JFK: Reloaded
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| JFK: Reloaded | |
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| Developer(s) | Traffic Games |
| Release date(s) | 2004-11-22 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | download |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
JFK: Reloaded is a video game recreating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Released on the 41st anniversary of the event (2004-11-22) by Scotland-based Traffic Games, JFK: Reloaded puts the player in the role of Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The player is then scored on how closely one's version of the assassination matches the report of the Warren Commission. According to the company, the primary aim of the game was "to establish the most likely facts of what happened on November 22nd, 1963 by running the world’s first mass-participation forensic construction", the theory being that a player could help prove that Lee Harvey Oswald had the "means and the opportunity to commit the crime", and thus help support or disprove the Warren Commission's findings.
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[edit] About the game
The game featured a sophisticated ballistics engine, allowing each bullet fired to react as realistically as possible. It also featured a detailed recreation of Dealey Plaza and the Presidential motorcade. After each scenario was complete, the game would analyze each of the player's shots, noting the trajectories and collisions of the bullets (including injuries incidental of ricochet), and give an accuracy rating out of 1,000.
If a player scored 1,000 then they would have, in theory, accurately recreated the assassination of JFK according to the Warren Commission, and helped prove that the Commission's version of events was possible.
When the game was released, a cash prize was to be awarded to the player who scored closest to the Warren Commission's findings, of no less than $10,000 and no more than $100,000. The competition closed at 12:00am (CST), February 21st, 2005.
The game cost $9.99, and included ten "competition-entry run" tokens in the price (where, unlike a "practice run", the player's scenario rating would be entered into the competition). Additional "competition-entry run" tokens were also available for purchase.
[edit] Playability
The main problem facing a player wanting to recreate the assassination acurately was that, since each bullet reacted "realistically" (including a certain amount of random probability), it was impossible to predict precisely where the bullet would go once it had hit its target.
This meant that there was a large element of luck involved in getting the perfect score, especially with regards to the magic bullet.
[edit] Game or simulation?
Many people have argued that JFK Reloaded is not a game as such, but rather an historical simulation based on a controversial event. Traffic software claimed one of the reasons they made the 'game' was to try and increase social awareness and inspire an interest in history in a young audience.
Critics maintain that it is tasteless, and that if Traffic Software truly wanted to show how the assassination was attempted, they could have easily just released a 3D rendition of the event, allowing people to see for themselves what had happened, or indeed, at the very least, included one in the game itself.
[edit] Critical reaction
A majority of gaming websites and publications have not reviewed JFK: Reloaded; however, some have, and JFK: Reloaded has received both negative and positive reviews. Some people argue that JFK: Reloaded should be considered a complex simulation rather than a video game because the point of JFK: Reloaded is to question historical controversies, while others have argued that the this could have easily been achieved without making money and/or a game from it, and as such it is in extremely bad taste.
A spokesperson for Senator Edward Kennedy, the late President Kennedy's brother, called the game "despicable".
[edit] Competition winner
On February 22nd, a user named "Major_Koenig" won the competition prize of at least $10,000 with their score of 782 out of a 1,000. Second and third place went to the users "Flux" (779) and "ArrogantB" (777) respectively (although no prizes were awarded to for anything other than first place).
After the competition had officially closed, the cost of the simulation was reduced to $4.99, and the "competition run" option was disabled within the game.
Sometime in early August 2005, the official website closed, but not before offering version 1.1 to the public for free.
[edit] Outcome
Despite claims from Traffic Software that JFK Reloaded was designed to help prove or disprove the Warren Commission's findings, no result for their 'experiment' has been posted on their site, and looks unlikely to appear.
One thing that can definitely be said from using their simulation, is that (at least in their simulation) the wounds suffered by those in the motorcade could have easily come from the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building, despite what conspiracy theorists claim.
[edit] Shut down
According to the site JFKaos, the site was shut down after the threat of a lawsuit from the Kennedy family.[citation needed] The game is now considered abandonware.
