Day 284 - We Become What We Behold
Short and Free, Immersive Sim, REDACTED ·
Sam’s Take:
I’ve made this warning before, but it’s actually been a while since it’s happened, so I’ll make it again. I’m about to criticize this game a bit, but only because it’s a pretty real game that has something to say, and therefore I have something tangible to criticize. This isn’t a Baby Shooter scenario where I’m criticizing it existing, or being mega low effort, WBWWB has something to say, it says it, and I get to interpret that. This is a real game, and that already puts it above a lot of recent games, so before I go saying some negative things, just know that it’s on an incomparably higher level than Frog vs. Mural Girl.
WBWWB is a simple short little idea. People walk around a little grassy area with a TV in the middle. You try to take a picture of interesting things happening, people see it on the TV and it changes their behavior.
If this looks interesting to you go play it now. It’s five minutes long, simple, in-browser, and pretty good. I’m going to spoil the whole game now. You have been warned.
The game gets increasingly more violent as it goes on. You take a picture of a circle yelling at a square, get the headline circles hate squares, a square sees it, gets upset, yells at a circle, take a picture of that, etc. It all culminates in an all out war where everyone kills everyone else. Media cycles influence behaviors that the media then reports on. A simple thesis displayed competently.
My main issue is that the game is sometimes direct in a way that detracts from what the game is attempting to accomplish. For example, when fighting starts to break out, you have the option of photographing some more peaceful moments, but the game doesn’t let you:
Mechanically it’s trying to prove the existence of negative media cycles through gameplay, but at this point it’s just telling me that violence goes viral. This doesn’t show me that violence goes viral in a natural way, it’s just one game dev telling me it does, and so it doesn’t have the same impact. It’s a sticking point because I feel like there is a way to do this naturally. There has to be some way where the player has greater control of the headlines and what pictures they are taking. I’m not sure what the solution is, but this feels like the blueprint to a great idea, which is pretty good for a game made in two months. The ending is also a bit annoying, with each picture zooming out to reveal someone playing the game on a laptop. I don’t think this game is smart or interesting enough to be going for big-swing meta commentary on that level, but I’ll always take a swing and a miss over being boring.
It’s a good idea, and the code is completely open to use and copy on his page, so if you have the great idea to make this whole media cycle game work in a more natural fluid way, go ham. Not a great game, but it’s putting that work in towards the next great game, and if Flash Forward doesn’t celebrate the stepping stones to greatness, then why do we even bother looking at free 2-month solo dev games?
Recommend: Why not
Replay Percentage Chance: 2%
Time Played: 5min
Skeeter’s Take:
I’m glad the kid who made school shooter Newgrounds games grew up to make something with a message.
I am merely jesting, my fellow courtsmen. Isn’t that why you hired this clown? I draw the comparison mostly due to the art style and the fact that the game ends in a bloody violent massacre.
It’s late and I forgot I still had a review to write, so I’ll keep it brief. Also, my computer is having a conniption and refuses to open my snipping tool, and that’s not really an issue I want to figure out right now, so I have no photos and am a hack fraud.
I think We Become What We Behold does a good job of visually giving you its message and stance on news cycles and the general viral sensationalism we see today. The message is so clear and obvious, the people wearing love hats give one of their love hats to a crazy guy and he calms down and returns to normalcy. After the bloody massacre/riot the love hatted folks are the only people not dead. It’s not subtle. I mention this mainly because my biggest critique of the game is the written responses the player gets when they take a picture of the nice things happening. Responses like “peace is boring. Violence goes viral.” Yes, I understand the point of the game, this extra explanation is not necessary. I get it. You did a great job of showing! Let it stand on its own. I think the cricket chirping is enough to clue the player in without shouting at them “Hey this game is about violence and how the media propagates violence by focusing on it, why are you taking pictures of these heart hat people? They represent love and peace and understanding, and since we are representing the media’s stance on this, we hate love and peace because it doesn’t make us money. We need you to take pictures of the violence, which just so happens to create a cycle of violence but also makes us money. Do you understand? Don’t worry, we’ll explain it again here in a bit so you don’t forget.”
I know, a classic nit pick. It’s all I know how to do.
I liked the zoom out at the end to reveal the player was simply observing the events through a laptop screen. I felt that was effective.
Recommend: i guess so
Replay Percentage Chance: 0%
Time Played: 5 Minutes
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