Game Analysis 1

Madrid:

            Madrid is a game that was made after the 3/11 attacks in Spain but the game is about how people around the world deal with terrorism.  The game is a single screen shot of a candle light vigil in which all of the people have shirts on that say “I Love Paris” or “I Love New York”, etc.  The object of the game is to click on all of the candles to make them as bright as possible.  The candles represent the spirits of the people of these cities uniting to fix their cities and feel secure.  However, the game is impossible to win because there are too many candles to continuously click before the lights begin to go out.  The message this game delivers is that in times of crisis people unite, but once security is reestablished within society the sense of unity is lost.  For example, in America after 9/11, it seemed as though everyone was overwhelmed with this unifying sense of patriotism, American flags were everywhere.  But now, years later that sense of patriotism is long gone.  The game is impossible to win because it is impossible to maintain unity within torn regions.

 September 12:

            September 12, is an interesting game that has no ending and no overall objective, it is simply an expression of the designer’s opinion on the War on Terror.  The game raises some interesting insights within the game play.  As the player, you have two options, shoot or don’t shoot.  And within the game there are two types of characters, civilians and terrorists.  At the beginning of the game the civilians outnumber the terrorists about 7:1.  The game illustrates the society of a Middle Eastern village with civilians and terrorists walking around aimlessly.  During game play, one attempts to kill terrorists, feeling as though that would have to be the point of the game, but the player discovers the true point of the game after beginning the attack.  First of all, it is difficult to kill the terrorists; they always seem to just get out of the way early in the game.  Secondly, when a civilian is accidentally killed, other civilians come rushing over and cry over the loss of a life.  Most interesting about this aspect of the game is that the civilians that mourn the deaths of others end up transforming into terrorists.  So after playing the game for five minutes or so, the ratio of civilians to terrorists becomes overwhelmingly favorable to the terrorists.  The game’s message is that our “War on Terrorism” actually creates more terrorism.  September 12 is a well made, politically charged game that clearly illustrates its point.