Game Over!: An exercise in futility (by design)
Don't you hate it when a decent game is ruined by one horrible, overriding problem? How about a game with 21 of those problems?
The FORTH Institute of Comupter Science designed Game Over! to be the world's first universally inaccessible game. Each level of the simple, reverse-Space-Invaders-clone is intentionally saddled with a major game design flaw -- touchy controls, horrible resolution, instructions in Swahili, etc. -- that makes it nearly unplayable. In doing so, the levels explicitly outline the importance of the institute's Universally Accessible Games guidelines.
It's a strange concept, but the strangest thing about Game Over! is that it's actually kind of fun. With the deck stacked so ridiculously against you, the pressure to succeed turns off and the desire to just try to beat the system kicks in. There's something perversely addictive about wanting to keep playing a game just to get a positive score. Kind of like the perverse pleasure of watching the Star Wars prequels -- you know they'll be bad, but you have to keep watching to find out just how bad it can get.
Previously: Making games universally accessible
[Via GameSetWatch]
