Far Cry 3 and Failed Satire

[bz316]

Let me preface this by saying that I LOVED "Far Cry 3." From the gameplay, to the open-world design, to that one guy who made a "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" reference, this game did SOOO many things right. Which simply served to make how ridiculous and offensive the story got even worst. However, I am willing to buy that the game creator intended for it to be satire (despite its lack of success in pulling it off), thus ultimately serving as a reminder to us that few things in the world are as offensive as failed satire. So, in that honor, I challenge you, denizens of the internet and the Escapist community, to list other examples of satire that failed as spectacularly at their intent as Far Cry 3's less than stellar attempt to subvert the "white-man's burden/noble savage" trope.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

 

[Axolotl]

What? There wasn't any satire in Far Cry 3 failed or otherwise. The closest I can think of is the huge contempt of shows for Americans who think they're hardcore but even that wasn't really satire.

 

[bz316]

What? There wasn't any satire in Far Cry 3 failed or otherwise. The closest I can think of is the huge contempt of shows for Americans who think they're hardcore but even that wasn't really satire.

There were 2 endings in the game, one of which the lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem said in an interview was built around the goal of turning the entire plot up to that point as a satirical dig at the whole "white man becomes better at being a native warrior than the actual native warriors" trope that crops up so frequently in western (particularly American) popular fiction. They failed at that goal, hence the subject of the thread ^_^

 

[Zhukov]

So... I'm guessing you just read that one article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/criticalintel/10211-Far-Cry-3s-Citra-Is-Straight-From-the-Freakshow] too, huh?

...

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

Whoa, whoa.

I'm not the biggest fan of Spec Ops: The Line (has anyone else noticed how tricky it is to abbreviate that title?), but "tripe" seems a bit strong.

If nothing else, I'd say it deserves credit for having the audacity to try what it did.

 

[DJjaffacake]

Gaming related, there's Spec Ops' failure to understand first what a game is, and second to recognise much more subtle satire.

Edit: The more subtle satire in question was arguably a failure as well, what with it sailing straight over the heads of most of the audience.

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

"hey guys let's talk about games that didn't do satire so well"
"MAN FUCKIN SPEC OPS WAS SO SHITTY HOLY FUCK I HATE THAT GAME"

You stay classy, Escapist.

Also, OP, if you're going to make a thread inspired by a Critical Intel article, have the common decency to link to it, yeah?

 

[bz316]

"hey guys let's talk about games that didn't do satire so well"
"MAN FUCKIN SPEC OPS WAS SO SHITTY HOLY FUCK I HATE THAT GAME"

You stay classy, Escapist.

Also, OP, if you're going to make a thread inspired by a Critical Intel article, have the common decency to link to it, yeah?

I actually wasn't aware of the article before I posted this thread. The interview in which the lead writer refers to it as an attempt at satire and the criticism that it was poorly done satire was voiced before the Critical Intel article. The fact that I posted this on the same day as an article specifically about this subject is merely coincidence. And people, while I can appreciate your wide range of views on Spec Ops the Line, please focus on the original subject of the thread.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

snip

Part of the problem is that Yohalem apparently set out to make a self-satirising power fantasy, and accidentally wrote a lot of stuff that people saw as racist (case in point, the Critical Intel article).

The satire would have functioned perfectly if people hadn't been distracted by the apparent racism.

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

I didn't even think Spec Ops was a satire.

 

[UberPubert]

For instance that scene in modern warfare 3 where you save the french by invading their city and blowing up the Eifel Tower while shouting things like "BOO YAH!"

Now that I think about it, I just realized that's the opening to the Team America movie, word for word.

 

[Robot Number V]

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

I recently saw an episode of "Extra Credits" (remember those guys?) where they posited the theory that the developers made the gameplay unpolished and repetitive on PURPOSE to accentuate the game's message.

Yeah. I think it's safe to say this game has received a LITTLE too much praise.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Lolz, good point. If anything spec ops is the opposite of satire. I'd say cod MW 2 and 3 are satire.

EDIT: To justify that statement, Spec ops was just an out and out story of how f'd up war is. Satire is when you subvert something by making it appear over the top and silly. For instance that scene in modern warfare 3 where you save the french by invading their city and blowing up the Eifel Tower while shouting things like "BOO YAH!"

Spec Ops just kind of goes "War sucks!" and then beats you with the hideously burnt corpse of a child until you get the point. I mean, I like Spec Ops, but it isn't exactly subtle.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

I recently saw an episode of "Extra Credits" (remember those guys?) where they posited the theory that the developers made the gameplay unpolished and repetitive on PURPOSE to accentuate the game's message.

