The Republicans Made a Videogame to Promote their Midterm Elections

mission majority_featured_01

This being a midterm-election year, you can expect the crazy to come out a bit.

In this case, it’s the Republican Party who’ve started off the show - the National Republican Senatorial Committee has released a free web game, in the interest of voter exposure. Named Mission Majority, the side-scrolling platformer clearly takes inspiration from retro gaming.

In Mission Majority, you lead the Republican elephant, Giopi (yes, really) through four levels. Along the way you’ll pick up keys to “help Republicans win back the Senate,” and fighting off Democrat opponents.

You’ll also run into taxers. “Harry Reid and President Obama sent the job-destroying Taxers to stop you!” Reads the Taxer’s description. “You need to avoid them. Jumping on top of them suppresses their high taxes.” When they die, Taxers play a stock recording from Democrat lawmakers - “This sense of entitlement” was probably my favorite - but many of them don’t make much sense out of context.

“This year’s Republican Senate candidates are the strongest in decades (if not ever), and we want to raise awareness in every possible way,” a spokesperson said to Variety. “With that in mind, we are having a bit of fun with our approach.”

All well and good, but Mission Majority comes off more as an in-joke than a way to promote the Republicans’ platform. It’s more about poking fun at the Democrats than actual politics. For that reason, it’s a little hard to see exactly who Mission Majority is aiming for - most people who will understand the game’s jokes are probably already voting Republican, though there is a link to page where you can support your Republican senate candidate of choice.

Mission Majority also requires you to sign in with an email, a Google Plus acount, or through Facebook - which is frankly a bit annoying.

Expect more social media gimmicks like this as we get closer to the elections.

Peter Yankowski

Peter Yankowski

Writer
Peter Yankowski is a freelance writer and blogger. When he's not getting blasted out of the digital skies by Messerchmitts, or cutting work to carve a twisty New England road, Peter writes about gaming news, history in games, and military geekitude.
Written By
Genre , ,
Available On
 
Top