I know that's not to say it wouldn't be an expensive gamble. Writers of the same quality as Aaron Sorkin aren't exactly plaguing the videogame industry, and even fewer could keep up the level of panache required to pull off a videogame's worth of dialogue, with all of the winding choices of narrative and the longer play time.
Not only that, but the game's mechanics would need to be sound. As I said earlier, it would hardly make sense to make a
West Wing videogame a puzzle-driven experience. You're not going to be searching for Lincoln's buried golden nightcap in the oval office. Leave that to the producers of the
National Treasure videogame.
A
West Wing videogame would be chiefly about dialogue, making decisions, and watching the actions of your choices come into play. It needs to be smart enough to draw the player in with its authenticity, but it needs to be accessible enough to not alienate the player by confusing him as to the right course of action, or demeaning him if he doesn't know what
filibuster means.
This would all need to be carried off with the same kind of production values in quality scoring and graphics too. The characters would need to jump out of the screen with flair and authenticity, and the entire game would need the epic orchestra work that the show was famous for, too.
Yeah, TellTale Games, I know it would be a long and narrow tightrope act to get a good
West Wing videogame, but what a performance it would be if you could pull it off!
Please feel free to mail the massive cheque for thinking up such a great idea to Sean Daisy at Destructoid.
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