a game that has so much to say but ultimately, says nothing

the mechanics are fun! even in the easiest difficulty, there is some difficulty that keeps you on your toes. Some of the segments were picky on the cameras and the musical bits were nonsensical but it was really a delight to fiddle around with.

the story...the complexities they tried to take tackle at times feel...misconceived. one thing the game gets right: major news networks must be neutral. you do need to show both sides and in a country like (Not) Britain and United States, this is a problem. i do believe you need to show facts, not one side over the other, and that was expressed in my gameplay. But the politics of the game is so painfully centrist it made me roll my eyes more times or laugh that I thought it would.

despite on your politics in real life, making both sides of this games conflict so cartoonishly backwards in their respected camps just really kills the underlining conversations to be had on their actions and what they believe in. Maybe that is the point, and the satirical British writing falls short on me, but it just was more grating to me than intriguing. But there are moments of true genuinity, true writing chops were I'm sitting there like, "Why cant MOST of this game be like this." (also at some point the game really tried to push "not all rich people are evil" and i sat at my desk laughing for a few minutes in a call).

I just...I dont know. I dont hate the game, nor do I like it. It's hard to pin point my exact feelings, but it is certainly an intriguing game. I do see myself playing it in the future to see what would happen in the other endings.

One thing though, the amount of LGBT rep made me smile a lot.

If Brian from Family Guy could make a video game, this is what he'd make.

The acting, presentation and concept for a game like this is kinda interesting, and that's the only thing that saves this from a half a star. The plot (a left wing not UK government wins after the first not Thacher administration but turns out to be ebil gommunism) is executed so fucking poorly that it's fucking insulting. Even from an alt-history standpoint, this comes off less charitable than those weird 90's polish games with robot feminazis.

There's no actual allegory of real world left movements, or mimicking actual examples that could have applied to this game. it's been about a year since I played the game, and I started off this review going bit by bit on how the real life examples of each faction wouldn't act like the way they do in game, but after awhile I was just breaking down each turn of the script and saying "this is fucking stupid". This is a game where the ebil gommunism goberment is literally 1984 and would preemptively nuke major population centers because of their imperial ambitions and harsh sanctions from other countries, just like all the times that happened in real life. The plucky resistance group just organically forms due to frustrations with such evils as "land reform" and "they don't let fake Newscorp continue along shitting up the airwaves".

Their idea of a far left government's final public plans are implementing UBI and "free education". They nationalized major industries (which, by the way, look for the words "capital flight" anywhere in this stupid script, you won't find it despite it being a very real consequence of nationalization because this game was written by inbred Brits) but they let the education sector still be ran for profit. I can't add anything onto that, that's fucking stupid and if you think that's a genuine assessment of the left outside of assuming mild social democracy would lead to IRL Paper's Please, you should be put under conservatorship.

I didn't mention much about the characters, or personal drama of the game, and that's because I don't care, they fucking suck. I want to punch Alan James in the teeth every time he comes on screen. Jeremy and Megan's performances are a highlight of the game, because much like every existing UK news broadcaster, listening to them for an extended period of time curdles the food in my stomach. So much of the game is filled with these little character interactions between the cast, and while it's a respite from the trainwreck that's the main plot, static would start playing in my head whenever they're blurt out the sub Harvester-tier dialogue.

I hope notGames lost their shirt on this production. It's not the worst FMV game I've played, but it's the most British one. Sink that goddamn island into the sea, nothing good ever came of it.

If I were to describe what this game is, I'd probably call it a chimera of mostly Papers Please with a healthy dollop of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, all presented in full FMV. And if that sounds like a bizarre mix of things, well... yeah, it is. But y'know what? It works... I think.

Not for Broadcast is undeniably shaky around the edges. It has all the shakiness you would expect from an FMV game. The comedy, writing and acting is all pretty hit and miss, but I'd definitely say it leans more towards good than bad, and the actors for the main cast at least are consistently decent. Most of the time, Not for Broadcast is a very silly game which doesn't take itself seriously at all, and you can tell everyone involved is having an absolute blast making it; the passion really shows here and absolutely helps sell the weird game concept. And overall I have no issue with the game being a bit silly; at it's best, Not for Broadcast comes off like 90s / 00s British satire like Brasseye or Not the Nine o'Clock News, and I love that kinda stuff.

