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Oct 29th, 2009 at 09:28:25 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
After getting to a point where the game was just killing people and getting to cue points for flashbacks etc, it was quite simple. There are quite a few flashback sequences throughout the game, which show a lot of back-story of Eric and Dylan and how they could become so hateful. One scene shows one of the boys being bullied by three jocks by the lockers. An interesting correlation was actually going in one of the boy’s bathrooms and fighting a group of boys who are beating up on a smaller kid.
Another flashback occurs when you enter a certain room that has a lighting board in it. We catch a glimpse of a school play they were a part of as the lighting crew. The play was Dr Frankenstein. How interesting there also with a correlation of the monsters they had become in transforming from typical good students to the hateful and murderous boys.
People blame this event on all sorts of things, from the role media played in influencing them, to gun control laws. But through this game, it is clearly depicted that it really cannot be blamed on one single factor. Yes they were probably influenced by music in some way, and they probably got some ideas from a video game or a movie but the reality is they had become monsters because of how society treated them. They were loners and were bullied, and they would find a way of causing harm even if Columbine never happened. They had journals in which they would write about what they could do and describe the anger and desire to kill other people. One of them even nonchalantly mentioned hijacking an airplane and crashing into New York City, an eerie echo of what was to come just 5 years later. However, it was extremist religious terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks, yet the 2 students at Columbine similarly entertained this very idea. If they could have a mindset to do something so terrible as to commit the attacks on 9/11 there’s little doubt in my mind that they would have done something even if they not had access to guns, did not get ideas from film or games, and never heard the music. They had become monsters of society, something was bound to happen, and it could be blamed on nothing but society.
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Oct 29th, 2009 at 01:03:53 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
After having exited the game and restarting, the glitch of appearing in the grass and being stuck there finally went away.
After the bombs were planted in the cafeteria I had to go to a nearby park overlook where a long discussion took place over the degradation of the local culture in the Denver area, from Eric and Dylan’s perspective. It’s quite repulsive the way they talk, as if by simply living your own life, you can make someone hate you. Sounds more reminiscent of an international culture war, not really domestically that often.
When the long dialogue ends, you continue back to the parking lot where you try aimlessly to figure out what to do next, before randomly landing on a spot in the grass where it triggers another dialogue session. Eric and Dylan discuss the bombs they are about to blow off, all three of which fail to detonate, much to their dismay. They both quickly grab their gear and let you loose to kill anyone and everyone.
At this point, from a game play perspective it’s all about finding the cues that allow you to progress in the game. From a gamers perspective you’re turned loose with an arsenal of weaponry and bombs to kill and cause mayhem. Anyone who “gets in your way” is entered into a fight with you in an RPG manner. The opposing NPCs are all very much your typical high school kids, jocks, preppy girls, nerds, etc. When you kill them, their bodies remain on the floor wherever you killed them, never disappearing. It’s not long before there are bodies everywhere in the school and the parking lot just because people ran into me.
What I did find very interesting was the use or portrayal of actual students in the game, for example the kid named Brooks who they allowed to escape, and a girl who they asked if she believed in God. Although rudimentary in many ways, it did show a lot about the day, the back-story, and reality of the events that unfolded. I’m fairly confident it was the creator’s intent to recreate the events with as many details about it as possible so we can better understand what happened and why.
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Oct 28th, 2009 at 11:32:47 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
Having never hearing of the game before, I had no idea what to expect. I was slightly shocked at first at the very idea of this game when the start screen appeared with an actual photo of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold fully armed in the cafeteria. It just seems wrong to even give the event attention in a game, especially considering this was reality.
The game begins with all the preparation going into the day of the massacre. Its interesting how the game portrays the role of media influencing Harris and Klebold. From the doom game Harris picks up, the Marilyn Manson CD, and the music lyrics shown through various points in the game, it paints a clear picture that the two were heavily influenced by what they were listening to or playing. The question is really did any of these games or CDs actually spur them into the actions they took on April 20, 1999? There was a lot of fall out after the tragic events directed towards violent video games and music, blaming them for stirring up the anger and giving ideas of how to vent the anger inside. There are few who would question that media does influence a person’s life in one way or another, but the game goes a bit further in depicting media as having a very clear influential role in both of their lives. It shows them using music to prepare themselves mentally and shows the lyrics of the music often.
The narrative continues through their preparation work, making a last video, listening to a music track, grabbing equipment etc. There is also a flashback in which it depicts their entry into explosives.
Besides being rudimentary in controls and graphics, the game play I found to be very obnoxious. When first arriving at the school, you have to place bombs in the cafeteria and avoid being detected by video cameras and other students. It took me quite a few attempts to get it right after running into students, who seemed to practically chase me down. Every time I got caught, it throws you back outside on the grass by the parking lot, where I was stuck and couldn’t get out without restarting from my save point in the parking lot. This glitch was incredibly annoying after several attempts.
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Sep 24th, 2009 at 10:01:16 - Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2) |
After running rampant yesterday with no quest objective and causing mayhem, I went back and picked up the unfinished quest of robbing the local pizza place. Ryder again pulls a gun and tries to rob the store, while CJ orders a meal. The owner pulls a gun and starts shooting, and forcing Ryder and CJ to leave. Despite their “needs” of gaining respect from the locals, they are careless as to whom they effect. Simply for the sake of respect for their gang, they pull a gun and threaten a storeowner! There’s simply little regard for others, unless they’re on CJ’s, Ryder’s, or the gang’s twisted idea of “the right.”
The next missions go from spray painting the gang symbol on walls to wiping out the local drug dealers. CJ has a meeting with some of his buddies about the declining conditions and how it’s the fault of the drug dealers. The answer is to go to the house where the dealer resides and kill him, ad everyone in the house, with no exceptions. It’s a disgusting killing of people who may not have been innocent, but certainly didn’t deserve to be killed simply because they were a drug user or a prostitute. Again we see the gang’s twisted notion of what’s right be the deciding force for action. I am discussed that this can be considered a form of entertainment.
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Procter has been with GameLog for 15 years, 2 months, and 5 days |
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