BA6 Contextual Studies - 'Kabul Kaboom' review

'Kabul Kaboom' is a small flash game which was made, presumably, in response to the war in Afghanistan, and in particular, America's involvement in the war. In the game, your goal is to catch burgers, which fall endlessly from the sky, whilst also avoiding the constant barrage of falling bombs. There is no scoring system, there are no levels, no varying degrees of difficulty, only the infinite strafing from left to right. Catching fast food and avoiding missiles is the entire game, as there is literally nothing else to do. This is the screen you are first greeted with:

A very simple screen, with instructions, title, creators etc, presented in a comical and rudimentary manner. This simplicity is key to 'Kabul Kaboom'. It is about conferring a message, rather than about creating a rich, deep, technologically complex game. 'Kabul Kaboom's message is to demonise America, to portray it as a violent, warmongering nation, bringing death and terror to Afghanistan, whilst at the same time, bringing it's fast food to the whole world.

Avoid the American bombs,  eat the American burgers

I noticed that the little character you control when you're playing the game, is actually from a famous painting by Pablo Picasso. She is part of the piece 'Guernica', painted in 1937. She looks to be a weeping woman, crying for the loss of her child, who she holds in her arms. 'Guernica' was made by Picasso in response to another war, the Spanish Civil War. The horror and tragedy of war on innocent civilians was what prompted Picasso to create 'Guernica'. It has since become an iconic symbol of peace and anti-war propaganda. This is obviously part of the game's message. By referencing a powerful anti-war piece of art with 'Guernica', it further emphasises it's own message against American aggression.

By using both bombs and burgers, the game addresses the hypocritical dichotomy of America. With American global fast food chains populating the far flung corners of the Earth, while at the same time, bringing peace and order to foreign countries with bullets and missiles.

The game invariably ends the same way, with the player being caught by a missile and being presented with the game over screen. Even this is subverted in a way that helps bring across the game's message.

Instead of the conventional 'GAME OVER', 'Kabul Kaboom' states that the game is NOT over. There is a point to the fact that you can never win and never truly finish the game. It is the game reflecting the idea that American intervention will never end and that there are no winners.

BA6 Contextual Studies - 'Dear Esther' game review

The player starts on an unnamed Hebridian island, with no immediate explanation why they are there. Almost everything about the player’s character is unclear, as regarding; race, gender, age, etc. This ambiguity could stem form the fact that ‘Dear Esther’ is an indie game, with fairly limited money behind it, giving rise to the explanation that there wasn’t enough money, time, computing power left to ‘describe’ the character in-game. On the other hand, the makers of “dear Esther’ may have thought such personal details unimportant, in relation to the story it was trying to tell.

The only actions the player can perform, is move, look around and zoom in. I think this minimalist control scheme was included because the makers of the game wanted the player to focus more on the backstory, as it was delivered to them in cryptic fragments, as they traversed the island. There is next to no interaction between the player and the game environment. You can move around the island, the game will recognise when you walk over different surfaces, such as rock, sand, shallow water etc. But there is little other interaction.

Throughout the experience of ‘Dear Esther’, there is evidence of previous human habitation and man-made objects, littering the world. Old, abandoned hovels, ship wrecks, rusting crates, fences, graves etc, all give the player the feeling of this island being occupied sometime in the past. The story of these objects and buildings are slowly revealed through narration by an unnamed male speaker.

The narrative plays out in a series of well versed, if sometimes overly ambiguous voice-overs, by a disembodied male narrator. Overall, I was left confused as to who I was actually assuming the role of in ‘Dear Esther’. Was I Esther herself? Or the unnamed narrator? Was I the one sending these strange letters, or receiving them?

Occasionally, I would happen upon strange, little scenes that seemed to demand attention, yet were not obvious in conveying their message. On a beach, I found a mysterious pattern drawn into the sand. I happened to know what it was, but why was it there?

Hidden meanings: Divine proportion? The Golden rectangle?

Further on into the game, I came across chemical symbol, crudely painted onto different surfaces, in a luminous, turquoise paint. This time however, I did not know the elements or compounds they were describing. I assumed that they, along with the pattern on the beach, were left here by the shepherds who used to live here.

Additionally, I found several Bible passages, scrawled across the rock of the island, or in man-made structures. There were also several mentions of the ancient city of 'Damascus', which I did not understand. 

I saw that the game was generating mysterious elements to itself, which kindled my interest in the game, further. I immediately wanted to find out  what these weird messages and symbols meant. I then came to the realisation that by doing this, the game had created extended interest in itself. By that, I mean that the players of 'Dear Esther' would spend time on figuring out all the hidden meanings associated with these strange writings. It was really another way of drawing people's attention to the game, with added mystery.

The game was very atmospheric, it looked and felt like you were actually on that remote Hebridean island. ‘Dear Esther’ has great looking scenery, with wind, lighting, and water effects all adding to the immersion.

The interior caverns of the island

The beautiful, moonlit bay

The player journeying up a rocky hillside, to a distant house

You can explore the island, but the experience is actually quite linear, despite the game’s attempt to appear non-linear.  Invisible walls and other barriers restrict the player in where they can go. These blockades funnel the player into where the game wants them to go. When this became apparent to me, I was at first disillusioned with the loss of freedom available to me.  But after some thought on why the creators had done this, I saw the necessity in limiting the players movements. If I had been making the game, I wouldn’t let people just have completely free reign in what to do. If I wanted them to explore a set number of environments in a particular order, I would need to create a linear path down which the player could travel.

'Dear Esther' is a game which focuses on a higher concept of storytelling, rather than the game in itself.

BA6 - Contextual Studies - 'L.A. Noire' game review

L.A. Noire is a crime-thriller game, set in 1940’s Los Angeles. Made by Rockstar games, the player ventures through the story as ‘Cole Phelps’, an honest cop, eager to prove himself, after recently being promoted to detective. As the title of the game suggests, the game takes many cues from ‘film noir’, the classic movie genre. Evidence of this is apparent throughout the game. One such example of this is the stylistic GUI of the menu screen, with its distinctive slanted text, projected against the wall of a misty, back-alley. Another example is with a narrator filling the audience in on background information, in a dry, cynical tone, that echoes that of film noir. 

The game's main menu screen

‘Rockstar’ are best known for their successful, if somewhat infamous series: ‘Grand Theft Auto’. ‘L.A. Noire takes many features from ‘Rockstars’ seminal series. Including the popular sandbox gameplay, the shooting and driving mechanics, character customisation and elements of its’ GUI.

New technology in ‘MotionScan’ allowed Rockstar to capture human facial expressions in there most minute and subtle detail. This clever new technology allows a new level of detail into the game, which hasn’t been seen before. Interrogation is a major part of this crime-thriller game, and ‘MotionScan’ really helps with this pivotal game mechanic. 

'MotionScan' allows an unprecedented level of facial detail to be picked up

The soundtrack has all the features of a classic noir film, harking back to a bygone era with jazz and swing music. The game has it’s own original score, which was heavily influenced by music of the 1940’s. A particular feature of the game’s sound, is that certain notes and chimes will play out when the player discoverers something of significance.  Thus, accentuating the importance of the object and helping to point the player in the right direction. The game actually tells the player this, in game. 

Interaction exists in many forms in L.A. Noire. The player talks to characters within the game world. They also can navigate around the environment of L.A, as well as engage in gunfights and chases. The environment is very interactive, with shrubbery swaying and bending as you move through it. Streetlights can be collided with and can fall over. Nameless NPC’s will try to avoid you if you swerve to close to them in your car.