This review is going to be… a bit harder to talk about. So I bought a game called Revolution 1979: Black Friday, a game that is based on the actual Black Friday of 1979 where thousands of protestors were shot and killed for protesting against their ruler. It was the darkest moment during the Iranian Revolution but is practically never discussed outside of the country. That is where 1979 Revolution comes to discuss matters.
1979 Revolution follows the experience of Reza Shirazi as he is interrogated for information on his involvement with the revolution and his connections to the groups leader. From here on, tu are taken through a short period of time, talking with other people who are part of the revolution, taking pictures of events that occur and deciding for yourself if tu want to protest peacefully o if tu want to fight back against the soldiers to mostrar no fear. The game doesn’t judge tu for your choices. During the revolution, people were doing what they thought was right. They didn’t want to hurt soldiers who were just supporting their families and wanted to protest without having to resort to violence. Others however had their own families to protect and care about, and living under the state they were in was not the life they wanted for their family, and were willing to fight for a better future. The game does not judge tu for your actions and perfectly accepts if tu want to fight o to be peaceful. It’s a respectful way of going about it. Yes, some characters would prefer tu do one over the other, but the game itself never talks back to tu for making a choice. And let’s discuss the characters for a moment
Avoiding any direct mention of major characters in history, at least in Reza’s story, tu meet a few characters, ranging from Babok, Reza’s fun loving friend who is about peaceful protests. His cousin Ali who believes that fighting back is the only way to mover forward. Revolutionary leader Bibi, who wishes for freedom regardless of the situation. And then there’s Reza’s brother, Hossein, who just wants Reza out of the revolution, to not get involved, which tu can deny and even make enemies out of Hossein if tu wish to. The game offers these characters to tu to mostrar tu the different kinds of mentalities people had during the revolution. Those that were pacifists, those that were aggressive, those that just did what they thought was right. The game shows tu these characters so tu can decide which side to join. And I think it was best to use fictional characters rather than real ones. The game was already a big risk to make in the creator's inicial country. After it was harshly criticized there, he felt that he couldn’t go back. Other’s working there had their names changed and the character designer fled the country for fear of his life. The sheer passion that these developers had and the risk they took to make the game an admirable experience.
However, this is a review series, and this is a game. So I have to review it on a gameplay perspective, and while I truly believe the escritura is amazing, the gameplay does have its faults. One feature I can admire though is the photography. While not an insanely detailed gameplay feature, tu can find all sorts of foto spots to learn más about the revolution. Remember, not many people in the west know about the Iranian Revolution. I know I was never taught about it in school, I had to go out of my way to learn it. The different fotos that are shown as well as a brief summary of the experiences there give the game a great sense. The accurate history of this game helped a lot, as it was actually used to teach classes in universities. Yes, actual universities played this game. But the quick time events are really bad, I’m sad to say. They range from being practically pointless to annoying. I feel that the game would have benefited as a choice adventure game, which I can see the Tell Tale inspiration. But why did they have to be inspired por the bad quick time events too? One instant in the game I can’t stand is when tu are hiding behind cars waiting for gunfire to stop so tu can mover on. It is a one minuto segment, but the gun fuego always slows before stopping completely. tu need to be on the other side of the car por then. Go too early, which tu could rarely predict, and tu will die and have to start over. Why did they need this in the game? It would have benefited as a cutscene o anything besides this. Also, another part I felt disappointed in was the ending. Just when the game starts to pick up and feel más interesting, it kinda… stops. What happened at the end? Why does it just stop?
While the gameplay isn’t the game’s strongest point, the story, characters and the history of it alone make the game a worthwhile purchase. It feels the most human out of any of these kinds of adventure games, and even pretty good for an indie title. I can’t truly criticize the story since it is based on true events and I choose not to. As a game, on its own, it’s fine. But I feel that it is definitely one of the más important indie titles out there for it’s story telling narrative and how it talks about a part of history many don’t know. Give Revolution 1979 a look if tu are curious
Up next: We become absolved
1979 Revolution follows the experience of Reza Shirazi as he is interrogated for information on his involvement with the revolution and his connections to the groups leader. From here on, tu are taken through a short period of time, talking with other people who are part of the revolution, taking pictures of events that occur and deciding for yourself if tu want to protest peacefully o if tu want to fight back against the soldiers to mostrar no fear. The game doesn’t judge tu for your choices. During the revolution, people were doing what they thought was right. They didn’t want to hurt soldiers who were just supporting their families and wanted to protest without having to resort to violence. Others however had their own families to protect and care about, and living under the state they were in was not the life they wanted for their family, and were willing to fight for a better future. The game does not judge tu for your actions and perfectly accepts if tu want to fight o to be peaceful. It’s a respectful way of going about it. Yes, some characters would prefer tu do one over the other, but the game itself never talks back to tu for making a choice. And let’s discuss the characters for a moment
Avoiding any direct mention of major characters in history, at least in Reza’s story, tu meet a few characters, ranging from Babok, Reza’s fun loving friend who is about peaceful protests. His cousin Ali who believes that fighting back is the only way to mover forward. Revolutionary leader Bibi, who wishes for freedom regardless of the situation. And then there’s Reza’s brother, Hossein, who just wants Reza out of the revolution, to not get involved, which tu can deny and even make enemies out of Hossein if tu wish to. The game offers these characters to tu to mostrar tu the different kinds of mentalities people had during the revolution. Those that were pacifists, those that were aggressive, those that just did what they thought was right. The game shows tu these characters so tu can decide which side to join. And I think it was best to use fictional characters rather than real ones. The game was already a big risk to make in the creator's inicial country. After it was harshly criticized there, he felt that he couldn’t go back. Other’s working there had their names changed and the character designer fled the country for fear of his life. The sheer passion that these developers had and the risk they took to make the game an admirable experience.
However, this is a review series, and this is a game. So I have to review it on a gameplay perspective, and while I truly believe the escritura is amazing, the gameplay does have its faults. One feature I can admire though is the photography. While not an insanely detailed gameplay feature, tu can find all sorts of foto spots to learn más about the revolution. Remember, not many people in the west know about the Iranian Revolution. I know I was never taught about it in school, I had to go out of my way to learn it. The different fotos that are shown as well as a brief summary of the experiences there give the game a great sense. The accurate history of this game helped a lot, as it was actually used to teach classes in universities. Yes, actual universities played this game. But the quick time events are really bad, I’m sad to say. They range from being practically pointless to annoying. I feel that the game would have benefited as a choice adventure game, which I can see the Tell Tale inspiration. But why did they have to be inspired por the bad quick time events too? One instant in the game I can’t stand is when tu are hiding behind cars waiting for gunfire to stop so tu can mover on. It is a one minuto segment, but the gun fuego always slows before stopping completely. tu need to be on the other side of the car por then. Go too early, which tu could rarely predict, and tu will die and have to start over. Why did they need this in the game? It would have benefited as a cutscene o anything besides this. Also, another part I felt disappointed in was the ending. Just when the game starts to pick up and feel más interesting, it kinda… stops. What happened at the end? Why does it just stop?
While the gameplay isn’t the game’s strongest point, the story, characters and the history of it alone make the game a worthwhile purchase. It feels the most human out of any of these kinds of adventure games, and even pretty good for an indie title. I can’t truly criticize the story since it is based on true events and I choose not to. As a game, on its own, it’s fine. But I feel that it is definitely one of the más important indie titles out there for it’s story telling narrative and how it talks about a part of history many don’t know. Give Revolution 1979 a look if tu are curious
Up next: We become absolved