Wednesday 27 July, 2011

For the second day of play, I found myself back at the save point I had made when I first played the game, as my computer seems to enjoy stopping the program in middle of operation. Therefore, much of my playtime was spent completing the missions that I had already completed, and therefore was much less enjoyable than my first playthrough. I found it odd that the player could kill random people, but could not kill (it seemed) the pizza place owner. While I was attempting to kill him, it occurred to me that the game is extremely unrealistic in some ways, while attempting to be realistic in many others.

As an example of how the game attempts to be realistic, the first time a car runs someone over, the person is usually merely injured, as opposed to killed. This is true for any car that isnt moving fast or that hits the pedestrian in the body as opposed to any vital organ. Another example is the way that when the car drives over a bleeding body, only the wheels that went through the blood leave reddish tracks, and only for a short time. Finally, the game tries to be realistic in the way that it shows the interaction between the main character (CJ) and his friends.

The game is unrealistic in several ways. First, when someone gets hit by a gun, they take many more shots than neccessary to die, while in real life a single shot that is well placed would be all that is needed. The probable reason for this is that if the single shot killed CJ, it would probably not be a very enjoyable game. When someone steals a police car, there is little to no chance that he is going to 'apprehend the suspects' which is what the mission given when one steals a police car is. Similiarly, stealing an ambulance isn't the sort of thing that someone who would waste his time picking up injured people would do, yet that seems to be expected. In addition, while the game seems to make a point of the racism shown by police and or others in positions of power, but takes it to extremes which basically makes the point null. What I mean is, that when a policeman shoots his fellow policeman, he is removed from being an example of a normal policeman, and therefore the showing of racism by him is not unusual.

"What I mean is, that when a policeman shoots his fellow policeman, he is removed from being an example of a normal policeman, and therefore the showing of racism by him is not unusual."

On the other hand, from the perspective of the people who live in CJ's neighborhood, what impression would they have of the police if that all they see/experience are corrupt police officers?

More broadly, do you think the game's designers are trying to create an authentic and realistic experience, or are they perhaps going for something else? (say, a satire of certain aspects of US culture?)