The Occupation

If there was a case to be made to bolster Activision's defense of the use of Humvee's against GM's lawsuit that games were indeed art therefore the vehicle can be utilized for artistic portrayal, then that case is perhaps best presented with The Occupation. Which tactfully treads where few if any games have attempted to do so without veering into a science-fiction setting sufficiently

If there was a case to be made to bolster Activision's defense of the use of Humvee's against GM's lawsuit that games were indeed art therefore the vehicle can be utilized for artistic portrayal, then that case is perhaps best presented with The Occupation. Which tactfully treads where few if any games have attempted to do so without veering into a science-fiction setting sufficiently removed from reality to make their critique of similar themes safely. Of course, I speak of the Deus Ex series with that comment. While other games that are commonly argued to be undeniably art attempt an intimately emotional or visually appealing narrative, The Occupation combines an emotional tale of loss and a woman's pursuit of the truth with noir political intrigue as she and an investigator uncover details behind a potential false flag attack implicating an immigrant that resulted in the death of many loved ones and was the catalyst for increasingly authoritarian security and surveillance measures coming to be in the game's alternate historical fiction set during the 1980's. With a soundtrack and attire fitting of the era to induce nostalgia for a time before one's own. While Deus Ex plays it safe with fantastical details veering directly into clear conspiracy theorist territory with the playful presence of an Illuminati conveniently named so behind it all, The Occupation perhaps sticks to a fictionalized conspiracy the common tall-tales of UFOs, Satanists, alien-abductions, Illuminati, and such are meant to distract from. Not a game you'll enjoy if you expect combat, though the detective elements match and surpass what you'd find in Deus Ex and other such stealth-espionage thrillers. A slower-burn for those with an attention to detail I found exercised beyond my usual use of it as-of-late. Where though you'll never be granted a hidden environmental factor with which to eliminate responding guards with, your rewards shall be clues that make it harder to occult the truth, details leading to further clues, side-paths to circumvent guards, and easter eggs such as vinyl you can listen to pleasantly on Scarlet's record player during moments of respite. With the occasional dose of humor here and there to lighten the otherwise rather bleak mood at times. The narrative is well-structured, well-presented, and it seems like the game's script could have been fittingly adapted into captivating cinema. One I could have also thoroughly enjoyed written as a book, as I've felt flashbacks to reading Half-lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery segment of Cloud Atlas while playing it. A believable spy thriller lacking the theatrics of the 007 series following a more down-to-Earth tale of a woman grieving determined to know the truth as she realizes there may have been machinations at play behind her husband's death beyond those publicly claimed. Where-as naval intelligence officer Ian Fleming wrote James Bond as a character meant to portray acts of espionage undertaken against **** Germany in a manner far-removed from reality so as to not reveal any implicating details while exaggerating male wish-fulfilment fantasy of the adventures that saw OSS officers scuba diving with special suits designed not to wet nor scuffle the crisp tuxedo suits they wore beneath to sneak into a party at a castle estate attended by **** officers, and Dutch resistance fighters skiing down mountain slopes with a Third Reich heavy water processing facility necessary to develop an atomic bomb exploding behind them on the mountain top. The fictional narrative of The Occupation taking the entirely opposite route of depicting plausible recent events played out with maturity to the subject matter, lacking the caricatures and globe-trotting set pieces however cleverly well-played they were in Alpha Protocol to present the story in detail-rich smaller environments such as those of office buildings, alleyways, homes, and public buildings. Each of those oft-smaller but sometimes elaborate environments beautifully and richly presented. With at least some potential paths and tasks always clear so that you rarely find yourself stuck during a portion without available instruction in the environment. Even if you pass it without revealing even half of what was there to find, related to the narrative or world-building background detail. I could go on to name-drop Foucault, Kierkegaard, Bentham, Orwell, Erikson, Lifton, Baudrillard among others like some pompous smarmy punk feeling that he needs to work in every book he's read into a conversation. However fitting they are to themes of how public perception influences ongoing events around us and how our own beliefs may stray from that when granted a personal insight or an excess of information not usually kept-in-mind or even revised despite being publicly available. How the press, governing bodies, and those who'd profit from the response to hysteria and the creation of a perceived threat beyond the real and present dangers, can come to manipulate that to guide otherwise pious and well-meaning men and women. And the increasingly abundant technology manufactured, and sold to be used for such ends perhaps coming to become contradictory to the defense of our freedoms, a detractor from our peace of mind to those who'd follow the media's hysteria rather than ignore