Anti-Bush Game Idea

[Meldread]

This idea came to me after a conversation I had with a friend. We are two completely incompatible gamers. He is a DOOM3/Halo, to my Baldur's Gate/Morrowind. He likes big guns, I like big stories. He likes fantastic and detailed explosions, and I like fantastic and detailed characters. Most of the games he plays I wouldn't look at twice, and my typical way of viewing them is to question how they have evolved over the years. "How is DOOM3 any better than the original DOOM, aside from better graphics, bigger guns, and better AI? What is the point of playing something that is something old, rehashed and served up in a new shinny wrapper?" (Of course, I could say the same thing about many RPG's, and frequently do... but I digress.)

So he asks me this: What would be most appealing in the type of game that he likes to play. If I could come up with any concept, what would it be - how would it be different?

I basically just said, pretty much nothing could get me to play a game like that - they are uninteresting. Then I got to thinking and said, well maybe if it had a cool story behind things - a point to my actions. I played a bit of Halo and liked the fact that it seemed to have an interesting story. Then I said, maybe instead of constant combat that pretty much involves you blowing things up, you instead are forced into a more realistic role... one of some type of gorilla fighter, where you had to use your head to stay alive. A game where the enemies seemed overwhelming - not in PHYSICAL power (as in they could easily kill you), but in a moralistic sense - that the scope of their evil was so deep and so powerful that you as the player felt emotionally overwhelmed. You were left there thinking, "How am I going to beat these assholes?"

One thought process lead to another: What if the game was almost like being in a horror movie? Not like Resident Evil or anything, but in the sense that you couldn't tell who was a good guy from who was a bad guy. Anyone, anything, could get you. In a sense, a game that causes you to have that constant feeling in the pit of your stomach, one where you are on the edge of your seat feeling constantly uneasy.

Finally, I decided if a game wanted to truly hook me in, if it wanted to truly take me into a hell beyond my imagination, then it had to have a supremely evil villain, and one name came to my mind: George W. Bush.

I thought it was funny. Cast the player in the role of someone struggling against Bush and his evil cohorts, but then I started thinking about the story. It'd be kinda funny, but also kinda boring if it was basically just a shoot 'em up, and what's more I doubt anyone would actually want to play a game that would basically look... well... almost like a terrorist game, a game in which you struggle against the United States and it's evil President. Even as anti-Bush as I am, it just wouldn't sit well with me and on top of it all - it's not really compelling.

So, being like the geeky little role-player I am I decided to come up with something more fleshed out. In my ideal action game things would be like this:

The player is cast in the role of an average Joe... named shockingly, Joe. Joe is a 26 year old mechanic working at his father's car garage workshop (small mom & pop business) in a small town in rural West Virginia. He's a southern boy, he likes NASCAR, women, country music and beer. He doesn't care about politics; he considers himself "religious" but doesn't go to Church very often. Pretty much a stereotypical southern white male.

One night Joe comes home after a long day at work, sits down on his couch, pops open a beer and starts flipping through the TV channels. It's late, he's had a long day and is exhausted... and falls asleep. And here is where Joe's life changes, he's asleep - but the whole game is a surreal nightmare of Joe's unleashed by his subconscious. However, the player wouldn't know that for absolutely certain until the end of the game, at this point Joe is "awakened" (but he is still really dreaming) by a special news report on the ANN (American News Network - the bastardization of CNN.) There has apparently been another Terrorist Attack and the President, a man whom Joe supports, is about to make an announcement. During that announcement, he declares Martial Law stating that the "enemies are among us". He puts out a plan to deal with the "enemies" and make America safe, and promises Martial Law will end after that happens...

...but it doesn't. The scene skips forward several months, showing changes to society, based on what actually happens in situations like these: people begin to suspect other people of being "terrorists", paranoia runs rampant as fear begins to color everyday life. Various groups of resistance rise up in the country to struggle against Martial Law, and the military is brought into towns and cities to squash rebellion. Neighbors begin to report on neighbors, camps begin to get set-up. Those who are considered "unsavory" or "undesired" elements of society begin to get rounded up. Joe just tries to keep his head down and do his job. He doesn't want any trouble, he just wants to get by... but his nosy annoying neighbor turns him in.

