Is it possible to have true objectivity in journalism? And has any game review ever started with a more thrilling opening sentence?
Honestly, whatever happened to the days of "Wowzers - this game is so hot it burnt our fingers!" for pity's sake?
Seriously, though, guy: we've all got prejudices, we all see the world through our own cracked filter. Can you ever truly switch that off? It depresses and frustrates me how much the left and the right are blinkered by their own beliefs, and I sometimes despair when people will refuse to engage with an otherwise valid argument, by their inflexible, knee-jerk, adherence to left-wing or right-wing cliche.
You see it in the papers, on the news, on Facebook... and it drives me mental. More than that: it makes me more politically apathetic than I want to be, because there's no debating with it.
Honestly, whatever happened to the days of "Wowzers - this game is so hot it burnt our fingers!" for pity's sake?
Seriously, though, guy: we've all got prejudices, we all see the world through our own cracked filter. Can you ever truly switch that off? It depresses and frustrates me how much the left and the right are blinkered by their own beliefs, and I sometimes despair when people will refuse to engage with an otherwise valid argument, by their inflexible, knee-jerk, adherence to left-wing or right-wing cliche.
You see it in the papers, on the news, on Facebook... and it drives me mental. More than that: it makes me more politically apathetic than I want to be, because there's no debating with it.
And in America it's even worse. I hope for the sake of the country that Fox News doesn't fool them into voting Donald Trump president.
Not just because I think he'll start World War III, deport all the foreigners, make the rich richer, and keep doing that awful, awful smile that makes him look like a bullfrog spewing up a phlegmy ball of flies.
If Trump gets in, America's standing in the world will be severely damaged; any credibility the Americans had will be holed beneath the water if they elect that bloated, haystack-scalped, merry-Andrew. He's like a cross between Barry Chuckle and Richard Littlejohn.
IRONY MAN
There's a certain degree of irony in a game about journalism ethics. However, rather than video game marketers and publishers that you - as the editor of newspaper The Westport Independent - must appease, it's a balancing act between a totalitarian, facist, regime, and your readers.
At the start of each 'week' - leading to the passing of a censorship bill 12 weeks hence - you are presented with a series of stories, which range from frivolous celebrity guff to heavier - potentially more politically inflammatory - stories.
You can choose which paragraphs to remove, or leave in, and which version of the headline to run with; one will be more provocative to the government than the other. Then you assign each to story to one of your journalists - each of whom have different political sensibilities and loyalties.
Additionally, you can choose - through your advertising - to aim your paper at different demographics. Essentially, there are two options open to you: you can keep the government happy, so that they can bring in a new censorship bill (but risk losing readers), or support the rebels who are trying to bring down the regime (and risk the government closing you down).
Not just because I think he'll start World War III, deport all the foreigners, make the rich richer, and keep doing that awful, awful smile that makes him look like a bullfrog spewing up a phlegmy ball of flies.
If Trump gets in, America's standing in the world will be severely damaged; any credibility the Americans had will be holed beneath the water if they elect that bloated, haystack-scalped, merry-Andrew. He's like a cross between Barry Chuckle and Richard Littlejohn.
IRONY MAN
There's a certain degree of irony in a game about journalism ethics. However, rather than video game marketers and publishers that you - as the editor of newspaper The Westport Independent - must appease, it's a balancing act between a totalitarian, facist, regime, and your readers.
At the start of each 'week' - leading to the passing of a censorship bill 12 weeks hence - you are presented with a series of stories, which range from frivolous celebrity guff to heavier - potentially more politically inflammatory - stories.
You can choose which paragraphs to remove, or leave in, and which version of the headline to run with; one will be more provocative to the government than the other. Then you assign each to story to one of your journalists - each of whom have different political sensibilities and loyalties.
Additionally, you can choose - through your advertising - to aim your paper at different demographics. Essentially, there are two options open to you: you can keep the government happy, so that they can bring in a new censorship bill (but risk losing readers), or support the rebels who are trying to bring down the regime (and risk the government closing you down).
GOOD IDEA
The Westport Independent is a great idea for a game, which fails to live up to its potential.
It's hard not to see the influence of Papers, Please in both its gloomy, pixel aesthetic, the fictional backdrop, and the themes of personal values versus national duty.
And yet, somehow it failed to engage with me in the way that Papers, Please did. Though similar in its design and approach, I felt less involved with its world - even as the stories become increasingly hardline, and started to affect my employees. Somehow it's too simple, too lacking in depth.
At the same time, I did come away questioning my choices; that in my first play through I instinctively chose to remain loyal to the government, in order to keep the paper running. If everything we do is a reflection of some bigger whole, what does that say about me? By the same token, I accept that this may have been a case of me scrabbling to find nuance that wasn't there.
The Westport Independent is a great idea for a game, which fails to live up to its potential.
It's hard not to see the influence of Papers, Please in both its gloomy, pixel aesthetic, the fictional backdrop, and the themes of personal values versus national duty.
And yet, somehow it failed to engage with me in the way that Papers, Please did. Though similar in its design and approach, I felt less involved with its world - even as the stories become increasingly hardline, and started to affect my employees. Somehow it's too simple, too lacking in depth.
At the same time, I did come away questioning my choices; that in my first play through I instinctively chose to remain loyal to the government, in order to keep the paper running. If everything we do is a reflection of some bigger whole, what does that say about me? By the same token, I accept that this may have been a case of me scrabbling to find nuance that wasn't there.
SUMMARY: A decent idea that <RETRACTED> more shallow than <RETRACTED>.
SCORE: <RETRACTED>
SCORE: <RETRACTED>
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