If turning the plight of illegal immigrants risking their lives to sneak into the US into a goofy iPhone racing game didn’t amuse critics of Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration, maybe the game’s legal immigration mode will.
That special mode makes you wait 19 years to win.
Let’s not judge Smuggle Truck in the abstract. Let’s see how offensive Smuggle Truck is, shall we?
I shot this video of Smuggle Truck in action on an iPad at PAX East in Boston, not far from where the developers at Owlchemy Labs made the game. We looked at the game’s main illegal immigration modes and it’s boring legal immigration mode.
The illegal immigration mode of Smuggle Truck has you driving a truck full of immigrants on comically bouncy roads as you race for the border. (The legal immigration mode is just a black screen with a timer). The game’s creators at Owlchemy Labs say their game is satire, inspired by a friend’s struggle to get a visa to work in the US and the product, initially, of an immigration-game contest that inspired everyone else to make serious immigration games. They wanted to poke some fun via the format of a single-player racing game, which, no, isn’t one of the more widely appropriated or proven forms of social commentary.
Smuggle Truck ticked off some immigration experts who told reporters earlier this year that it is “disgraceful/” and in poor taste.
Offensive? Funny? Watch the game and judge for yourself.
Smuggle Truck will be available for iPhone, iPad, PC and Mac in early April.
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