I like this game. It really encourages you to break the habit. Even the small things, like just leaving on the alarm. It was also quite haunting how you were alone after finishing all those 'steps'. No wife, no homeless guy, no traffic, no cow, no boss, no colleagues... except one. I didn't quite get that ending, though.
This game did make me think about the reason and purpose of games. Isn't escapism one of the purest form of gaming? The urge to break things up a bit? That's the reason for gamers, or at least for me, to see what a game allows you to do. Break the habit by running over a kid who was just walking down the street. Stand and do nothing when the terrorist opens fire on you. Or indeed, jump off a tall building.
It seems that the more a game sinks into a rut, the more satisfying it is to break free. And when the game shows not a government agent, an assassin, an infiltrator or a superhero but just a regular guy, the rut in our own lives becomes even more evident. You can't shoot aliens in real life, so you can do it in Aliens vs. Predator. However, when you wake up in the morning you are very well able to go to work in your underwear. Although this time your boss might inquire as to where your pants are, rather than your tie.
But we don't go to work in our underwear, and we don't leave traffic to pet a cow, even though we can. That's what makes this game so intriguing. Why don't we break the habit once in a while?
It just makes me want to go, you know. Disappear. Get on the train or the plane and don't look back.
