JFK Reloaded Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

            JFK Reloaded

Review by MrLipidDecember 2004

Ponder this: If, by precisely replicating the aim and timing of an alleged presidential assassin, you could, without actually hurting anyone, win up to $100,000, would you do it?

Glasgow-based game developer Traffic Management Limited is hoping enough folks will say “yes” (and back up that “yes” with $9.99) to fill the prize coffer before it comes time for Traffic to hand over the big check to the winning contestant on February 21, 2005. And if the prize coffer is not filled? A close reading of the website reveals that the promised prize amount is not actually $100,000 but up to $100,000. At the moment, the prize fund contains at least $10,000. “Up to”? “At least”? One can only hope the physics model of JFK Reloaded is more precise than the promises about the prize money.

So what, exactly, is JFK Reloaded?

As a piece of software, it’s a simulation. As a contest, it’s a game of skill (the skill turns out to be mimicry) funded like a lottery. As an exercise in marketing, it’s a trip to the midway.  As an example of questionable taste, it’s beyond satire. Let’s pull on our best CSI latex gloves, break out our scalpels and retractors and see if we can tease apart all of the disparate bits that make up this oddity.

The Simulation

JFK Reloaded, as a simulation, recreates the passage of the presidential motorcade through Dealy Plaza at on November 22, 1963. The only missing element in the simulation is a visual representation of the crowd. The crowd is heard but not seen. This creates the bizarre effect of a simulated JFK waving to empty sidewalks and greenspaces. And, of course, grassy knolls.

Once the simulation begins, assuming no shots are fired, it runs for about fifty seconds. While the simulation is running, the player views the scene from the sixth-floor perspective of Lee Harvey Oswald.  Once the simulation ends, it is possible to examine it frame by frame from a variety of preset vantage points and focal lengths.  Zoom in, zoom out, roll the replay back and forth. Ride a bullet to its final destination, no matter what that destination is or what the bullet must pass through to get there.

When one has seen enough of the effects of one’s shots, it’s time to go to analysis mode. Green lines show the path of each slug, and terse captions detail the damage done by each. The presidential limousine can be rotated in space to allow careful scrutiny of each point of impact.

If JFK Reloaded consisted of nothing but the aforementioned simulation (with a less gaudy title), it would be difficult to fault its educational value. Leaving aside for a moment the identity of the target of the assassination being simulated, the techniques on display provide players with an opportunity to experience how investigators sift through the chaos of a shooting to build a case.

Alas, JFK Reloaded consists of more than just a simulation.  And it is at this point that the education stops and the exploitation begins.

The Contest

Remember that big check? That big check goes to the contestant who can most closely replicate the damage described by the Warren Commission Report. A single head shot is not good enough. There have to be three shots, no more, no less, and one of the shots has to miss the limo altogether. The point of the exercise is to prove that the Warren Commission Report’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone is plausible.

And how does one know how well one is doing? Through the scoring screen. Points are awarded for damage that corresponds to the Warren Commission Report findings, and points are taken off for damage that doesn’t. Accidentally shoot the first lady? Or the governor?  Or his wife? Or the limo driver? Or one of the motorcycle escort?  Oops. Don’t even bother submitting your results.

That’s the contest portion. Your $9.99 buys you the software and ten chances to submit your best attempts to mimic what the Warren Commission Report claims Lee Harvey Oswald did. Should you desire more chances, you can buy them from Traffic. Which is where the contest ends and the lottery begins. If enough people buy the title and do badly enough at it that they need to purchase more tokens, maybe, just maybe, the pot will indeed edge up to $100,000.

The Marketing

The folks at Traffic make serious noises about their motives for creating this title. On the website, they put it this way: “A familiar component of modern police detective work is to reconstruct the crime in order to establish the most likely course of events—and with JFK Reloaded, you can be part of a forensic investigation reaching back over 40 years.”

When quoted in the New York Daily News, Kirk Ewing, Traffic’s managing director, put the best face he could on the whole enterprise: “This new form of interactive entertainment brings history to life and will stimulate a younger generation of players to take an interest in this fascinating episode of American history. We’ve created the game with the belief that Oswald was the only person that fired the shots on that day, although this re-creation proves how immensely difficult his task was.”

Actually, the software demonstrates how relatively easy it would have been to assassinate anyone in the motorcade. The “immense difficulty” comes in doing it in such a way as to coincide with the findings of the Warren Commission Report. The question posed is not “Could it be done?” but “Could it be done twice?”

And, for a company that claims to want to put to rest conspiracy theories about the assassination, why is there no effort to demonstrate, using the title’s impressive simulation tools, exactly what the Warren Commission Report claims happened? Just because folks can see where the slugs came from and where they went doesn’t mean it would be any easier for contestants to match the timing and the trajectory.

