10 Tired Video Game Plots Everyone Is Sick Of Seeing
2. The USA Gets Invaded
The concept of a crippled America struggling under the boot of some advanced despotic regime has popped up here and there in games for decades. More recently however, the ideas exploded in popularity sometimes it feels hard to find a first-person shooter that doesnt have you slogging past battered versions of US landmarks and lamenting the destruction of at least one major American city. (Why is everyone so determined to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge, anyway?) Its easy to understand why this plot is popular right now. While parts of the USA have (briefly) been invaded in real life, and several more invasions were planned by foreign powers like the Nazis, Americas faith in its own security has been rattled by events of this millennium. That unease finds its way into artistic expression of all kinds and resonates with people who want to be able to explore the ramifications of that from the safety of their living room. That said, when so many popular movies take place in LA, New York, San Francisco or Chicago, its easy to feel fatigued when you see the same old cities in peril. We can only take Lady Liberty surrounded by smoke and rubble so many times, especially when games like STALKER show how interesting it can be to explore real, less-travelled locations elsewhere on Earth. But theres another, more pervasive threat to the USA
