OLDSCHooL
03-11-2007, 07:59 PM
That I have seen:
Soldier of misfortune
‘Area 51’ mines government, alien conspiracies
By Doug Elfman / The Game Dork
Saturday, November 3, 2007 - Updated 9h ago
“BLACKSITE: AREA 51”
Retails for $60 for Xbox 360. Plays fun. Looks great. Challenging. Rated T for blood, language and violence.
Grade: A
The American government is taking flak not just in film, TV and music. Now it’s satirized in “BlackSite: Area 51.” This fun shooting-adventure game mocks the unpopularity of the president and the Iraq war. It hints a draft lurks around the corner.
“BlackSite” (a Nov. 12 Midway Games release) is so subversive in a lighthearted way, the story line suggests government doctors are fusing alien DNA with that of soldiers to create superdisgusting killers who accidentally go on the loose.
It’s up to you, the player, to portray an elite American soldier, trying to save our great land from . . . us. You shoot machine guns, rocket launchers and plasma rifles to take down DNA-corrupted U.S. soldiers and big, ugly aliens running amok around Area 51, in a real Nevada town called Rachel.
But first, we begin with a back story in Iraq, where you shoot at people who are shooting at you on a makeshift battlefield at an oil refinery.
“Is everyone in this place armed?” So asks a soldier buddy of yours. Who gives assault weapons to refinery workers?
“Um,” a fellow U.S. soldier responds. “I think they bought this (weaponry) from us,” meaning the United States. “I hope they got some good money.”
On and on, the statements roll. There’s even a nod to Hurricane Katrina, an allusion to how people in New Orleans thought the government would help them.
If you’re familiar with video games, it’s not terribly surprising to find one so anti-establishment. Game makers are a paranoid bunch. Two years ago, developers with a good sense of humor parodied the supposedly glorious 1950s by creating really repressed idiot Americans in “Destroy All Humans!”
Before the 2004 election, three Vietnam games reminded us of the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq.
Politics aside, Midway has delivered an entertaining escapade. It’s long and beautifully drawn, sending you scurrying to search and destroy through detailed trailer parks, Nevada neighborhoods and canals.
Online, you can tap into death matches, team death matches, capture the flags, and human vs. alien levels.
In offline solo missions, you save some civilians who refuse to leave their government-destroyed, alien-infested towns.
“Yeah, they told me to evacuate, but I’m up to my eyeballs in a mortgage for this place,” a Nevada resident says.
A few seconds later, a two-story alien bursts from the ground and eats Mr. Mortgage.
LinK:
Soldier of misfortune - BostonHerald.com (http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainment/lifestyle/view.bg?articleid=1042175#articleFull)
Soldier of misfortune
‘Area 51’ mines government, alien conspiracies
By Doug Elfman / The Game Dork
Saturday, November 3, 2007 - Updated 9h ago
“BLACKSITE: AREA 51”
Retails for $60 for Xbox 360. Plays fun. Looks great. Challenging. Rated T for blood, language and violence.
Grade: A
The American government is taking flak not just in film, TV and music. Now it’s satirized in “BlackSite: Area 51.” This fun shooting-adventure game mocks the unpopularity of the president and the Iraq war. It hints a draft lurks around the corner.
“BlackSite” (a Nov. 12 Midway Games release) is so subversive in a lighthearted way, the story line suggests government doctors are fusing alien DNA with that of soldiers to create superdisgusting killers who accidentally go on the loose.
It’s up to you, the player, to portray an elite American soldier, trying to save our great land from . . . us. You shoot machine guns, rocket launchers and plasma rifles to take down DNA-corrupted U.S. soldiers and big, ugly aliens running amok around Area 51, in a real Nevada town called Rachel.
But first, we begin with a back story in Iraq, where you shoot at people who are shooting at you on a makeshift battlefield at an oil refinery.
“Is everyone in this place armed?” So asks a soldier buddy of yours. Who gives assault weapons to refinery workers?
“Um,” a fellow U.S. soldier responds. “I think they bought this (weaponry) from us,” meaning the United States. “I hope they got some good money.”
On and on, the statements roll. There’s even a nod to Hurricane Katrina, an allusion to how people in New Orleans thought the government would help them.
If you’re familiar with video games, it’s not terribly surprising to find one so anti-establishment. Game makers are a paranoid bunch. Two years ago, developers with a good sense of humor parodied the supposedly glorious 1950s by creating really repressed idiot Americans in “Destroy All Humans!”
Before the 2004 election, three Vietnam games reminded us of the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq.
Politics aside, Midway has delivered an entertaining escapade. It’s long and beautifully drawn, sending you scurrying to search and destroy through detailed trailer parks, Nevada neighborhoods and canals.
Online, you can tap into death matches, team death matches, capture the flags, and human vs. alien levels.
In offline solo missions, you save some civilians who refuse to leave their government-destroyed, alien-infested towns.
“Yeah, they told me to evacuate, but I’m up to my eyeballs in a mortgage for this place,” a Nevada resident says.
A few seconds later, a two-story alien bursts from the ground and eats Mr. Mortgage.
LinK:
Soldier of misfortune - BostonHerald.com (http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainment/lifestyle/view.bg?articleid=1042175#articleFull)