The Most Controversial Video Games Are the Most Boring

Before Scarface: The World is Yours and Bully were released they were already hits. One is based on a gruesomely violent movie characters and the other had critics comparing it to a virtual Columbine, and if that weren't enough it also features gay make out scene. Parents went nuts and the media scooped up their anger while the games' developers did little to stop all of the commotion. Ultimately this pre-release protesting and posturing made these two video games were top sellers the moment they hit store shelves. Too bad they suck.

The end of the 1983 classic Scarface is unforgettable. Al Pacino's Tony Montana sticks his beak in a mountain of blow, grabs the biggest bazooka he can find and utters the famous line, "Say hhhello to my leetle friend!" Then he gets blown away in a bloody cool firefight. Scarface: The World is Yours takes place as if Tony made it out of his mansion and has to rebuild his empire. A great premise, it's executed in a way we've seen many, many times before. It's called Grand Theft Auto, and that series is old. The terrible part about Scarface is that it plays like the earlier editions of GTA and not like the more technically advanced recent installations.

The cover of Game Informer magazine featured the game Bully, asked if it was "…the most controversial game ever?" The game is a about a 15 year old whose parents throw him in a private school called Bullworth Academy. This little dork now has to go to class, try and hook up with girls and fend off bigger kids who think he's a wuss. He looks like Bobby Hill so I see why they might think that. So, if you found it fun going to chemistry class and having girls reject you because you were a tool this game has plenty that boredom and humiliation for you. Rockstar Games (the same developer as GTA) has even thrown in a scene where Bobby hooks up with another dude. Yup, a dude. However, the real problem is in the game play. Bobby is forced to improvise with weaponry, but there's noting realistic or fun about fending off enemies with a dozen eggs, and too many of the lame missions involve taking scenic pictures. I'm still trying to figure out how people started comparing this to Columbine.

These games, with multi-layered storylines and an open world where the main character has free reign to do anything and travel anywhere, are called sandbox games. They had a reputation as being among the most inventive and smartest games ever published. The more they were developed the more they became an artistic endeavor with intricate three-dimensional worlds, and a reflection on society as they pushed players to see how violent they can make the game while still having fun. But this has become old. I mean there is a limit to how many times tossing a hand grenade into a pack of unsuspecting pedestrians will make you laugh. But making games more violent, more controversial or more gay won't change the fact we need something new. If game developers would put as much time, effort and money into coming up with new concepts as they do in publicizing a genre that's been done to death we wouldn't have to endure games that wreck classic movies or feature a mischievous and switch hitting Bobby Hill.