Sun-Tzu’s The Art of War. A misleading title at best, a poorly written account that is devoid of any intellectually stimulating thoughts regarding Art — focusing instead on the inanities of War. War, a concept as old as Art itself, yet so disparate that not even a book called The Art of War could bridge the two. War and Art, like two twins, separated at birth, never to learn of their biological link. That is, until two artists penned a figurative The War of Art, a work that seamlessly integrates two concepts, doing in one day what Sun-Tzu could not do in his entire lifetime. I speak, of course of cactus and Terry Cavanagh‘s latest gamepiece, Xoldiers.

The game makes Passage look like an autistic child’s crayon scribbles.

Like Passage, Xoldiers metaphorically comments on life through the act of walking right. You play not as a single entity, but as a collective — a 3 x 3 grid of soldiers who are armed with guns, grenades, and the ability to lay down. You must travel rightward towards the palace, facing insurmountable opposition in the form of enemy tanks, jeeps, and buildings, but none more opposing than your own team, for you see, your unit works as a whole — if one soldier gets caught on an obstacle, your entire unit cannot progress further.

“Leave no man behind”.

If Passage comments on love by saying it will prevent you from collecting treasure boxes, Xoldiers comments on love (albiet a different, more homosexual kind of love), by saying “there is no place for love in the battlefield. Love for your brothers will only hinder you from fulfilling your mission.”

Now, I know homosexuality is a bit of a touchy subject (especially with artists), but I am not pulling out this homosexual thing from the ether. The troop’s commander says quite explicity that “War is a man’s game”. And when it comes to man games, two’s company, nine’s a crowd.

Xoldiers (Direct Link) by cactus and Terry Cavanagh, 1.62 MB

If man’s actions are his quill, and the world his papyrus, then the tale he has penned is a sorrowful story of deceit, greed, and callousness. One of the most active members of the Social Commentary Video Game Movement (SCVGM), JW, has released yet another game. This one, Lynchmob HD, a sordid glance over the shoulder at the civil rights movement, as we enter an enlightened age of a hip and happening world leader who can play basketball, and might even be able to dunk. A world with endless possibilities. A world which melts the societal boundaries between black and white; ground and sky; gay and not gay. However, I live not in the glorious empire of the USA, and so I feel no shame in proclaiming that I am white and not gay.

As with all great artists, JW knows his audience, and panders to them almost — but not quite — excessively. Independent gamers are exclusively white, middle class young men who want for nothing. Though such a detailed depiction could come off as snide, the player character depicted so richly with the high definition graphics alluded to in the title feels very real, and very genuine. The game looked stunning in full 1080p high-def — the individual pixels that made up the pixel-like characters of the game were almost indistinguishable.

The premise is simple: avoid being overtaken by the affluent and vulgar green and blue hued corners of society — the stagnant, algae infested waters of no-change as characterized by pre-Obama America. You are a single, white pixel — a pebble that will cause a ripple; which will cause a wave; and eventually, God-willing, a tsunami of change that will engulf all third world countries and drown them in the purifying waters of tolerance of the Afro-American race. But the fatcats will not have it — immutable — they wish only for your untimely end, and it will come at their hands. They form a great mass of bodies, wailing and gnashing their teeth, hungering for your death like some kind of ancient Roman bloodmonger. I literally shed a tear the first several times I played this game, knowing that through my W, A, S, and D keys I had connected with the spirit of so many young African Americans killed in this abhorrent manner prior to the civil rights movement. Fear and uncertainty in my eye, like an abused dog, I knew in those moments of primal instinct, survival driving every twitch of sinew, exactly how it must have been.

Lee Harvey Oswald tried to change the world with a single bullet, but his plight was in vain. Likewise, Lynchmob HD places in your hands, a rifle, and with that rifle, the ability to kill your oppressors by clicking on them. Yet this will not stop their advance — they are too heavy in number. They must be dealt with with Change. With Hope. With a mere nudge, your pebble wills the great stone of Hope into motion, creating a giant wave of destruction. No, not destruction, for such a word carries with it a negative connotation which cannot be associated to the Afro-American freedom fight. No. A giant wave of African American centric-intolerance destruction.

This isn’t so much a role playing game as it is an experience, a portal into the past. As we bring the handmirror to society’s face, we must be prepared to view its ugly wrinkles — and this period of racial intolerance was of the most unsightly variety — and face them unflinchingly. The face of our world is a beautiful face, but it is pockmarked with such unfortunate history.

The civil rights movement may have ultimately delivered the accutane, but the scars remain, and we must bravely face them if we are to survive in this new era, this great, bold era, where the world’s imaginary black friend can dunk.

Lynchmob HD (Direct Link) by JW, 1.01 MB