Rendition, "nespresso", 2007. (rendition.z5)
Synopsis: The protagonist is an investigator trying to extract information from a terrorist via a variety of torture methods.
Critical response: "Perhaps the point of the piece is to make players feel guilty at their complicity in the acts necessary to complete the game (is this what we allow our governments to do on our behalf?), but since the game seems to offer the player no other choice, there can be no real sense of guilt. The player character cannot simply walk away, since the game will not allow this until the suspect has been broken. The player cannot establish any meaningful communication with the suspect, since when Abdul speaks at all it is only to babble incomprehensibly in a foreign tongue. All one can do to avoid complicity is to type QUIT or refuse to play; and this perhaps is where 'Rendition' ultimately falls down for me: not only did it ultimately leave me cold, it succeeded in convincing me that the most appropriate response to it was not to play it, and there would seem to be something ultimately self-defeating about a piece of art that forces you to look away." — Eric Eve, http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews7.htm, retrieved Sept. 11, 2007.
"I started playing this game, then when I understood the avenue of interaction avaiable [sic], I chose not to play the game... I don't want to read about violence (as much as it's avoidable, especially fictionalised violence); but moreover, I don't want to be responsible for it... I think this is all very powerful. Even the score-line is threatening (I scored 1 out of 48, and that was enough for me)." — Jon Ingold, http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews7.htm, retrieved Sept. 11, 2007.
"The author calls Rendition a 'political art experiment.' In theory, it's an interesting premise: force the interactor to press the limits of the Geneva Conventions while torturing a subject to extract information… the game could have been improved by, say, providing the PC with implements of torture and a list of all the various methods of torture currently being utilized without apparent retribution by countries who have signed the treaties of the Geneva Conventions… While this piece was painful to explore, the concept is particularly well-suited to interactive fiction." — Jacqueline Lott, http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews7.htm, retrieved Sept. 11, 2007.
Synopsis: The protagonist is an investigator trying to extract information from a terrorist via a variety of torture methods.
Critical response: "Perhaps the point of the piece is to make players feel guilty at their complicity in the acts necessary to complete the game (is this what we allow our governments to do on our behalf?), but since the game seems to offer the player no other choice, there can be no real sense of guilt. The player character cannot simply walk away, since the game will not allow this until the suspect has been broken. The player cannot establish any meaningful communication with the suspect, since when Abdul speaks at all it is only to babble incomprehensibly in a foreign tongue. All one can do to avoid complicity is to type QUIT or refuse to play; and this perhaps is where 'Rendition' ultimately falls down for me: not only did it ultimately leave me cold, it succeeded in convincing me that the most appropriate response to it was not to play it, and there would seem to be something ultimately self-defeating about a piece of art that forces you to look away." — Eric Eve, http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews7.htm, retrieved Sept. 11, 2007.
"I started playing this game, then when I understood the avenue of interaction avaiable [sic], I chose not to play the game... I don't want to read about violence (as much as it's avoidable, especially fictionalised violence); but moreover, I don't want to be responsible for it... I think this is all very powerful. Even the score-line is threatening (I scored 1 out of 48, and that was enough for me)." — Jon Ingold, http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews7.htm, retrieved Sept. 11, 2007.
"The author calls Rendition a 'political art experiment.' In theory, it's an interesting premise: force the interactor to press the limits of the Geneva Conventions while torturing a subject to extract information… the game could have been improved by, say, providing the PC with implements of torture and a list of all the various methods of torture currently being utilized without apparent retribution by countries who have signed the treaties of the Geneva Conventions… While this piece was painful to explore, the concept is particularly well-suited to interactive fiction." — Jacqueline Lott, http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews7.htm, retrieved Sept. 11, 2007.