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Midway's Controversial NARC Update Ups Drug Intake
Thanks to IGN PS2 for its hands-on preview of Midway's PS2/Xbox action title NARC, an update of the classic '80s anti-drug arcade title of the same name. This game, which Game Informer notes has been "built on VIS Entertainment's State of Emergency engine", takes the "good cop/bad cop" gameplay concept to an extreme, as GameSpot explains: "You'll actually be able to use the illegal drugs you confiscate throughout the game. In fact, they'll actually give you short-term benefits." The drugs include "pot, speed, LSD, crack, and the newly invented Liquid Soul", and effects vary - for example, IGN notes: "Smoking marijuana in NARC slows time down and makes the screen blur, but also gives incredible focus", and GameSpot mentions: "Dropping acid fills the screen with crazy colors, but it also gives innocent citizens large jester heads while giving criminals large devil heads, for easy identification." But GI also cautions: "By taking one of the addictive drugs... the controller vibrations will get longer and longer until the player will literally have to fight to keep the shakes at bay."
Anyone want to take bets on how long it is before a drug death gets blamed on "Little Jimmy wanted to see who the Devil was in his homeroom"?
Screw "Bullet Time"
;-) oh my.
Gimmee my weedtime, cracktime, and lsdtime
I wonder how much hands-on "research" the developers did for this game? ;-)
"I filter at +6, and have yet to miss out on an important comment." (#822545)
While I agree that this may be a tad over the top, and will serve as ammunition by family-groups and so on, we should stop for one moment and consider intellectually how retarded this actually is: We are actually more concerned with the player taking behavior modifying (and potentially addicting) substances than with a major part of the game's premesis, which is for the player to kill or harm other humans in the game. Somehow killing people isnt as bad as taking drugs...
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
Apparently Midway's still trying to figure out how to force you to make Taco Bell and Hershey bar runs every few hours...
My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
I wonder if anybody will come up with a crack for this game?
It's all well and good that parent and child protection groups are watchful for titles like this, but I'm still having trouble understanding what the big to do is all about.
I can pretty much guarantee that this game will be rated "M - For Mature" and many retailers have resorted to id checks at the register already. What else can we do? If YOU don't think your kid should be exposed to this kind of stuff, then don't expose them. That's YOUR responsibility as a parent.
"But aren't you worried about the kids?"
Well you know what? I DO worry about the kids. My kids. All freaking day. Contrary to popular appearances, it's a full-time job. And once the little people go to sleep at night, it's time for me to relax and do something "adult" for a change. No more Elmo, or Teletubbies, or those ever present "kids songs" collections.
My daughters must think it's really odd that I always pause my videogames or turn them off completely when they're around. But I don't rely on Joe Politician or Jane Activist to protect my kids, I do it my damn self, because that's what I'M SUPPOSED TO DO as a parent.
If everyone spent more time filtering what their kids see, hear, and do, this wouldn't even be an issue. I'm not talking about locking them up in a room, but if they happen upon something "objectionable", you just have to explain it to them. "This is not real..." or "This is not right..." goes a long way. Is it really that difficult or unusual?
Kids are smart and explaining the context of a given situation is the key.