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SpitFire's Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC)
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| [February 22, 2010 10:13:28 PM]
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Navigating through hell all alone was difficult. I have noting but a pistol and there is noting to heal myself with. The only thing I wanted to do was find Eric or get my weapons back so I would stand a better chance against the enemies. The Trench Coat Mafia didn’t feel complete with out it’s other member or with out guns. It took me several attempts around different twists and turns, but I finally found Eric. I was so happy to be reunited with my only friend mostly because it gave me more firepower.
I continued to explore the twisting maze of hell. Enemies were easy to avoid but ever now and then I would run into a demon imp and they would quickly kill me off. I didn’t stand a chance until I found a shotgun in a treasure chest. I finally had a weapon that gave me a fighting chance and I wanted to find others. From here on out the game became all about killing demons which didn’t feel as bad as killing school students. My motivation didn’t need to explained or justified anymore.
I continued looking around and uncovered a plasma rifle and a chain gun. Enemies also started to drop more medkits that I could use to restore my health with. The battles weren’t as challenging anymore but the resource management provided meaningful game play.
This game is based on a national tragedy, but in the game it just serves as a means to advance the story. In the beginning the game puts you in the perspective of the gun men. The game questions the influence of video games and music on Eric and Dylan and perhaps it did have some effect on them. While you play the game you are constantly reminded of this as you kill characters from Doom and listen to music by Manson. But these just serve as a backdrop to there own twisted reasoning and urge to kill everything.
The game itself was a challenging for its simple design. I do not believe I could relate or connect with the motives of the characters but the challenges I look for as a gamer were similar to goals of the characters. In the game the characters wanted to kill everything. As a gamer I wondered if I would have the resources to kill everything. The reason for playing this game for me came from wanting to see where the character’s reasoning would bring them and from the challenging of defeating as many enemies as I could.
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| [February 21, 2010 02:44:21 AM]
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I have been wondering around the school for awhile trying to find out where to go next. When my killing spree first began I would enter a class room and kill everyone. The battles themselves were not very challenging. The satisfaction I gained from this game was body count. I wondered if I could kill everyone. I wondered if anything special would happen if I did.
Each battle was with some stereotypical enemy. I would fight cheerleaders, jocks, pretty girls, and preps. In a way this is what people do to each other in high school. Everyone was put into groups and judged based on the labels people put on them. However there is more to people then the label you give them. But this game doesn’t let you look past the labels given to the characters and in a way this make killing them all a little easier.
There was one case where I entered a bathroom and a boy was being bullied by several jocks. After slaughtering them all the boy thanked Eric and Dylan and ran off. I felt a little heroic but the feeling didn’t stay. I quickly abandoned my goal of trying to kill everyone because the battles weren’t challenging, just repetitive. The character’s motives weren’t enough to keep me going and I was just tired of pressing the space bar over and over.
I finally walked past the window in the library and started a shoot out with the cops. I thought to my self I finally found how move on with the game. As expected Eric and Dylan both shot themselves and then a strange thing happened. I was shown their final thoughts.
What if? What if they found an island where they could be isolated from everything? Or what if they hijacked a plane and crashed it into a skyscraper? This 9/11 reference felt totally out of place. Both Columbine and 9/11 where national tragedies, but do the reasons for them tie together? Then news footage and pictures of the shootings showed on screen. I watched them for awhile and wondered. Should I really care? They showed the grave of both the shooters and the reaction of the victims. I didn’t know if I should feel bad for all the people I just killed or if I should feel bad for Eric and Dylan. I couldn’t decide in the end.
Then I found myself in hell. I descended down a long stairwell into the fiery pits of the underworld crawling with monsters. The game suddenly had a huge challenge. I didn’t know where to go and the enemies actually put up a fight. I wondered around in circles fighting one monster after another. But they did damage that could take down my health by one third with each hit. I died several times trying to find my way around. Before I got frustrated I wished I had killed more people in the school to level up.
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| [February 21, 2010 02:00:03 AM]
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I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started to play this game. The design of the game resembled other RPGs I have played before like Final Fantasy VI and Pokemon. But this game would most certainly have values different from any other game I have played. Like in every RPG, I went around examining everything. I found the Doom video game and the Marilyn Manson CD. Questions were asked in the game if the content of Marilyn Manson and Doom could have made a person commit a killing spree. When these questions came my impression of this game was that it was going to be a satire on the media blame that came in the wake of Columbine shootings. I started to wonder if Manson’s music could really a major factor in motivating the Columbine shootings. I didn’t think so but equipping the CD did raise your stats a bit.
While I continued to exploring the basement Eric and Dylan talked about their motives during their flashback and their last recording. Then in the car ride to the school they continued to talk about why they wanted everyone to die. The reason for their motive was simple, they heated everyone and everything. But they also didn’t want to bring any pain or blame to their friends or family. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Later, after arriving at the school my next mission was to plant the bombs. At this point I wasn’t concerned too much about the character’s motives behind their actions. Even though this game was based on a real event it still felt the game was just trying to establishing a reason for playing it.
Before entering the school I was warned me to avoid security cameras but it didn’t say anything about talking to other people. In other RPGs it is common to go around talking to people, even if your characters are in enemy territory. When I first entered the school I thought it would be ok to talk with the first person I saw. But this was the wrong action. It was a hall monitor, everyone was a hall monitor. I couldn’t speak to anyone with out being sent back and forced start over again. I couldn’t be seen by anyone.
It took me several tries to make it past the security cameras and avoid the hall monitors. I planted the bombs and waited for them to detonate. But they failed to go off. Eric and Dylan just decided to carry on with the killing spree. In the parking lot everyone was a target, an enemy, someone who could be killed. However there was one boy, a friend of theirs I guess, that Eric and Dylan warned to run away. There was one person that the two boys spared. I don’t know how closely the values in this game reflect those of the Columbine shooters. Eric and Dylan both hated everyone but they still wanted to spare their friends and family from any consequences of their actions. These characters do express a little sympathy but everyone else is at the mercy of the player.
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