Sawbuck Gamer is our daily review of a free or cheap game ($10 or less).
Big Brother might be keeping close tabs on us these days, but I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the poor NSA schmuck who’s forced to sift through America’s digital refuse of pornography and poor spelling.
Enter Blackbar, a timely text-based game that offers Orwellian storytelling and clever wordplay in equal measure. You take on the role of a simple citizen living in a dystopian world overseen by the Department Of Communication, a shadowy organization whose only task is to censor the written word. The story begins when you get a strange letter from a disillusioned friend working inside the Department. Unfortunately, the missives you receive are liberally coated with pesky black bars of censorship, requiring you to figure out the missing words through careful trial and error in order to progress to the next part of the story.
Eventually, you’ll also decipher codes and solve a few puzzles as you piece together what’s happening to your friend. While the conversation is one-sided, it’s a taught, well-written narrative with plenty of twists and razor sharp dialogue. With its minimalist style and inspired storytelling, Blackbar harkens back to the era of classic text-based adventures, but delivers a contemporary commentary that even the overworked info snoops at the NSA could appreciate.
I yearn for you tragically. A.T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army
My paperback copy of Catch-22 is signed, “To Irving Washington, Joseph Heller”.
i want to play this, but don’t have an iOS device. too bad there isn’t a free browser version.
When it comes to figuring out the redacted material, do you have to openly guess the word/phrase or do you choose from a list of options?
Also, would the NSA really have people sort through material manually or would they employ the same tech as Google and let the machines do the grunt work?
Definitely machines for the first pass. This is how they can “accidentally” slurp up tons of communications that they’re actually expressly forbidden from monitoring. Of course, at that point, an eager young intelligence analyst can hardly be blamed for sneaking a peek into those documents when they come down to the level of being reviewed by actual humans… you know… just in case Al Qaeda (boo!) might be involved…
Former Dick’s
One of the classics!
My favorite Onion articles include:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/stephen-hawking-builds-robotic-exoskeleton,1629/ – The first Onion article I ever read, and was hooked instantly.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/puddingfactory-disaster-brings-slow-creamy-death-t,621/ – Just damn hilarious.
My probable favorite (it changes from time to time): http://www.theonion.com/articles/archaeological-dig-uncovers-ancient-race-of-skelet,1268/
So gloriously dumb.
“The skeletons lived in this mud-brick structure, which, based on what we know of these people, was probably haunted…”
Brilliant.
The pudding factory disaster is one of my all-time favorites. Right next to this one:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/disgruntled-ninja-silently-kills-12-coworkers,1575/
Whoever wrote this played the shit out of Tenchu Stealth Assassins.
I just realized now, years later, that the people eating in the cafeteria have the jumbled names of fiction writers who have covered the subject of ninjas – i.e., Frank Miller, James Clavell, and Eric Von Lustbader.
I think this might actually lessen the likelihood of that Tenchu theory since reading Eric Von Lustbader’s novels alone could supply enough ninja material for the rest of human history.
Edit: Wait, a ninjato is different from a katana! I hope someone got fired for that blunder.
Sarapen, that is a great find! However, Senjuro Akechi (Master of Myojinsoga-style Swordsmanship) is one of the characters you face in the game.
That is one of the single greatest things I’ve ever read.
Anyone here ever see the music video for PJ Harvey’s The Piano? It’s pretty neat. Important lyrics of the song are spelled out using black bars from censored porn pictures.
Did they redact the reason why a text adventure sells for $3? Seems ever so slightly higher than it ########## on the ######### ####### especially when the squirrel has a ############### for seven ########### and the cream cheese.
Well, you’ve certainly piqued my curiosity. If I give you $3, will you send me the complete post in an e-mail?
…
Yes.
Good explanation, but you typed ############ when you meant ##########. Easy mistake to make.
Well, sometimes I count wrong because of my crippling ##########.
Taut.