Time to switch gears for the final entry, as this is an in-progress title that's currently stirring up quite the mess of controversy at the minute. You might be aware of Hatred already, but you're sure to later on if the mass media get ahold of it, as it'll be another go-round for the 'video games killed my kids' brigade. What's different with Hatred from the satirically-fuelled GTA is it's a truly reprehensible creation from a development team that appear to have some potentially sinister motives. Described simply as "A game about killing people" the trailer features an opening monologue that sounds like a mangled-together mess of every manifesto from the Columbine shooters to #GamerGate's worst followers - the content of which Creative Destruction somehow think is suitable to front a game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV3PhvCf_Jg In addition through interviews CEO Jarosaw Zieliski states that Hatred is a "response to games becoming more politically correct", which is fine and dandy to some degree, although last we checked The Last of Us and especially GTA V weren't exactly fairytales. The real issue with this, is that it's literally just going to set gaming back about 20-odd years. If the developer's defence of creating an experience like Postal is because it's intended just to "blow off some steam", one has to wonder exactly why they bothered with the upfront genocidal massacre-style dialogue. Why not keep the guy silent, give him a balaclava to remove any racial angle, and let the player interact with the various systems of gameplay, rather than push this hideous tabloid-baiting attempt at a 'character' in our faces? The answer of course, is controversy-fuelled sales. Hotline Miami proved gory gameplay mechanics can stand alone and be fun with its story coming far later down the line. It's true there is some twisted pleasure in blasting a few digital beings away in increasingly-gory ways, but this appears to be completely tasteless, downright offensive and utterly regressive to the medium it's purporting to be "saving". Sadly going off how positively this is being received it appears it's already got a sizeable chunk of punters waiting to lay down their cash, making this a pretty big win for the developers in the face of, well, common decency. Which other games do you recognise as bad, but still love a little bit? Or which succeeded despite some ridiculous in-game content?
