Yeah,the first games were quite good.
I actually know someone who got into policing because of these games - and was a full detective by the time Open Season released - who was appalled by this Open Season and the following games.
It's a shame,really,because after that there weren't any good "beat cop" games to this day anymore, at least I am not aware of any.
(Police Simulator is well... not having any story and so PG-washed that it's basically parking enforcement...)
Specifically, Open Season. Gross game, but not this big scary glowing radioactive thing and probably not the actual most reactionary game of the nineties. Article's kinda crap, really; the whole point is "a prick hired a prick to be involved in a prickish game."
Article’s kinda crap, really; the whole point is “a prick hired a prick to be involved in a prickish game.”
Ken Williams has generally been pretty well regarded, especially by Sierra fans. He was even included in the old Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy, so I think it comes as somewhat surprising that he was so easily swayed by Rush Limbaugh back then, and shifted so far right wing to the point of purposefully working with a cop so heavily associated with systemic racism and the Rodney King beating.
It certainly was news to me, as someone who grew up with those games.
What in the bucket (autocorrected from fuck, lol)! As a fan of Sierra games, this is bizarre to read, I never expected them to embrace cop culture, after growing from a pot smoking and drinking origin.
A lot of people succumbed to fear after 1992, especially the types like Ken Williams that were newly rich.
There's a excellent, recent OJ Simpson documentary called Made in America that does a dive into 1990's Los Angeles police culture and the riots. Highly recommended.
English is weird but this is right. It might read better if it was “and then later they found out he had been disgraced and forced to quit as police chief.”
Considering the routine fake heroics ascribed to pig both in games and in movies, you'd really have to go out of your fascist bootlicking way to get your game called "most reactionary."