Have you ever complained about how biased the international news media really is? Well, in Global Conflicts: Palestine, instead of just reading the news, you get to write it the way you want it read.

Like the topic it addresses, this game has surprising depth, though it is not an adventure game in the traditional sense. Global Conflicts: Palestine plays more like an educational program, setting the player in contemporary Jerusalem as a freelance journalist covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Multiple newsworthy events occur during this time, and the object for the player/reporter is to cover these stories for an eager public.

After choosing to play either as a male or female reporter, the start of each mission requires the player to select a particular publication (an Israeli, Palestinian, or European newspaper) for which to write an article covering the events. Each mission emphasizes a different aspect of the conflict, such as the role of settlers, the use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces, or suicide attacks by Palestinian militant extremists. Besides the overall context, the missions have no relationship to one another. A mission ends when the player decides to submit the article to the editor of the particular newspaper assigned for that portion of the game.

The game takes place in a sprawling 3D world using a bird’s-eye view. The default camera perspective in the game is fairly distant, but the player has the option to zoom in closer to the character. However, because of the large map, the default wide-angle is probably the most convenient. Using a point-and-click interface, the game permits the reporter to move freely between Jerusalem and outlying regions that include a Palestinian area and an Israeli settlement. There are no items to interact with, nor really any new areas to explore, save on one brief occasion. Instead, almost the entire game is spent simply seeking out sources to talk with and cite in your articles. There is a map accessible at any time, where the locations of sources are clearly marked. While not interactive, this map provides invaluable service as a reference point during the game, as there are many alleys and streets where one can get easily lost.

The exterior graphics aren't overly detailed, but nor are they outdated. Like the dialogue, the visuals are meant to be realistic and give an authentic feel to how Jerusalem is genuinely experienced. Everything from the minarets atop the mosques to the flags above the markets help establish a realistic setting. However, the characters are drawn in a way reminiscent of the early days of 3D, particularly during interviews, as the movement of the interviewees looks a bit choppy when the reporter is looking at them up close.

You'll be seeing a lot of those close-ups, too, as you must engage in a variety of conversations, interviewing individuals from both sides of the conflict in order to acquire the information you need for your article. The game provides a myriad of people to talk to in the course of your research. Some of the interviewees are consistently available from mission to mission, while others are specific to one.

The conversations feature no voice acting, but they are fully interactive, working via dialogue trees familiar to adventure gamers. Everything that is said by an interviewee can be written down in the notebook for use as a quotation in the article. The player can collect as many as five quotations in total to carry in the reporter's notebook. [Note: a subsequent patch for the game has increased this total from five to fifteen quotes.] It is from this bank of notes that the articles will be constructed. Since the player will be interacting with numerous sources, and cannot go back to collect a previous quotation, caution should be exercised, and routine quotations should be deleted.

The collection of these quotations and your responses to the interviewees are critical in the construction of an article. Each newspaper has its particular perspective and ideological slant, and these expectations are at the heart of Global Conflicts. The player must make a judgment based on whether he wants to appease or create controversy with his audience. Similarly, the player also must decide on which supporting picture to incorporate in the article. These photos have been pre-selected by the game, and are not affected by the player. Each picture depicts the conflict from a different angle, and will elicit either sympathy or outrage.

The articles also have an effect on the “standing” of the reporter in the community. Essentially, this is the willingness of individuals from each community to talk to you. After each successive article, sources from both sides of the conflict will judge you based upon the perspective of previous articles. Your standing in each community (Israeli and Palestinian) is more or less inversely proportionate to the other. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, potential sources are going to perceive you as being sympathetic to one side or the other. There are three approaches you can take when this occurs. You can either: A) continue to write for that particular newspaper, ensuring your perspective continues, and therefore increase standing in one community over another; B) lie to each side, telling them that the next article will look upon them more favorably; or C) perform little favors in each community, such as delivering a package (not a bomb) to a wedding, or taking a message to a family member of a source. If you choose the latter, it doesn’t take long before you are as well regarded as before.

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