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6 people found the following review helpful:
by Felix Larsson (Gothenburg, Sweden)
Related reviews: satire
This is a miniature piece of political satire. You play Officer Cubby, the cuddly police bear, whose tolerance is hard tried by anti-capitalist protesters. How much can he bear? Can he stop from going bear-serk?
Though belonging to different ends of the politicial spectrum, "Police Bear" nevertheless has a few things in common with "Burn the Koran and Die": both are very short, on-rails pieces, whose whole raison d'être is their respective satirical political points (which are quite clear from the beginning); I guess "Police Bear" can be just as offensive to some who don't agree with the tendency of it as "Burn the Koran and Die" was to everyone who didn't agree with its tendency (after all, people can take offense at anything); I certainly hope "Police Bear" is objectively no less unfair than "Burn the Koran and Die" was (or the future bodes no good for the USA); and -- oddly -- both games feature a policeman as the bad guy (a fact I know not what to make of) ...
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Ghalev, December 30, 2011 (updated January 2, 2012) - Reply
I kept thinking "Burn the Koran and Die" while playing it, too. And, regardless of where anyone sits politically, they both make exactly the same mistake as games, which is to say, they're NOT games. Neither has any real choice or real exploring to offer, or any attempt at real perspective. Both lack subtlety, both lack grace, both lack any apparent interest in providing the player with an experience other than being hammered over the head with a simplistic perspective (and so, as far as I'm concerned, both fail as satire, as well, because without at least some of those things, the work becomes too thin-spirited to carry satiric impact).
I kept thinking "Burn the Koran and Die" while playing it, too. And, regardless of where anyone sits politically, they both make exactly the same mistake as games, which is to say, they're NOT games. Neither has any real choice or real exploring to offer, or any attempt at real perspective. Both lack subtlety, both lack grace, both lack any apparent interest in providing the player with an experience other than being hammered over the head with a simplistic perspective (and so, as far as I'm concerned, both fail as satire, as well, because without at least some of those things, the work becomes too thin-spirited to carry satiric impact).
katz, January 2, 2012 - Reply
At least police brutality is a thing that happens, whereas recent quran-burners in the US remain conspicuously alive.
Putting the game from the perspective of the police officer is also a better choice, since one of the most grating aspects of BTKAD is the protagonist's solipsistic whining.
But yes, they're both obnoxious polemics of no interest to anyone who doesn't already agree. Or anyone who does, for that matter.
At least police brutality is a thing that happens, whereas recent quran-burners in the US remain conspicuously alive.
Putting the game from the perspective of the police officer is also a better choice, since one of the most grating aspects of BTKAD is the protagonist's solipsistic whining.
But yes, they're both obnoxious polemics of no interest to anyone who doesn't already agree. Or anyone who does, for that matter.
AmberShards, January 10, 2012 - Reply
*laughs* Of course, if you removed "in the US" from your statement, it would be a monstrous lie. But we all know that it can't happen here. Of course. Never here. Just the very idea is too shocking to contemplate!
You also missed the fact that the game was satirical. The US is not Europe...yet.
You disliked the perspective of the main character and what he had to say. Ok. Strangely, you can't move on. If you were really uninterested, you wouldn't have bothered to poop on the game in a thread about another game. And oh, if the game is of no interest to people who agree with its perspective, how exactly would you know? Did you interview everyone who does agree with its perspective? *laughs*
Doesn't free speech suck? It would be much easier if people you didn't like couldn't express themselves, you know. At the very least, such horrible things like these games should not be expressed PUBLICLY. There should be laws against them...
*laughs*
That was my silver bullet, etched with a smile. Bang. Plonk.
*laughs* Of course, if you removed "in the US" from your statement, it would be a monstrous lie. But we all know that it can't happen here. Of course. Never here. Just the very idea is too shocking to contemplate!
You also missed the fact that the game was satirical. The US is not Europe...yet.
You disliked the perspective of the main character and what he had to say. Ok. Strangely, you can't move on. If you were really uninterested, you wouldn't have bothered to poop on the game in a thread about another game. And oh, if the game is of no interest to people who agree with its perspective, how exactly would you know? Did you interview everyone who does agree with its perspective? *laughs*
Doesn't free speech suck? It would be much easier if people you didn't like couldn't express themselves, you know. At the very least, such horrible things like these games should not be expressed PUBLICLY. There should be laws against them...
*laughs*
That was my silver bullet, etched with a smile. Bang. Plonk.
