Sizzle Montyjing said:
By any chance are us English all evil in it?
Why aren't the Americans ever the evil ones?
GAH!!!
Anyway... Funny review as always.
We are, quite frequently in fiction and fantasy, but then people tend to complain that the hero is also American... except when they aren't, at which point it's rapidly forgotten. Machete being a recent example. Something like "Angel Cop".. an old anime, being another example... and oh yes, various HK action movies, albiet most of the ones really blunt about it tend not to make it into the US officially.
Right now it's hip to hate on the US and try and pretend an issue is there that isn't. with the majority of movies and TV shows coming from US film studios, with the US being the biggest market for entertainment... including games (which we are discussing) it's true that there is going to be a US focus, though it's by no means exclusive. Still nerd-culture hipsters like Yahtzee and Moviebob can't avoid picking on this point. Ditto for the alleged racial bias, albiet Yahtzee is a bit more joking about that, but even so when he re-uses the same material again and again it causes me to wonder when it's going from him trying to be funny to an actual message.
I'll also say that there is a nasty anti-American bias, even within the US from Americans, and one of the ways it manifests is for it to be wrong for an American to portray a culture, nation, etc... as being backwards, messed up, quaint, etc... even though it's perfectly fine for non-Americans to do it. I'm not a big shooter fan, so I haven't played Uncharted 2 or 3 (I did play the first one though to give it a shot), but listening to the comments about the portrayal of brits makes me think of a lot of the criticisms being leveled against the country by other Brits especially during the recent riots, largely the conservative crowd as opposed to the youth "movements". I suppose there are a lot of people who detest the whole "classic" vibe, old timey pubs, and so on and so forth, but that doesn't mean it's inaccurate depending on where you happen to be. In comparison if another face of the UK was shown and Drake went on a massive Chav killing spree for whatever reason, with that being the focus of the UK, there would have been even more complaints. In the end no matter which way it goes someone is going to QQ about the US and the portrayal.
... and I mean face it, even the red phone booth outside isn't pushing things terribly since it could have been left there as an antique. Down here in New England you see stuff like that all over the place, and probably 90% of the diners and bars are absolutly packed with antiques and old knicknacks just like the typical portrayal of New England, even when you get away from the tourist areas.
