Michael KuratinThe religious undertones assure the product a comfortable home in the Amen Corner, but GGL claims that demand for Anti-Fada Paratrooper is now "percolating every major US market except the San Francisco Bay Area." The marketing concept sums up simply, according to wunderkind CEO Yossi Golan (the great-nephew of the Israeli film-impresario that brought you such cinematic gems as "Breakin'," "King Solomon's Mines" and "Delta Force II,") "Essentially, we lay the, eh, front-lines of the War on Terror right through the middle of your, eh, living-room."
That the game's market blitz dovetails neatly with America's current prosecution of the War on Terror pays political as well as commercial dividends. Anti-Fada Paratrooper is appearing at a time when world opinion about the Jewish State is cratering, and many commentators detect in the game a subtle public-relations tool. Thus Ha'aretz's Ilan Szmekelsauz, writing in the current issue of Tikkun:
| By targeting its message squarely at America's youth, the pro-Israeli establishment behind Anti-Fada Paratrooper is engaging in a pre-emptive strike against the ticking-bomb of a long-term decline in American public support. The game is a desperate bid to return to the golden age when Israeli military heroism and daring captured the Western World's collective imagination. |
GGL's Golan shrugs off the charge of propagandizing, although he blushes slightly when asked about the controversial "Laughing Arafat" sequence, in which the embattled Palestinian leader's visage (no plum in real life) fills the screen, bug-eyed and bristly, and cackles malignantly whenever the player loses a commando. "Look," says Golan, "nobody complained about the disemboweled Nazis in Castle Wolfenstein in 3D. Trust me, Arafat deserves to, eh, get
as good as he gives. I actually told my designers to pull
their punches. You should see the [mercifully unreleased]
sequence with Hanan Ashrawi and Saeb Erekat."
There's no denying that Anti-Fada Paratrooper is to Ariel Sharon's tough policies what Grand Theft Auto is to t-backs and breast augmentation. But the game would be instantly relegated to the dusty bins of shareware were it not for its stunning execution. Combining the best elements of role-playing and 3-D action, the game offers the player a choice of squadron commandoes, each offering his own combat strengths and deficiencies. These lead-characters are as multi-ethnic as the fabric of Israeli society, and include Ethiopian, Yemenite and even a Druze Arab option.
Sister gamers are likely to lament the
total lack of female fighters, but, under furious lobbying
from the newly ascendant Shinui political party,
a future GGL release tentatively called "Givati Grrrls" is purportedly in the works.
Then there's the battle hardware, a phantasmagoria of American- and Israeli-made aircraft, land assets and heavy and light artillery. The encyclopedic information provided about each weapon, including technical specifications, current worldwide usage and cost-per-unit makes the "Mission Drafting" sequence both enjoyable and educational for all the aspiring Perles and Wolfowitzes playing at home on a Saturday night.
Zeek in Print
Spring 03 issue available here
Shtupping in the Shadow
of the Bomb
Marissa Pareles
The Mall Balloon-Man Moment of the Spirit
Dan Friedman
Beats, Rhymes & Nigguns
Matthue Roth & Juez
Fish Rain
Susan H. Case
Anti-fada Paratrooper
Michael Kuratin
Josh Gets his Checkup
Josh Ring
Plague Cookies
Mica Scalin
The Ritual of Family Photography
Amy Datsko
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