But Not for Broadcast shines the best in the moments when that silliness drops. Some pretty brutal and shocking things happen in this game; at times, these moments even managed to give me irl chills at what I was seeing, and the acting and writing in these more serious parts is much more solid and consistent. The story on paper isn't anything all that special. It's a fairly standard 1984-type affair and yet it was an incredibly immersive experience, and I pin this success on the framing and gameplay.

The gameplay in Not for Broadcast is, much like many other aspects of this game, just kinda fine? There's a lot of little tasks you have to manage all at once, and it can be quite overwhelming and stressful at times in a way I don't think was intentional. But of course, during all this time, the news broadcast is on on your screens. And something about the fact you're absorbing the show subconsciously while your true focus is elsewhere just makes everything feel so... real. You get to know all the anchors, behind-the-scenes staff, public figures and regular guests, and they all feel like real people. You see them bicker and banter behind the scenes, you see them struggle with what they are being asked to do, and you really grow to care about them. And when shit hits the fan, it really helps sell the world when you get to see how these people react and deal with what is going on in the world around them. I think Not for Broadcast ends up going in the same bucket as something like Unpacking; it's a video game which explores things that only video games can do, and I'm totally here for it.

There are some low points though too, which do deserve a mention. A lot of the side characters are obvious parodies of specific real-world celebrities (David Beckham, Gordon Ramsey, etc), and it can get pretty cringey at times when they're on-screen. Also, in between gameplay segments, there are sections with long text to read and decisions for you to make regarding your home life. I don't think these are bad or anything, and they help establish the player character as a presence in the world and show another viewpoint as to how world events affect the everyman. But I always found these bits to be quite a tonal jolt, especially in the early game when the gameplay is more silly and the home sections are pretty serious, and they undid just a little bit of the great immersion set up by the rest of the game.

But overall, Not for Broadcast is a game with a strong vision for what it wants to be, and I think it hits that vision extremely well. I had a very good time with this one overall, and think it's a very good example of what more experimental games can achieve.

Acting is spectacular, FMV is awesome and the cast nailed it. There were some moments that took my breath away. controls and gameplay are wonderful. It just goes really really hard on centrism which is so so so disappointing. I thought they were gearing up to say something a little more revolutionary, maybe, since the enemies were kind of ultra liberals, not entirely left wing, but that... seemed to be the devs' idea of a left wing run dystopia and we just need more centrism and we'll all be better. like, okay. I thought we were criticising liberalism in a fun way from a farther left perspective. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Well, i loved it up until that point, so there's that!

Now before I begin I just want to clarify this:
This is strictly my own opinion. If you disagree with me, more power to you. Just keep the comments civil and respectful.

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to
GAME MODE: ON!

Well, the new year is here, we're ready to start off fresh and hopefully, we can actually meet our goals before next January.

So what better way to begin things than with a game that deals with anxiety-inducing subject matter, overwhelming politics, plenty of fBLEEPes shown on live TV and enough foul-mouthed Brits to give the entire Inbetweeners franchise a run for it's money.

I'm talking about Not For Broadcast, an independent full-motion video game developed by NotGames and published by tinyBuild.
When first announced back in 2019 and went to early access the following year, the game has garnered some attention due to it's ambitious gameplay style and humorous usage of FMV sequences. It was quite the interesting little game and people couldn't wait to get a hold of the full experience.
However, it took longer than expected. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, production on the game was halted and then spread around until finally, it saw a final release in 2022 on PC before eventually transitioning to consoles the following year. Not to mention, there was a VR version that came out for Meta Quest 2 and later on, PlayStation 5.

Reviews were very positive at the time with people praising the game for it's multi-layered storyline, innovative gameplay mechanics and comical writing even if some took issue with it's more dissonant tone.

After playing the game for almost a full week myself, I can safely say that while it's not a flawless masterpiece, there is alot to love about Not For Broadcast so let's just shut up and get to it already.

STORY & CHARACTERIZATION:
Taking place in a fictional country similar to the United Kingdom and set between 1984 and 1991, you play as Alex Winston, a janitor working for the Channel One station who finds himself being handed the position of broadcast editor and you now have the responsibility of handling the news program. On top of managing your home life, you also have the burden of deciding what needs to be shown on live television and what needs to be bleeped out all the while political unrest is gripping the nation which could very well lead to one of multiple outcomes depending on whose side you're on.

