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MLieber's Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC)
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| [November 24, 2010 11:31:39 PM]
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Super Collumbine Massacre RPG!: November 24, 2010 8:00 pm
On my last time playing the game, I just got stuck in hell. Apparently I didn’t grind enough levels during my time in the massacre. Regardless of that, the game did get me to do more research on Eric and Dylan, which was clearly what the game intends on doing. In the artist’s comments, he clearly states that the forum is as important as the game. If people were more polite on the forum, I would have spent more time looking through it, though it did teach me that I would have to restart the game again to get through the hell level. Anyway, upon my research I found out that one of the boys was depressive and the other was actually a sociopath, which I found interesting. It really seemed to be the perfect scenario for what would eventually occur. The game doesn’t necessarily express that aspect; it’s more interested in debunking the media’s falsities within the game, such as their love of Marilyn Manson, which we have learned was in fact not the case. One person I did do research on was KMFDM which appears quite frequently in the game. Interestingly enough, unlike Manson, this musician did have more to say, apparently because he’s always been very political, but apparently he preaches nonviolence and anti-hatred. As for the game, I can’t remember playing a video game and feeling like it was important until this one. It’s like watching Triumph of the Will in that you can tell that there is something different about it that jumps to that border of context meaning more than the art itself. I think that’s why the creator, Danny, actually made the game, the context. He wasn’t interested in being a game developer; he just found an outlet to explore what happened. I still feel odd coming off playing the game for longer than 15 minutes. I feel woozy, like I just swam too deep. Overall, I love what this game stands for. I like that it seems poorly made, it kind of is inspirational for art. I’m happy this game and games like it exist.
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| [November 24, 2010 11:31:14 PM]
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Gamelog Day 2: Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
I had to restart my game today, if only because I couldn’t get through the enemies in hell because I didn’t kill too many students my first time playing the game to this point. So I restarted the game with the intention to grind levels more and I did, getting Eric to level 13 by the time I finished playing. It took much longer to grind levels, especially considering that the fight scenes take so long to play out and they are so uneventful and extremely unattractive, even for an 8-bit turn based RPG. I’m starting to like the game more as I play it more. I’m still not enjoying the actual entertainment value of the game, but I’m not sure I’m intended to, but it’s an interesting perspective into the minds of the shooters. During my second time through, I took more time exploring classrooms, for example I didn’t go through the cafeteria the first time, and this time, I found it to be a pretty jarring experience. His smash cuts to actual pictures, for example the pictures from after they killed themselves, transition so quickly that it can really take a gamer off guard. I think I’m really starting to appreciate this more as art, though. It definitely makes me want to learn more about the subject, but I still have two major issues with the game: the fact the characters go to hell and the unfiltered teenage angst that the game is completely covered in. First, the fact they go to hell is a problem for me because I don’t know if it’s necessary, or right for the game designer to diagnose that outcome for the two killers. In fact, I have a problem with the really awkward change in pacing in that we are given a documentary-like experience for the first half of the game, only to throw reality out the window for the second half. Also, the game transitions to abruptly from being inside the heads of the killers to instantly judging them for what they did, meanwhile we were given at least hints of justification for an entire half of the game. As for the angst, a lot of the writings and songs in the game feel more like the designer’s thoughts, not the shooters. I’ll have to research more into how much T.S. Elliot they read, or how much Radiohead they listened to, or even how many times they saw Natural Born Killers, which are all referenced pretty heavily in the game.
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