it. To the point that in some reaches of the world the increased perceived or real need for additional ever-more elaborate technologically enabled security measures and the hysteria that is a downside to the otherwise positive presence of a camera in every consumer's hand when it makes that previously unseen seem as if it were suddenly more prevalent for it. Even where rates of violence are no higher than in decades past. Yet thankfully reveals where it has risen or continues to be so sometimes with impunity, makes it increasingly harder to hide whomever the culprit. Or easier to hide the real culprit when such tools are presented incompletely or even edited in such a way by those with ill-intent, theoretically. All of this results in the stripping of liberties and rights from some piece by piece without some finite end to the measures being defined. I'll allow myself to quote one of my favorite novels here; “The actual past is brittle, ever-dimming + ever more problematic to access + reconstruct: in contrast, the virtual past is malleable, ever brightening + ever more difficult to circumvent/expose as fraudulent... Power seeks + is the right to ‘landscape’ the virtual past.” pg. 392-393, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. 2004. Till such measures come to be the norm beyond their ideal as some temporary martial rule implemented during a time of crisis to be lifted once it is done. Yet in most countries of the world, we find that rarely does it come to affect those of us with nothing to hide beyond a minor inconvenience as we wait a little longer in a line to have our benign possessions be processed as well as our documentation as we travel well-intentioned. Lacking any radicalized ideology or resentment to any other. Of sufficiently sound mind to abate allowing such to twist us with ill-intent even when we face strife or emotional turmoil. And perhaps, fortunate for finding ourselves in such a state, among societies where however heated things come to be at times cooler heads tend to prevail. Freed to enjoy games such as The Occupation or other works of media, literary, cinematic, what-have-you without censorship of anything other than hate-speech and slander meant to strip us of that peace of mind. I find my only gripe thus far to be specific segments advancing heavily the game's narrative where you are given limited options in how to circumvent obstacles or respond, even avoid responding or asking certain questions so as to minimize suspicion of the 2 player character's motives when interacting with another character directly in otherwise superb conversational interrogation sequences. But for most of the rest of the game save for one specific set piece I've encountered. So far, you are granted an ample and clever variety of choice with which to tackle objectives provided you attempt a hawkish eye for details, clues, and alternative paths should you enjoy doing so without having violence as an option. Even of the particular set piece that caused me slight annoyance as I wished to avoid what seemed to me a clearly dangerous action that could have been circumvented, I dare-say it was a particularly emotional and well-done sequence that vaguely evoked scenes from Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon as the player similarly traverses a bombed-out ruin seeking answers during a time of crisis. Though much of the game´s narrative is bleak in-tone attempting to represent an alternate history 1980´s England reeling in political turmoil following a devastating bombing, despite otherwise colorful and even beautiful environments including the night-time alleyway walk passing by ponds coated with lily-pads and the canals of urban England, Steve the security guard serves as well-needed humor to contrast the otherwise dreary themes surrounding immigration and national security issues. I thought the whole actor aspirations for the security guard you end up dodging and listening in on a good chunk of the game was a pretty clever way to tell a little of the voice actor´s own personal story through the character. Often when you sneak around him you´ll hear him reciting lines for some audition, at some point find cassettes for audition tapes, as you´d imagine voice actors, particularly aspiring ones, to do so hoping to be cast as some cartoon or videogame character. Even for a game such as The Occupation, where for a couple of characters a single voice actor lends them their voice due to being a less grandiose indie production, the voice acting is not lacking in quality. Which is a relief, because much of the game does become an emotional drama at points set to a political thriller backdrop. The original soundtrack though sometimes grating to hear some tunes on repeat, other songs made for the game are bangers believable as pop hits from the 1980´s you might enjoy as much as I did. This game unexpectedly presented me with a thoroughly captivating narrative I've come to find just as entrancing through the pacifist acts of subterfuge it leads you as other even ultra-violent titles like DOOM: Eternal. Which I also allaud with fervor, for entirely different reasons found in its highly complex in combination yet simple destructive interactions with the world and clear-cut villains lacking moral ambiguity masking a narrative clever in its own right to those that'd bother looking into it between bouts of ****** demon slaying set to an industrial metal soundtrack. One that strangely, though unlike The Occupation where the factor is a center piece with private and political origins, DOOM: Eternal's narrative also briefly touches on control of public perception for ulterior motives ultimately detrimental to well-being as guided by religion.