They say don’t hate the player, hate the game. But in the case of “Reality Fighters,” either path leads to self-loathing.
This incredibly basic fighting game is the latest, and most hilarious, symptom of the video game industry’s long-standing desire to let you see yourself on-screen, technology be damned.
“Reality Fighters” has you take a picture of your face with the PlayStation Vita’s camera, and boom, there you are in the game, your face stretched out and given a sickly video-game sheen until it looks like it’s printed on one of those get-well balloons they sell at the grocery store. Design your body, choosing a point on a grid corresponding to your own exact level of obesity, and “you” is complete.
| ‘Reality Fighters’ |
| » System: Vita » Price: $29.99 |
| » Rating: 2 out of 5 stars |
But that’s not all. Snap mugshots of your friends, family and co-workers to give them the beatdown they’ve had coming so long. Somewhere, a professor is discussing the ethics of pressing a button that makes a video-game version of yourself punch an adult-size video-game version of your infant child. The professor is probably citing the 2000 case of “Perfect Dark,” a first-person shooter on the Nintendo 64. The game promised to let you use your Game Boy Camera to photograph someone’s face, which would be magically transplanted to a character on your TV, ready to be shot at. Before the game released, of course, its makers canceled this feature for “technical” reasons, in that they were technically horrified of bad headlines. The lesson we learn from video games: It’s not OK to shoot people you know, but punching them is no problem.
In the present day, “Reality Fighters” is a great way to crack up your friends, but bore yourself. The game lets you record stupid phrases for your character to call out, which is always good for a laugh, and you can turn photos you’ve taken into backgrounds, so it’s like, “Hey wife, here we are punching each other in the kitchen.” Actually playing the game is a different matter. The computer opponents you face are total pushovers, the camera system is headache-inducing (why is this even an issue in a fighting game?), and your character’s traits are determined by the clothes you dress him in. This way, reality-you is wearing a Santa suit not because you think it’s funny, but because it’s the only way you have access to certain attacks during fights.
The result is a novelty better witnessed than played. We’re still holding out hope for a sequel, though. Perhaps a collection of escapism simulators? -Ryan Vogt