I understand that politics in general have become a very unpopular subject in recent years, I've made a few statements about how useless they are myself, but regardless, politics are here for some kind of reason so really, there's no chance of things changing for the better and our leaders are gonna continue wasting everybody's time all the while doing jack-sBLEEPt about issues that actually matter. Seriously, count how many conferences our governments have had about climate change and how barely anything has been done about it, I fBLEEPin' dare you.
But regardless, if you're gonna do a satire on politics, you have to at least make it worth my time. Thankfully, this game manages to pull it off in many ways. For one thing, there's so many moments that are absolutely hilarious and I just ended up laughing at people either going nuts over silly things or just preferring to go off their rockers for the hell of it. But while the game has a habit of being hilarious, it doesn't forget to take itself seriously as the story deals with the cons of politics in a harsh fashion that feels almost too close to home and it also helps that it doesn't feel one-sided. Regardless of how you feel about the left or the right, both factions have a habit of making decisions that cause more harm than good and try to hide it under the facade of good intentions. Sure, one side maybe worse than the other but that doesn't make up for the atrocities committed by both parties, does it? Violence shouldn't have to be the only resort and no one, especially innocent people, have to die to either prove a point or get what you want.
During my playthrough, I tried to be as neutral as possible which seemed like a lost cause in this day and age but hey, I stood by my beliefs that there are better ways we can resolve current issues and we shouldn't need another fBLEEPin' World War to sort out whatever political conflicts there are at the moment no matter how big they are. But of course, after everything I've done to try and not pick a side, it doesn't matter anyway since in one of the fourteen epilogues I've gotten, the nation could still be going to shit as we know it.
Yeah, as you play through the game, your choices do have consequences which can affect your family, the studio and whatever's going on in the world. It's quite harrowing trying to decide what's best for those you have faith in and who deserves to be mocked and left to go broke and can make for an investing multi-pathed story. Whatever decision you make, you can always have a good laugh, have a good gasp and maybe a good sigh of relief if you're lucky enough.
Part of the story's enjoyment comes from the actors in the FMV sequences. Obviously, the entire cast comprises of nobodies but even then, everybody gives 110% in every scene imaginable. Not only are they able to deliver the comedic aspect very well but when they need to take things seriously, shit does start to hit the fan. Special mention goes out to Paul Baverstock who plays Jeremy Donaldson, the male co-anchor of the news, Jonathan Hawkins as Alan James, a narcissistic conspiracy theorist, and notable soap opera regular Roger Alborough as Peter Clement, a former television presenter turned politician who co-leads the governmental party ADVANCE alongside Prime Minister Julia Salisbury.

GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS:
In a setup similar to that of Five Nights at Freddy's, you're pretty much stuck in this one space looking at different camera angles and sorting out various controls. But instead of warding off killer animatronics, you're trying to censor as much swearing as you can all the while keeping an eye on what you're showing.
As the broadcast editor, you have the power to make the news program look as good as possible. You can switch between four different camera angles, try to prevent interference, apply stock audience sounds when necessary, censor naughty language(and other bits one side or the other doesn't want to hear) and play some ads at the end of each segment. Occasionally, you will have to deal with a few annoying issues such as electrical surges that can shock you if you're not too careful, overheating power-lines that can be cooled off with the fan, the occasional power outages and conks and a bunch of murder-crazy toys that need to be fended off. As the game progresses, new regulations are put into place which can make your job much harder depending on the difficulty you've selected so it's best to concentrate on the task at hand because if you neglect to censor a number of swears, stay on a shot for too long or play an ad too early or don't play it at all, you're pretty much fired. There's also moments where you have to make a tough decision that could further make or break one group or the other which could either fuck up the nation or hopefully make it better by the end.
Since I was playing on a console instead of PC, it took a bit of time getting used to the controls but once I got the hang of it, it's not as bad or as hard as it seems. Kinda like riding a bike, you'll get there soon. Basically, you use the left analog stick to look around the area while using the D-pad to select a switch or a tape. You use the interface buttons to switch between the different screens, you use the R1 button to censor and the other trigger and bumpers are for controlling other mechanics on the broadcasting mixer. A bit complex but again, you will get used to it.
There were a couple times when the control would lock up and I was unable to switch the power on in time for the broadcast and there was one time when the whole game would freeze but after a restart, it should resolve itself fine. It's thankfully a very rare occurrence but it is worth noting.
Once you're done with the broadcast, you can go down to the archives to look at what you've done so far. You can look at a full broadcast, rushes of said broadcast or the adverts that go along with it.
On top of that, there's also these visual novel-type segments where in-between the broadcasting levels, you're attempting to sort your life out and your relationship with your family. Again, your choices when they do pop up do matter and it can either benefit you or cost you dearly.
Finally, there's the challenge mode where you can replay any broadcast and add modifiers to earn rewards once beaten. That, and there's some extra broadcast levels, some of which are DLC with the last one due to be out later this year.

GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION VALUE:
Besides the well-done FMV sequences, the actual in-game graphics are alright. They're nothing to go crazy over but serviceable enough for the type of experience you're in for.
Aside from the decent artistry, we also have a solid soundtrack composed by Jason Orbaum and Christopher Brown where the score not only compliments the story's tone but there's also some banging' musical numbers that can either make you laugh or make you cringe a bit but in a good way.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, aside from a very small and rare technical issue, Not For Broadcast is a solid and entertaining game that provides a good challenge and is able to make a good point about the current state of the political world.
If you have a console or a bloody good PC to run it, definitely get this off the digital store and give it a go, it's so worth the money.

Now as for my plans for this year, just a heads-up that there's a good chance I may not get around to them as frequently as I would like to as I still got my other shit on Letterboxd and Serializd to worry about and I'm already planning on cuttin' the amount I put out on the former site since I'm still a little burnt out from the last two years.
That being said, there are a couple games I wanna get around to and I do have an event month planned for later on so here's to hoping I get those done on time while trying not to overdo it.

Until next time, thank you for taking the time to check out this installment of GAME MODE: ON.

If you liked what you've read here and want to see more, you can go ahead and follow me whenever you want.

And also, don't forget to check out my Letterboxd page for new film reviews every week and keep an eye out for my Top 10 Best & Worst of 2023 lists soon enough.






AFTER-NOTE: Just to be certain, we do apologize for the fruity language. Hopefully we've managed to get it bleeped out in time. If not.... someone's going to be in trouble.

Great concept for a game and the gameplay is stellar to match, but it's buggy as all hell, contains some of the least biting satire I've seen in anything ever, and it's often just very much extremely not funny.

One of the weirdest choices is the presence of text adventure sections between the actual gameplay in which you're taken through the life of the protagonist (named after the protagonist in 1984, ughhh) in which the increasing authoritarianism of the new left-wing regime affects his family in more and more explicitly negative ways. It's pretty explicitly libertarian in its specific framing of its "government is evil" mentality, but more importantly, it's just lazy. Narrative equivalent of that January 1984 boomer comic.

The rest of the gameplay is what you came for, and honestly it's great enough that I probably could have made it through the rest of this, had it not kept crashing and making me redo these shitty segments over and over again. I've had to replay the first 5-10 minutes of day 232 like 4 or 5 times now and it is full of some of the least funny and most overlong comedy bits of all time. Starts with a ridiculous number of Onion-reject headlines, I'm talking like 20 different ones all taking at least 30 seconds each, but usually more, followed by a dreadful interview between a bunch of foreign ministers, where the joke is that the vaguely Russian guy keeps saying the words "tiny penis" and the vaguely nordic/icelandic guy is a hippie who is simultaneously too lazy to vote and also in charge of a government so authoritarian that it arrests people for killing bugs since it's bad for animal welfare or some shit.

It sucks that a game with gameplay this good is stuck with this script. All I'm saying is if someone actually funny or with anything worth saying got ahold of it you'd have an incredible all-timer FMV game

It is a good idea from the narrative point of view, but the gamification of real jobs is very hard to nail down in a way that fits the storytelling, or is fun and/or engaging  (papers please may be the only successful example I can think of). Even with a large degree of poetic license and suspension of disbelief, what you do here is essentially a sequence of quick time events (where you just have to press a specific button at the right time), which can be fun in some sequences (in action games for example), but when it's all you do for 8h, it's hard to keep me engaged.

The story brings some fascinating topics in how mainstream media is able to shape the way news are presented while also maintaining "impartiality", however the comedy is so slapstick, that I felt it was a little too much, and took me away from some of the more interesting topics that it was trying to convey.