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jazzumpap's Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC)
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| [May 17, 2010 09:04:06 AM]
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In my third session with the game, as I made my way through the school, I realized I might as well enter into more combat situations to further the game. At one point, a flashback unexpectedly came up in the game, which showed my character sitting in the cafeteria alone at lunchtime. All of the other long tables are filled with other students, while I sat alone in the corner. Some of the narrative shows that my character wanted someone to sit with him, but no one did. I figured this was a move to have players sympathize with the character and consequently with the actual gunman, but I did not feel this empathy. I could not relate to the game’s presentation or depiction of the event that day, thus I felt this was an obstacle that I wanted to finish.
After this flashback, the game moves to show the two characters in a fantasy land where they wish they could live without any other people bothering them. The narrative explains that this probably could never happen, though, thus the player is transported back to the present day. The two characters realize that they no longer wish to live, thus both kill themselves. What comes next was incredibly disturbing. A number of actual photos from the Columbine shootings are flashed across the screen in a montage, which made me feel somewhat sick to my stomach. The photos were very graphic, which I found disturbing. When these were thankfully done, the player then basically enters into Hell, where I was tasked to attempt to kill Demon Soldiers, but was finally taken down. I found this game to be a distasteful exploitation of the true event of the Columbine shootings, and thankfully its crude representation of the massacre (aside from the photos) lessened the disturbing nature of the game. I certainly would not recommend this game to anyone.
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| [May 17, 2010 12:19:53 AM]
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In my second session playing the game, I was finally able to successfully plant the two bombs in the cafeteria while avoiding the security cameras. Making my way outside, I met up with Dylan and more dialogue was exchanged. The two then began to take out all of the weapons that they had prepared to bring for today. I assumed that the pictures of the weapons were actual photos of the weapons the two real-life gunmen used in the massacre, which added a very real and disturbing quality to the presentation. The cheerful music that played in the background during this exchange was also kind of haunting, as it was a complete contrast to the dark and once again disturbing event about to take place.
Once this dialogue was finished, I was tasked with entering the school and basically initiating the shootings. Throughout the parking lot in front of the school, a handful of NPCs were running around erratically, and once I made contact with one by accident. This launched the very crude combat menu, which gave me the choice of weapon to use on the character. I reluctantly chose the manual option, as I figured I might as well see all that the game has to offer the player. Luckily the representation of the character as well as the killing animations were very crude, so this lessened the uncomfortable feeling I had knowing that this character represented an actual helpless and innocent high-schooler.
I continued into the school, where more students were running around wildly. As I maneuvered through the halls of the school, I tried to avoid the characters running around as best I could. I really did not want to kill any more of the characters, not only because I couldn't bear going through the annoying combat system, but also because of the fact that I did not want to take part in glorifying the Columbine killings. I merely explored the school, unavoidably running into a random character every now and then.
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| [May 17, 2010 12:04:28 AM]
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| [May 14, 2010 04:18:24 PM]
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My first impression of the game was very negative. Even before I started playing the actual game, I was reluctant to delve into the content. I had heard of the game before, and I felt that it was incredibly insensitive and inappropriate to make a game about the Columbine high-school shootings. When I began to play, I realized that the game itself is not realistic. It utilizes old 8-bit graphics and text that is hard to read. I found myself struggling to make out the dialogue used in the beginning of the game, yet as a completionist gamer I felt it was necessary to try to read everything.
The gameplay is simplistic, with the player moving around Reb, one of the two gunmen. Action is controlled with the spacebar, which was used for initiating dialogue or picking up items. After basic preparations before heading to school, which I was not looking forward to, the first actual mission begins. The player is tasked with entering the school and, without being spotted by hall monitors or security cameras, planting two bombs in the cafeteria. This stage was torturous. The old graphics made it difficult to tell if the security cameras could spot you, and little navigation assistance is presented. Countless times I was busted simply for not being able to tell if I was too close or not. My replays of this part boiled down to memorization of where to go and where not to go. In my first playthrough I really did not advance far into the game.
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