow-mo just feels less fun this time around. The goons you rip through just feel muted compared to their chatty counterparts in the first game. While you've got the ability to create cover on demand, none of it ever proves too useful.

You'll probably also end up killing yourself while fiddling with your inventory more than actual gunfights will kill you.

Should you check it out? I guess, it's certainly a competent little game. Maybe if you've just arisen from a coma and never played an FPS since Doom it'd seem like the most psudeo realistic terror experience ever created. To anyone who has played Halo 3, play it again while running a copy of The Ring soundtrack in the background. Maybe have your girlfriend or a special lady friend sit next to you naked while doing so. It'd be the same experience.

Wait, goddamn it that sounds like a better time already.

What's really a disappointment is that the title of FEAR is never once scary. This is just so disappointing when I remember the terrifying department store fistfight in Condemned. Come now Monolith, you can do better.

Then I also remember this was the same company that had you fight a zombie bear in Condemned 2.

Goddamn Monolith.