The ANN and other News Networks are shut down, in favor of the COX News Network (called Cox, owned by "Randy Cox", the bastardization of Fox News). Cox becomes the state sanctioned news network. America, for all intents and purposes, becomes a dictatorship... and poor Joe gets rounded up into a Camp as a suspected Terrorist, and the claim against him is that he was attempting to access illegal News Sources.

During his time in the camp where he is being held for questioning, he notices horrid abuses, torture and mistreatment, think of the camp as a concentration camp. However, it is here in this camp that Joe meets various other characters that will play a central role in the game. He'll meet a Roman Catholic Priest who was excommunicated from the church for heresy, he'd meet other average everyday people in various careers, each of them having a compelling story to how they got into the camp.

Either way, the starting mission will involve getting Joe, the Priest and several other characters out of the camp safely. Although, Joe isn't really looking out for them, he's just trying to get out before he is tortured - he's out to save his own skin, but he quickly realizes that his friends each have various skills that will aid him in escape. In effect, he can't do it alone, he needs their help and they need his... and if they are to get out alive they need to do it together, as a team.

Once out of the camp Joe and the others become wanted fugitives. They get their mug shots plastered all over Televisions across America, are accused of being terrorists, are accused of being armed and dangerous. (To which, Joe exclaims that he's never even owned a gun, and to which one of his companions tell him, "Maybe it's time to get one.")

It is at this point that the Priest reveals why he was thrown out of the Church, the fact that he suspected the President as being the Anti-Christ, and many so-called "Priests" as being possessed by Demons. He believes that the prophecy of Revelation is coming to fruition before their very eyes, and that they are witnessing a New World Order. Joe is skeptical, his companions are out right not believing it, but the Priest is adamant. One of the companions, an attractive female buys into the story (and who is a member of one of the various groups of armed resistance), and wonders what can be done to stop the prophecy from coming true. Various ideas, suggestions and thoughts get thrown out, and ultimately the female looks at Joe and asks him what he thinks should be done. Being the stereotypical macho guy, and wanting to impress the woman, he basically says that they need to find out proof of how they did it, why they did it, and what they intend to do.

The rest of the game is spent doing just that. Joe and his companions go through several missions, where various things are uncovered (based on real facts and suspicions surrounding Bush) such as Wire Tapping, Voting Fraud, War, Media Consolidation, etc.

The main enemy in the game is other people. Not everyone will be out to get the player, some might help, some might pretend to help but really betray them, and some might even be demon possessed and try to kill them. The concept behind the story: For years, demons have infiltrated various levels of society, in an attempt to gain control. They infiltrated the media, high-ranking government positions, and once there began to manipulate and mold public opinion and thought. They turned people against one another, infiltrated Churches as Priests and brainwashed entire congregations, all in an attempt to bring about a New World Order, a hell on Earth.

The ultimate objective of the game is to uncover how they did it, why they did it, and what they ultimately hope to accomplish. Then through various plot twists, ultimately end up in a direct confrontation against the Anti-Christ and his chief generals all of whom are powerful demons.

Throughout the game the companions suffer unspeakable horrors. Some of them don't make it, some of them lose everything, and Joe finds out that his own family has turned against him believing him to be a terrorist. The entire time there is always this sense of dread, of waiting for the next shoe to fall and just when the player thinks things can't get any worse - it does. It all ultimately culminates in the Anti-Christ President being defeated and banished back to hell, along with his chief minions, but at great cost to Joe and the world.

...and as Joe looks out across the devastation, the mass slaughter, the ultimate destruction and evil and thinks back on all he's lost. That's when he wakes up from his nightmare, and then wonders if it was real, just a dream or a vision... and the player is left with a foreboding question with Joe wondering if something like that could really happen.

So, yeah, that'd totally be a game I'd play. …and holy crap I didn't expect this post to be this long. ;)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. "Grand Theft Election" or "Grand Theft Ohio". You get the idea.

The game writes itself.

[ContraBass Black]

2. I'm pretty sure I've played this one a couple of times.