The Satire

Even if one were tempted to give the folks at Traffic the benefit of the doubt on the question of their sincerity, the words on their website and the words within the software (along with a title that is both ghastly and stale) give the lie to their claims.

What is one to make of this: “By entering our prize contest, you can help to establish the facts of what happened on November 22nd, 1963—and win up to $100,000 in the process!”

Or this: “Why can’t I see Lee Harvey Oswald? You can—but you will need to set the Display Quality option (in the Options section, accessible from the main menu) to ‘Best’. You will then see Oswald through his window, and you can even place the camera right on the window-ledge and watch him during action replay!”

Or this: “Take your shots. Replay them. Analyse the Stats.  When you’re ready … KILL JFK and win up to $100,000.”

It’s the cry of the barker on the midway. Step right this way!  Take your shots! It is at this point that the marketing push ties its own shoelaces together and falls headlong into a pit somewhere beyond satire.

The Surprise

And now for the biggest surprise. Strip away the marketing and the contest and the shooting and something near art remains. A dreamlike simulation of what might have been had no shots been fired that day. A slow procession around a sharp corner, a youthful president and his wife, waving to empty streets, streets echoing with the sounds of absent crowds. And the player, choosing not to act as the procession passes by, contemplating how different the world might have been.

The Rating

Why a Not Very Good rather than a Super Stinker? The simulation, viewed on its own, is quite compelling. Offered in a different context, its analytical depth would reward hours of study. Unfortunately, Traffic has framed it with all of the taste and restraint of a tatty traveling shooting gallery.

Interesting Reading

For additional academic (and some not-so-academic) discussion of this and other provocative titles, I recommend a peek at Water Cooler Games.

Technical Issues

Traffic, in describing the specs for this title, fails to mention that it is an online-only title. Try firing it up without a live internet connection and you will discover that you no longer have access to the full version. If your copy cannot get through to Traffic’s server, the version on your system, the version you thought you owned, reverts back to the demo until a link to Traffic’s server is reestablished. And, while Traffic has not commented on this, it seems safe to assume that once the contest is over, their servers will go offline, leaving buyers of the software with nothing more than the demo version. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Traffic Management Limited Publisher: Traffic Management Limited Release Date: November 22, 2004

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

400 MHz processor (800 MHz recommended) Windows 98 (XP recommended) 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended) Nvidia TNT graphics card or similar (Nvidia GeForce 3 or similar recommended)

Where to Find It

JFK Reloaded $9.99

Prices/links current as of 11/29/04Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

17 Responses to First Impressions: Heavy Rain

  • Toger

    I hate QTEs, but Heavy Rain is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for me to push the button. I don’t even own a PS3, but I plan on buying the game anyway. I do have a good friend who’ll let me play at his house. Of course, I’ll have to drive 100 miles, one way, through the snow to get to his house. His chat-happy birds will cheerfully chirp thereby completely disrupting any atmosphere, but I can play.

  • David

    What!?  Heavy Rain is full of QTEs?  I totally did not see that coming.

    The whole dad experience thing sounds intriguing.  I’m already getting odd looks from my girlfriend for exclaiming over cute kids on the bus or at the mall, something like what you described might send my biological clock over the edge.

  • Lewis B

    My sentiments exactly David!

    Mat has been playing the Heavy Rain demo for a while now, and although he admits he is intrigued by the story, he does constantly complain about the control method.

    R2 + Analogue stick to run? *scoff*

  • Gregg B

    @Lew: DEMO?! PS3 DEMO?! *runs off to PS3*

    That sounds like the Batman: Arkham Asylum controls – Crazy Bonkers Design. The sort of design that puts pull handles on push doors.

    @Steerpike: “I despise children. They are disgusting and annoying. They knock things over. They interfere with everything. They’re not useful until they’re at least 13, when you can get them to mow the lawn and stuff. But you can pay a service to do that for just a few hundred bucks a year and the service won’t vomit on you, shit in its diapers, grow up to resent you, or otherwise suck. Don’t flame me and don’t post comments to the contrary: kids are repulsive. Why anyone would want them is beyond my feeble imaginings.”

    HAHAhahaha- I er, – hahahaha – you’re as outspoken as me about demon spawn children.

  • Lewis B

    Yeah its been on the internet for weeks and weeks Greggi.  I think you have to do a couple of online puzzles etc to get the appropriate code or something.

    Search on Kotaku, they first ran with it IIRC.

  • Mat

    The puzzle code was for early access before it hit the PSN Store. It’s been available to all since last week.

    Regarding the demo, it took me around 3 or 4 attempts at it to appreciate it. First time around I couldn’t have been more dissapointed by it, but after the 3rd or 4th I decided I wanted to stick with it. I don’t think the demo is a particularly great example of what the game supposedly does best either – choice. I also HATE the control scheme and some of the voice acting is so wooden. Creating an immersive, realistic game is fine but having characters stumbling into tables and fridges because of the ham fisted controls, and listening to French voice actors impersonate Americans does remove that realism a little!

