Technobabylon:
Technobabylon is the video game fusion of Neuromancer and A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, but emphasizing gengineering, genetic engineering, a process which has become so commonplace in 2087, it has its own terminology. A young Charles Regis earned his degree in Texas, a fundamentalist, irradiated, hellscape where crusading christian warlords rebelled against modernity by breeding and indoctrinating genetically engineered human bombs. Altered to grow bones which produce nitrates instead of calcium, these young men and women suffer disfiguring abnormalities, and are told to sacrifice themselves in their abominable war.
Appalled
by his work, Charlie fled to Newton, the city of the future. The
democratically elected government of Newton was eager to become the
global hub of a new Renaissance, embracing genetic engineering and an
unrestrained internet, and funding a technological project with grand
aspirations. Newton wanted an artificial intelligence capable of
managing the city for the benefit of the people. Led by the great
Dr. Vargas, Charlie labored with Doctors Baxter, Viksha, Chigwa, and
Jeong to achieve this desire. Nearing success, they reached an
impasse: the AI they wished to create required an organic component
to fulfill its purpose. How Dr. Vargas acquired his biological
building blocks and what he did with them, are the source of
Technobabylon's
mysterious conflict. Dr. Vargas and his team did complete the
project, but not before tempers flared, and amid ugly recriminations
and irreconcilable differences Charlie resigned. This is all
incredibly interesting, isn't it (?), but it's all backstory, told in
flashbacks in the second half of Technobablyon,
and unalterable by the player.
In current time,
twenty-five years later, Charlie is employed by CEL (Centralized
Emergency Logistics) – the massive enforcement apparatus of
Central, the AI devised by Charlie, but completed without his
influence. As a CEL agent he works with Max Lao, and together, under
the direction of Central, are investigating a series of high profile
mindjackings of prominent experts in everything from political
policy, to literature, to nuclear physics. Mindjacking involves the
download of a subject's mind into the downloader, allowing the
downloader to access the memories which have been taken, but killing
the subject in the process.
Latha, after
escaping her apartment, seconds before it is demolished by an
explosion, stumbles around Newton, desperate to understand who
attempted to kill her, while also eager to slip into a never ending
Trance. To Trance, to enter into a networked experience which our
2017 society can not even fathom. Fully immersive, and therefore
dangerously addicting, those who live in permanent Trance, only
exiting to eat, sleep, and defecate, are derogatorily termed Thralls.
The paths of
Charlie and Latha cross as their unknown connections to Central draw
them into a story complete with murder, extortion, blackmail,
betrayal, deceit, and treachery (Max is not necessary to the story,
but as a means for the player to be shown relevant details which
Charlie and Latha do not have access to).
Charlie, searching
for the Mindjacker, discovers two parallel plots to usurp Central's
reign, while Latha is manipulated by malignant forces beyond her
understanding. In the race to save Central the player can choose
from two possible endings. This is an odd design choice, since there
are three proposed solutions to the problem of Central (and one could
think of others). As the overseer of a multi-million city, everyone
has their own opinion of what Central should be. A multinational
industrialist wants a corrupt system he can bribe to evade
environmental laws. A populist politician wants control of the city
to returned to a democratic foundation, the citizens. A physicist
wants to study Central and improve its functions. A curmudgeonly
Neo-Luddite wants a more simple, hands off system. A computer
programmer on the outs wants in on maintaining the system for
monetary benefit. And there undoubtedly others: anarchists,
humanitarians, criminals, and would be dictators eager to implement a
1984 police state. But the key fight revolves around whether
Central is a like a person, or like a machine. Should it learn as it
works, so it can develop a relationship with the city of Newton, or
should it be imprinted with the experience of experts on every
conceivable subject? Should it be contained in a single city, or
expanded to a global reach? Or is Central functioning sufficiently,
that any change risks upsetting a well crafted system?
The
truth is, Technobabylon
doesn't provide the tools to act on all of these questions, and the
developer never feels pressured to provide an easy answer to every
philosophical topic introduced, but it seems as if the true problem
in Technobabylon isn't
Central, but the people who seek to manipulate it. Though Charlie
expresses a inherent distrust of the AI, Central never seemed
malicious, dangerous, or disturbed. It's like I was expected the
common, super powerful computer run amok scenario, but instead was
delivered a thoughtful AI which works well. Central doesn't always
make the choices I would, yet it can't be faulted for them. In other
words, its hard to desire the destruction of a computer, if it
produces the outcome one desires. Central is not the problem.
Yet
it's engaging to observe the others, humans and robots fighting over
the very foundation of Newton. And the action doesn't even end with
players final choice. Both conclusions offer differing, yet
remarkable, insights into Central, and what it desires.
Unfortunately, it's hard to imagine a sequel, since the both endings
are mutually exclusive. The designer would have to choose one or the
other, disappointing some fans in the process.
In summation,
Technobabylon combines the perfect variety of puzzles, with an
acceptable aesthetic, and a story that isn't just a simple tale, but
an entire world of which the player can only experience a single
city. Each detail of every character is not a random aberration, but
sourced from some event somewhere in the world, where even the
tangential feels substantiated by the broad background painted
painstakingly by the author, and drawing the player in.
Recent:
Relevant:
Comments
Post a Comment