Random Video Game Review - Not For Broadcast

 

I know some of you may have expected me to do some kind of witty comment about the name. But honestly, there are loads of people who have reviewed this that have done that exact thing. It's fresh when its a new release, but this is not a new release. So since Brexit, there have been many more political games that have captured my attention. Clearly, there are plenty of people like me who have always been against it and have chosen to create games depicting this or have a similar premise. Sure, it may be good for business, but what's so bad about being part of a united group of countries. OK, yes there may be silly rules to follow and regulations too. I don't know, but let's take a look at this game, which at the time of writing this is currently on sale on Steam:

Set in an alternate 1980s on an Earth that has different nations to our own, you play as a character called Alex Winston, a former janitor turned studio director at the nation's largest broadcaster known as Channel 1. So you are in a production control room for Channel 1's news program. You get to use a vision mixer, which lets you decide the camera feed to broadcast. A delay is triggered before the chosen feed is broadcasted and throughout the program, you have the power to bleep certain words, add sound effects such as audience applause and laughter, and control any interference using a waveform monitor. An audience meter at the end of each broadcast will be displayed, at which point, you will either complete the level and move on to the next one, or fail the level depending on if your editing is good or not. You also get to pick up to three advertisements during the show's breaks, which help influence the game's outcome and unlock certain story elements. At the end of each broadcast, you can watch it and also see the unused footage. Of course, it's not all in the studio as you also get to play parts in between in which we see Alex's life outside where he has a family who may have some dilemmas that need resolving and whatever choice you choose, this will affect your dynamic and relationships.

While it looks like a pretty simple game, its complexity in terms of story and what you do, actually makes it far from simple. This is a good thing because often games like these are overlooked for how simple they may come across at first. I quite enjoyed the game for its complexity, and just looking at how a live broadcast can be edited is pretty mind-blowing. The political commentary may put people off as games like these generally do. But it makes it pretty darn sweet despite its complexity. 8/10