Michael Kuratin The 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:
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.
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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 about zeek archive links
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