Game Attempt 1
Having never heard of this game before previously I downloaded the game onto my PC wondering what my game play experience would be like. I never in a million years expected to be playing what looked like Zelda in a new much more violent form. I found myself thinking how could the creator of this game think it was morally right to create a game based on the tragic events of Columbine? I was shocked that I hadn't heard of the game previously because I would think that a game like this would have stirred up a lot of heat for creating entertainment out of tragedy.
Upon starting the game you the player wake up as Reb, one of the main students involved in the Columbine tragedy. Shortly after waking up you are required to talk to your friend about how this is going to be the day that your life changes. The game doesn't allow you to skip going to basement and doesn't really give you very clear instructions on what it is you are supposed to be doing down there. However after walking around for awhile and pushing enter up on everything I walked past I grabbed the duffel bags and bombs? and was on my way to school.
Thinking all this non sense reading between characters was over I attempted entering the school and getting to the cafeteria. After spending a full 40 minutes on this task I have still been unsuccessful. I'd like to think I have gotten close but can't be sure because the quality of the game makes it difficult to be able to read or understand anything. I find myself still unsure of what it is i keep doing wrong that is stopping me from entering the cafeteria. Any door I try I am told is not the right one and than end up being caught by a hall monitor that keeps asking me why i'm dressed funny.
Game Attempt 2
After another painful and frustration 20 mins I finally get into the cafeteria. This task alone seemed impossible. I don't think it was necessary for the creator of this game to make it near impossible to get passed the hall monitors into the cafeteria, i'm sure in real life the boys had a much easier time trying to figure it out as well as an option to talk back to the hall monitors and give them a response as to why they are not in class. After finally placing the bombs in the cafeteria I was angry that I had to meet with my friends outside the school again, and once again found myself having to sneak past the hall monitors for yet another 15mins! The creator of this game is making it impossible to beat the game, which is making me start to feel like was his exact intention but i'm not sure why he wouldn't want you to succeed.
Game Attempt 3
After taking a long break from passing hall monitors I sat back down for my final attempt at this game. After reading a babbling speech from my friends in the game about how and why they wanted to kill all the students and teachers in the school i felt disgusted. I wonder if these are really the reasons the students in real life did it? To me what the game is saying doesn't sound horrible at all, and these kids i'm friends with in the game are just troubled delinquents. After listening to them speak it was time to go into the school and start killing. Every time I walked up to a student in the school a stereotype would pop up calling that student a jock or a church girl or a pretty girl or nerdy girl. I felt disgusted that I got to pick what I was killing. In the end everyone got killed anyway and the characters felt no remorse, it was disturbing. They got all excited about the media, it's as if they felt they were going to be looked at as heroes. I had to stop playing the more I read about how excited they felt the more disgusted I became thinking about the real Columbine tragedy.
Final Thoughts
Overall this game in my opinion is morally wrong. I can't see a way to justify the creator for making a game about an event as tragic as Columbine.
In the end after playing this game I am relieved that it took me so long in the hallways just trying to sneak past hall monitors. It was the only part
of the game that i experienced that didn't involve doing something violent in order to succeed. The part about this game i found most troubling was
the dialogue between the characters in the game. They didn't seem remorseful at all about what they were doing or about to do, they sounded
excited and almost made themselves sound like hero's. I felt like they thought they were doing the world a favor and were going to be famous for it.
It was disturbing and disgusting and made me sick to my stomach to even have to play it. The only thing i could be thankful for in the game was the
horrible graphics, which orignally I had complained about, i now find myself thankful for.
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