Lately, the Super Columbine Massacre RPG! has been up on the desk again - most recently because it was kicked out of an independent game competition.

I could have sworn I wrote something about this earlier, but it appears I didn't. So, here's a few words.

I played about half of the game (up to the point it became actually hard), and all I can say it is that it's not a great game technically... but it's the thought that counts, and that's definitely what makes it tick.

I'm not objecting to the subject matter. A "proper" game about Columbine massacre would be interesting. The only thing that made me squeamish was the fact that the player characters were the two killers. If this would have been a game about some innocent bystanders with the same recounting of what happened in the fateful day, it would be a real big praised classic by now.

People objected to be placed to the role of the killers. My "Ordinary Human Being" verdict is that I didn't enjoy the school shooting part - I found the technical execution amusing, the combat system was funny when applied the way it was applied, but the actual massacre part of it was just grotesque - and it didn't really work as far as gameplay was concerned either.

However, it proved that Columbine massacre could be treated in a medium. It also proved that such a difficult subject matter could be discussed in a game.

It was also an extremely touching game. It was an odd thing to see those cartoony people killing or getting killed... and then, all of sudden, the two killers kill themselves and the game goes photographic. You could almost say "So, you thought those two were cutesy pixely manga characters who were killing other cutesy pixely manga characters? Nope, they were real people. I'm telling a tale about real events. Horrific real events."

The game made a great point, right then and there.

Games are a serious medium. This game proves that games can be thought-provoking one way or another.

And, of course, it also proves that people are uncomfortable with fiction where the protagonist is the villain. I've been irked by that for a long time. This game was not weird in that respect.

Perhaps one day people are making a game that tells another side of the story, from the point of view of the victims and how they overcame the situation. I'm sure people would have less problems with that sort of treatment of this difficult subject - after all, that's how the issue has frequently been discussed of...

Oh my dear. I've actually finished Tomb Raider.

Last night, I don't know exactly when, I finished Tomb Raider. The big cause to celebrate is that about 10 years ago, I got the PC version of the game. I can't remember exactly when I got the game, and I don't seem to have it recorded down anywhere, but the game was out 10 years ago and I seem to have got the game shortly afterwards. (Now that I'm awake, I think I got the game on late winter holiday; I distinctly remember reading the Pelit magazine review before getting the actual game, and the review was in issue 1/1997.) The only odd thing is that I've beat the Playstation version rather than the PC version. But then again, PC version is a tad bit harder. I swore I'd beat Tomb Raider in 10-year limit, and decided I'd be done with it before the end of the year 2006. Turns out my schedule wasn't really airtight... but it never really needed to be - hey, a few more days isn't going to ruin all if the game has awaited completion for that long!

The game is great. The only disappointing thing is that the cutscenes aren't really all that great (very clumsy 3D animations, even by that day's standards - looks like they just bought 3DStudio and started messing around), and the models are pretty low-poly. (Can't make sense of what some things are meant to be...) Wish I could run the PC version right now, it at least had a high-rez mode.

The end was a little bit disappointing. Guess Metroid Prime has dulled my senses in what to expect from end bosses; I walk in with bagloads of ammo and stuff, and the end boss is the most trivial thing ever imagined. Eh... Also, the end clip was a bit short and the end credits were a bit disappointing too. Strange how new games make us demand more...

Anyway, I'm slightly disappointed with myself. It's yet another game that I couldn't finish without looking at walkthroughs. In my defense, I have to say that I didn't really get any new information out of them; I merely glanced at them to see how much of the level remained. That's because the last levels weren't really all that difficult, they were just annoying. I had to look at the walkthroughs to see how much there was in the levels. I did figure out all puzzles in the game all by myself, as annoying as it seemed, and found the secrets that I ever found all by myself, too. So, um, I guess I'm nearing to being a good citizen.

Okay, phew, now I can finally focus on Final Fantasy VIII again. Oh wait, still have to beat Baten Kaitos =)