Yeah. I think it's safe to say this game has received a LITTLE too much praise.

Yeah, my eyes almost rolled out of my fucking head.


'Hey guys, our game plays like arse because it's a metaphor and subversive and deep.'


What a load of bollocks.

 

[shrekfan246]

snip

Part of the problem is that Yohalem apparently set out to make a self-satirising power fantasy, and accidentally wrote a lot of stuff that people saw as racist (case in point, the Critical Intel article).

The satire would have functioned perfectly if people hadn't been distracted by the apparent racism.

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

I didn't even think Spec Ops was a satire.

Lolz, good point. If anything spec ops is the opposite of satire. I'd say cod MW 2 and 3 are satire.

EDIT: To justify that statement, Spec ops was just an out and out story of how f'd up war is. Satire is when you subvert something by making it appear over the top and silly. For instance that scene in modern warfare 3 where you save the french by invading their city and blowing up the Eifel Tower while shouting things like "BOO YAH!"

Satire isn't all silly. And you basically proved the opposite of your point... just about the wrong subject matter.

Spec Ops was a satirization of games like Modern Warfare. As you said, it's subverting something by making it appear over-the-top and silly... in this case, it's making the Modern Warfare franchise appear as such through the narrative use of playing how messed up war can be completely straight-faced, instead of the glorified "HOORAH" kill-streak filter present in Call of Duty or Medal of Honor or Battlefield. Satire.

EDIT: It can be argued that games like Call of Duty are themselves a satirization of real war, which is why Spec Ops wouldn't necessarily appear to be satire itself on the surface. But, again, satire isn't all about just being silly. Some of the best satire, that's hardest to pull off, is on the subject of things that aren't inherently silly.

 

[shrekfan246]

EDIT: It can be argued that games like Call of Duty are themselves a satirization of real war, which is why Spec Ops wouldn't necessarily appear to be satire itself on the surface. But, again, satire isn't all about just being silly. Some of the best satire, that's hardest to pull off, is on the subject of things that aren't inherently silly.

I'd only buy that if I saw evidence that the people behind Call of Duty intended it to be satire.

But even then, like Far Cry 3, it would be failed satire because the vast majority of its audience didn't notice.

I don't think anyone would ever claim that Call of Duty is particularly subtle or good at being satire, but it's still entirely possible that it is supposed to be satire.

Do you think the average person who plays Call of Duty would care about the potential satirical implications held within the game?

 

[RicoGrey]

snip
Bioshock is an example of a game that pulled off this kind of meta-commentary really well.

Could you breifly explain bioshock's meaning or meta commentary? I never really quite "got it".

 

[BreakfastMan]

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

I recently saw an episode of "Extra Credits" (remember those guys?) where they posited the theory that the developers made the gameplay unpolished and repetitive on PURPOSE to accentuate the game's message.

Yeah. I think it's safe to say this game has received a LITTLE too much praise.

Yeah, my eyes almost rolled out of my fucking head.


'Hey guys, our game plays like arse because it's a metaphor and subversive and deep.'


What a load of bollocks.

Pff, conveying meaning through strategically designed gameplay. What a load of crap that is.

OT: While I wouldn't exactly call it "satire", COD4 failed to convey it's pretty obvious messages to a hell of a lot of people. So in that sense, the game's deconstructive elements failed.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Hey, I thought it pulled off satire better than Spec Ops the Line did.

What a load of tripe that was.

I recently saw an episode of "Extra Credits" (remember those guys?) where they posited the theory that the developers made the gameplay unpolished and repetitive on PURPOSE to accentuate the game's message.

Yeah. I think it's safe to say this game has received a LITTLE too much praise.

Yeah, my eyes almost rolled out of my fucking head.


'Hey guys, our game plays like arse because it's a metaphor and subversive and deep.'


What a load of bollocks.

Pff, conveying meaning through strategically designed gameplay. What a load of crap that is.

There's strategically designed, and there's poorly designed.

Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.

 

[BreakfastMan]

There's strategically designed, and there's poorly designed.

Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.

And tell me: what is the difference between the two? Does it lie in the intent of the devs creating the gameplay or with actual gameplay itself?

 

[Robot Number V]

[

Pff, conveying meaning through strategically designed gameplay. What a load of crap that is.

I'm not saying the concept isn't sound, I'm saying that in case, it's a pretty big stretch. Especially considering how heavy-handed the message is usually delivered in the game. If they were going to be subtle about it, you'd think the message would ACTUALLY be subtle.