Just Another Meme Vector

Well, I’m a bit disappointed. Ian Bogost just launched Campaign Rush, a flash game about the 2008 US presidential election.

You pick a ticket – Democrat or Republican – and then have to manage campaign workers in that party’s war room. The phones are ringing, the e-mails are coming in, and your busy little campaign workers need to be kept properly caffeinated while answering all the media queries. It gets pretty hard pretty fast; as the pace of incoming calls rises, it’s harder and harder to keep on top of it all. Soon you’re madly clicking your campaign workers all around the office in a party-themed session of whack-a-mole.

The campaign offices must indeed be caffeine-fueled storms of ringing phones, rushing campaign workers and clattering keyboards. The game conveys something of that atmosphere.

But there’s not much content there – the gameplay isn’t really about the election. It’s a point-and-click game of whack-a-mole dressed up with candidate posters on the virtual walls.

Bogost can do better. Take Back Illinois was a great way to get introduced to the issues. This is a little more towards Presidential Paintball.