If you've always dreamed of directing a television show, alternating shots and keeping your hand ready on the red censorship button, you're in the right place. And not only that, in Not suitable for transmission They will call you to present nothing less than the nightly programs, including news programs and advertising prohibited in the protected area: in short, the best of public television.
Although it may seem like a quiet job, at Not for Broadcast there is no time to laze on the couch, just pressing a few buttons from time to time; In addition to humor, satire and irreverent sketches, the game published by tinyBuild It also surprises with a narrative focused on the protagonist of this strange story.
In the Review of Not suitable for broadcasts We tell you how we managed in a control room where we found ourselves dealing with funny television commercials, discovering secrets of important public figures and not so common "external attacks".
In the air
As mentioned at the beginning, Not for Broadcast can make you think of a product dedicated entirely to comedy without taking the game mechanics too seriously, palely imitating Telling Lies in terms of controls and dynamics. NotGames Instead, he sought a more refined formula that would not transform the product into a simple series of films full of jokes performed by real actors.
The story tells of a character, Alex Winston, a cleaner for the National Nightly News television station, who is covering the role of Director after the escape of the person who was supposed to carry out this task. With this incipit we have a first overview of our tasks and how to carry them out, taking into account that what matters, obviously, is keeping the quota high. Do you wonder how? The answer to this question is the backbone of the entire game, and to discover it we just had to experiment.
What does the public like the most? The discovery of a political scandal or embarrassing episodes of famous television faces? yes ours Shots, tactical zooms or commercial breaks. They are right, we can know this in the upper right bar that we find on our workstation, which shows the monitoring of viewers based on what we broadcast. But the change of direction is not the only parameter that shapes our ability behind the cameras.
Election day
Not for Broadcast is set in a sort of 80s UK, during one of the hottest times for journalism: the election day. We will soon understand that the protagonist's new job can strongly influence public opinion as we are faced with the moral choice of what to show people: the truth or a false reality. And it is precisely this exasperated satire directed at party journalism or politics as a whole that manages to hit the mark in the enjoyment of the game.
Therefore, we are faced with the victory of the Avance party, an emerging political group that promises to solve the problems created in society over the years but that, behind the appearance of saviors of the country, also hides skeletons in the closets, or rather Men with knee-high socks. Added to this are invasions by naked Protestant nobles in the control room, storms that leave some keys to our workplace out of service, and "alien" attacks that come directly from the studio window (also a satire on the pandemic); Soon, the job of directing a nighttime show was quite hectic.
Added to all this is the annoying presence of interference that made our work even more challenging, as if choosing between lying to the population or keeping the camera in a scandal was not already challenging enough. Our task is, therefore, to make everything go well and entertain the audience, keeping them glued to the screen thanks to our ability to choose the right frame or moment to broadcast advertisements sponsored by the ruling party or not. But be careful, The world hungry for politics will know about our actions., intimidating us or threatening our private life depending on what we broadcast: will we be able to maintain our moral integrity?
Home and work
The gameplay focuses primarily on what happens on the four screens in the control room, but in Not For Broadcast There is also room for Alex's private life., who has to deal with what happens within the four walls of his own house, between economic problems and family difficulties. These fragments of everyday life are represented by images with commentary, a cut that contrasts greatly with the flow of television programs that have seen us busy in the workplace.
The narrative, at this point, becomes quite dark and almost seems like it belongs in a different game. Decisions made as a director are also reflected in unequivocal terms in the Alex's family who finds himself caught between the bills to pay and the responsibility of what his job entails. Making an effort to show propaganda ideas towards one party or another will lead the protagonist's son to become a fervent follower of the party that is talked about so much on television, finding himself at home, for example, as a teenager in the middle of an existential crisis. crisis.
At the same time, this influence led us to be curious about the different narrative crossovers, opening the game to multiple endings. The longevity of the title, in fact, is based on the player's willingness to discover alternative paths, the options that remain pending and thus appreciate all the branches that this strange story can take. Of course, repeating portions can get repetitive, and enjoying even just one "game" can be a satisfying experience without having to find everything we missed in the first place.
Only for True Gentlemen: Deluxe Edition
Not for Broadcast is a title that we play entirely in English; offers many other languages, some of which are also voiced, such as Chinese and Russian, but Spanish is not expected. neither for the game interface, nor for the subtitles. To fully appreciate the title it is necessary to have an excellent command of the language, since sometimes skits are offered with popular or not very well-known sayings.
We are talking, however, about a product with a strong English imprint, difficult to adapt. Leaving aside the satire of modern politics, between Conservatives and Labor, whose history and ideology not everyone may know, it is the more subtle references to sitcoms or British customs that certainly have a more moderate impact on the Spanish public. As just said, this clarification is not intended to be a criticism of Not for Broadcast, but only a warning for those who have doubts about a possible purchase, now aware of what awaits them.
That said, the NotGames game, or rather its basic version, has been in stores for a while now, but given its success, the development team's work did not stop after the main chapters. In fact, Not for Broadcast has a Season Pass that, added to the base game, makes up the Deluxe Edition, and if the basic version can be completed in approximately six hours, the additional content raises the count to nine, which makes it a more complete product that also tries to move away from political plots to take satire to other areas. Some dramas are more successful in terms of entertainment than others but the quality expressed from the beginning is maintained even in the additional episodes.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, Xbox Store Holygamerz.com 8.0 Readers (2) 5.7 your voteWe can't deny that like Alex we had fun discovering an imaginative (but not too imaginative) version of the United Kingdom dealing with a new emerging political class, with crazy ideals and surreal projects. The central axis of the experience is satire, focused mainly on politics and scandals, which, although exaggerated to make people laugh, are entertaining precisely because of the references to current society. However, there is still a note of disappointment due to the lack of localization in Spanish, a factor that could deter many users from acquiring this small experience with a biting and satirical touch.
PRO
- An original and fun product
- Really excellent performance by the actors.
AGAINST
- Too basic game mechanics
- The story outside the control room clashes with the rest of the game.
