PMQ's Computer Game Image Credit: Mark Richards http://pixelpolitics.tumblr.com/
“Do your Wednesdays feel joyless and empty now Parliament’s in its summer recess? Does 12 o’clock pass without event, leaving you deflated and depressed?” PMQs: The Game by Mark Richards
As David Cameron returns from his holiday to find London burning and criticism heaped upon him, he might be pleased to hear that at least someone still thinks of him as a hero: He’s been turned into the protagonist in a new text-based computer game.
Prime Minister’s Question Time, based on the weekly grudge matches that go down on Wednesdays in Commons, invites players to assume the role of David Cameron. They can choose from a series of set responses to criticisms on matters such as health and law enforcement, all offered up to a soundtrack of boos and cheers from backbenchers. Said The Independent, “Like the real life stockpile of over-fed MP’s the UK plays host to, the objective is to avoid answering any questions by creeping past them using the usual hollowed out political banter.” Get the answer wrong and Cameron loses health points; but get the answer right and opposition leader Ed Miliband gets zapped!
The game is the invention of developer Mark Richards, who creates political cartoons in the style of retro video games for his blog, Pixel Politics. When interviewed in the New Statesman, he spoke of his motivation for creating the game; “it just occurred to me that Prime Minister’s Questions is a real-life turned based battle, like those bits from the old Pokemon games.” Will this open up a market for more political computer games? And is it any good?
- Memorable moments. Patrick Kingsley, writing in The Guardian said, “The game also riffs on memorable PMQ moments. ‘I lead my party, he follows his,’ Cameron says at one point, referencing Tony Blair’s jibe at John Major. ‘Calm down dear!’ he later cries, referencing himself.”
- Reimagining the genre. Jake Hanrahan in The Independent lauded the games originality: “Text-based adventure games are often perceived as a pixelated debacle of trolls, orcs and wizards”, but Richards has “reinvented the turn based genre by adding the raucous ruling of politics into the mix.”
- Can it compete? Whilst PMQ’s may be novel, UPI.com revealed that Russian developers Agency One have taken it one step further by creating “Like Putin”, where gamers assume the persona of the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, and use his special skills to fight forest fires and terrorists. Perhaps a bit more thrilling than facing Ed Miliband in a battle of wits.
