American McGee presents: Bad Day L.A. | |
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Developer(s) | Enlight |
Publisher(s) | Enlight The Mauretania Import Export Company |
Designer(s) | American McGee |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
Release | Xbox Windows |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
American McGee presents: Bad Day L.A. (Chinese: 洛城大灾难) is a 2006 video game by American McGee. Players assume the role of Anthony Willams, a former Hollywood agent turned homeless man in Los Angeles. During this time LA is ravaged by both natural and man-made disasters. Anthony only wishes to save himself, though through the course of the story he becomes an unwilling savior. The game's attempted tone is one of political satire, targeting all spectra of politics [1].
The game was featured in the film Half Nelson months before its release. Both deal with themes of urban decay.
Characters
- Anthony Williams: The protagonist, a homeless man forced into being an unwilling savior.
- The Sick Kid: Exposed to a biological agent, Anthony must get him to the doctor, though he takes his time about it.
- Juan the Yard-worker: A Mexican yard worker with amnesia and a chainsaw.
- Beverly of Beverly Hills: More or less a clone of Paris Hilton obsessed with fashion, nails and getting to Hawaii.
- The Sergeant: A dedicated soldier full of George W. Bush quotes, an unending cache of grenades, and a missing arm.
Reception
The game received several high-profile bad reviews. GameSpot gave it a 3.0, and called it "an abject failure" and a "spectacular failure in almost every facet of its execution".[1] IGN gave it a 2.7, saying that "it's terrible".[2] Metacritic gave it an aggregate score of 28 percent[3], while G4's X-Play gave it their lowest rating, a 1 out of 5[4], also giving it a "Golden Mullet Award" for the year of 2006. PC Gamer gave it a 20%, saying it was "so tasteless that I wanted to scrub myself with Lysol after getting up from the computer" and "being a bad Postal clone". GameSpy "awarded" the title the "Coaster of the Year" award for 2006.[5] GamesRadar awarded it the "collateral damage" award for the Anti-Game Of The Year claiming that it seemed to be "designed to be put on this list. If so, congratulations! You did!" But the game lost the award to Sonic The Hedgehog as that was apparently "more of the biggest disappointment of the year rather than the worst game."[6]
References
- ^ Ryan Davis. "American McGee Presents Bad Day LA Review". gamespot.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ Dan Adams. "Bad Day L.A. Review". ign.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ "Bad Day L.A." metacritic.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ Tom Price. "American McGee Presents Bad Day L.A." g4tv.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2006". gamespy.com. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ "GamesRadar's Anti-awards 2006". gamesradar.com. Retrieved 2007-09-11.