    Still, I rushed out to buy it this morning and will rush home from work to play it in about an hour!

  • xtal

    @ Toger: I don’t own a PS3 either, and it’s not like Heavy Rain seems to be “that” game which makes you run out and buy one– like Bioshock made me run out and get a 360– and it’s also not like this game looks groundbreaking in any way, because it really doesn’t. It’s just got me curious…and people tend to do crazy things the week after they get their yearly bonus. Soooooo yeah, who knows; maybe I’ll own a PS3 soon, but like hell I would admit that it was for Heavy Rain. Psh. I’d tell people it was because I wanted to watch BSG on blu-ray; though anyone who knows me would see right through that lie since I am an avid non-format-upgrader: I’ll switch my BSG collection from DVD to blu-ray the day I upgrade my copy of Jurassic Park from VHS to DVD. (Hint: never)

  • Toger

    @xtal: I’m in no hurry to upgrade my meagre DVD collection to blu-ray either, but I have to say the movies I’ve watched on my friend’s PS3 are absolutely stunning. Blade Runner was simply breath-taking in blu-ray and it made me want a PS3. I don’t think Heavy Rain will be a system seller for me, but I’m betting the game from the Ico team will.

  • xtal

    A game from the Ico team, you say? Hmmm. I’ve been making rounds on Kijiji and Craigslist looking for a copy of Ico (eBay prices are so shudder-inducing) for a few days now. I really need to play that game after my experience with the indescribable Shadow of the Colossus.

    It’s good to know they haven’t died some Interplay-esque death in the meantime.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Nope, they’re a small team that works within Sony. Fumito Ueda is the lead and he’s got like ten or so people who’ve worked with him on all his games. Sony pretty much lets them do what they want.

    The Last Guardian is the game that’s coming up from them. It looks more like Ico and less like Shadow of the Colossus to me, which is to say it appears to be focused on platform elements. If I didn’t already have a PS3, it’d be the game that sells it.

  • Gregg B

    @Toger: Ooh, Blade Runner on Blu-ray, gorgeous in all its gorgeosity. In 5.1 it sounds incredible too.

    I bought my PS3 for Team Ico’s unnamed-at-the-time game, Heavy Rain (back when it was just a teaser), LittleBig Planet (yes, yes, I know), Dead Space and Motor Storm: Pacific Rift which sort of pushed me off the fence.

  • Toger

    Gregg, oh yes. The surround sound was spectacular. Did I mention my friend’s HDTV is 72″ (obscene, isn’t it)? It’s like being at a high-class theatre: better food, pauses for bathroom breaks and no one talking through the movie.

    Is Trine up on PSN, yet? If so, that might be my tipping point: Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and Trine.

  • Gregg B

    *spits tea out, despite not drinking any*

    O_O

    72″?! I’m speechless. I can only imagine how awesome that is. Size does matter.

    Not so sure about Trine… hang on. I think it is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I think it is too, Toger. I’ll check.

    To be honest, though, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the purchase even if Trine’s not there yet. I’ve been way happier with my PS3 than with my 360. Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted, Folklore, even little games like Flower – I’ve had more concentrated fun with the PS3 than with Microsoft’s console, which tends to gather dust for months between game releases.

    72″???? I thought size didn’t matter!

  • Toger

    Size doesn’t matter. 😀

    In my friend’s defense, it was a great deal: opened box, itty-bitty scratch on the case, not a dead pixel to be seen and it was less $$ than the 60″ he originally wanted.

    Thanks for checking guys. I’ve played a tiny bit of Uncharted, but I’m horrible at the combat. Flower intrigues me. As does Demon’s Souls, but I know that game will crush my soul.

  • Gregg B

    There were certain moments in Flower where it just totally succeeded in conveying a feeling that I can’t say I’ve had in many other games, usually when rushing across a field through the grass or through a canyon or just skimming a pond, but it was never anything to do with collecting bloody petals or fulfilling some rudimentary puzzle. I think my problem with it was that it felt like it was trying to be this deeply emotional piece but in the end there seemed to be too many concessions to being a game rather than just running with the emotive side of the experience. One thing I am sure about though, is the trophies. Don’t get me started on the fucking trophies…

    One of my favourite little games on the PS3 is Everyday Shooter. It’s got a brilliant soundtrack that suits its raw visual style and I love how each level requires a certain tactic or strategy to survive it. It’s a very satisfying game in small bursts.

  • Hanover

    Unfortunately Cage mucked up the ending yet again.  The problem is that the mechanic of the game forced them to have to cheat in order to prevent spoiling the mystery of the game.

    There is also a red herring that makes no sense and is obviously put there to misdirect the player.

    90% of the game is awesome, the last 10% while not as bad as the indigo prophecy, is still sloppy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.