Il grande gioco di Tangentopoli

Simulation 1993 Dos Xenia Edizioni Business Politics

Politics and games don't mix

Now this has to be one of the most bizarre concepts ever for a video game. By all account, this obscure little Italian game was inspired by a series of political scandals which rocked the country and where a number of prominent politicians were arrested for bribery and corruption. Now, you might be wondering how someone would go about translating this into a game, with perhaps the most obvious approach being a political or strategy simulator style, like Yes Prime Minister or Crisis in the Kremlin. However, while this might seem to be the most obvious way, it's not exactly how things turned out. No, instead, a strange mix of action elements was picked, with the first level playing out like a very basic version of classic arcade shooters like Cabal where you have to control what looks like an old-school headmaster as he shoots flags at politicians as they run across the screen. There's a sort of thermometer at the top of the screen and you have to avoid filling this up or it's game over, presumably because corruption becomes so rampant that you're a failure. The second level is even stranger and requires you to run around chasing after some important political papers which must not be allowed to get lost. That really is about all there is to this game and while it might have some important political message to impart which is intended to elevate it to the status of art, unfortunately this is pretty much lost in the poor and uninvolving gameplay and weak graphics which combine to make a game of virtually no interest at all.

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