Felix Larsson, January 11, 2012 (updated January 14, 2012) - Reply
Surely, freedom of speech doesn't mean the right not to be gainsaid. And, surely, someone's voicing disagreement with my views and opinions is not tantamount to anyone's telling me to shut up.
"You also missed the fact that the game was satirical. The US is not Europe...yet."
The implication that the game wouldn't be satire but truth in Europe is intentional hyperbole, I presume. :-) But it did make me curious: what do you think it's like over here in the Old World?
Surely, freedom of speech doesn't mean the right not to be gainsaid. And, surely, someone's voicing disagreement with my views and opinions is not tantamount to anyone's telling me to shut up.
"You also missed the fact that the game was satirical. The US is not Europe...yet."
The implication that the game wouldn't be satire but truth in Europe is intentional hyperbole, I presume. :-) But it did make me curious: what do you think it's like over here in the Old World?
AmberShards, December 30, 2011 - Reply
The point of satirical games is not to provide perspective or nuance any kind of your high-falutin' buzzwords. I haven't played this game, but the point of BTKAD was first to evoke the few-turn-nature of Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die. If you missed that, then apparently even a hammer is too subtle for you.
The point of few-turn games, AGAIN, is not to offer exploration. See the above point. Your complaint is silly, as it's blaming an orange for not being a pear. Get over it!
I find it humorous that the greatest sin (or perhaps the only sin) remaining is a lack of subtlety. Allah forbid!
Actually, one of the points BTKAD was making is that the options left to people are few. That seems to have escaped you, too.
The point of satirical games is not to provide perspective or nuance any kind of your high-falutin' buzzwords. I haven't played this game, but the point of BTKAD was first to evoke the few-turn-nature of Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die. If you missed that, then apparently even a hammer is too subtle for you.
The point of few-turn games, AGAIN, is not to offer exploration. See the above point. Your complaint is silly, as it's blaming an orange for not being a pear. Get over it!
I find it humorous that the greatest sin (or perhaps the only sin) remaining is a lack of subtlety. Allah forbid!
Actually, one of the points BTKAD was making is that the options left to people are few. That seems to have escaped you, too.
Felix Larsson, December 31, 2011 - Reply
As for satire, it certainly can't be fair. Surely, an attempt at satire that ended up objectively fair to its subject matter would not be satire; it would be tragedy. That said, I do think that it is the few-turns, one-ending format of both PB and BTKAD that prevents an experience of real choice, exploration, or even subtlety and grace, rather than their satirical purpose. (Providing real perspective on an issue may well be incompatible with satire, though.)
On the other hand, then, perhaps neither piece really is a *game* at all. If so, that is of course a most relevant thing to point out; but also, to that extent, they presumably ought to be judged by some other set of criteria than those for good game-play. The political point they're making and their means of making it perhaps. I can see that my review of Police Bear fails in those respects.
As for satire, it certainly can't be fair. Surely, an attempt at satire that ended up objectively fair to its subject matter would not be satire; it would be tragedy. That said, I do think that it is the few-turns, one-ending format of both PB and BTKAD that prevents an experience of real choice, exploration, or even subtlety and grace, rather than their satirical purpose. (Providing real perspective on an issue may well be incompatible with satire, though.)
On the other hand, then, perhaps neither piece really is a *game* at all. If so, that is of course a most relevant thing to point out; but also, to that extent, they presumably ought to be judged by some other set of criteria than those for good game-play. The political point they're making and their means of making it perhaps. I can see that my review of Police Bear fails in those respects.
AmberShards, December 30, 2011 - Reply
Speaking of BTKAD, you are probably not familiar with the obnoxiously capricious and arbitrary policing enforced on many American college campuses (especially as regards displays and free speech). For loads of examples, see F.I.R.E.
Speaking of BTKAD, you are probably not familiar with the obnoxiously capricious and arbitrary policing enforced on many American college campuses (especially as regards displays and free speech). For loads of examples, see F.I.R.E.
Felix Larsson, December 31, 2011 - Reply
No, I'm not at all familiar with college campus life (Swedish universities don't have anything like it). Similar issues about freedom of speech etc., inside the academia and outside, are not unknown in Europe, though. (By the way, Police Bear, too, is obviously concerned about free speech.)
No, I'm not at all familiar with college campus life (Swedish universities don't have anything like it). Similar issues about freedom of speech etc., inside the academia and outside, are not unknown in Europe, though. (By the way, Police Bear, too, is obviously concerned about free speech.)
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