Border Patrol Game Review

 http://www.aztlan.net/racist_anti-mexican_game.htm
 One of the hot button issues in today's world is illegal immigrants, so it is no wonder that a game has been attempted regarding this issue. Border Patrol Game's incentive is to further ideas opposed to Mexicans illegally immigrating into the United States. The main method the creators of this game used to get their agenda across is graphics. At the very beginning, the interface shows these radical views with pictures of what the player will be shooting including Mexican Nationalist, Drug Smuggler, and Breeder. Stereotyping Mexican citizens in a negative way makes it seem like these illegal aliens are just trying to smuggle drugs, fight for Mexico, or just have babies that will increase America's population. These extreme views are a way to make the player think that these immigrants are bad and should be shot.

Once the player enters the game the anti-illegal aliens message is further shown by the graphics. The most prominent image in the game is a sign near the front of the screen reading “Welcome to the United States” and a sign underneath reading “Welfare Office →.” This method is trying to have the player think that all illegal immigrates will just go on welfare and take away Americans hard earned money supporting them. As a player begins to play, the bloody graphics once they shoot the illegal immigrates is once again showing the hatred of these people. Even small children must be killed according to them.

As a game Border Patrol Game is not successful. The only aspect of a game it contains is the fact the player is shooting people and having a score. There is hardly any strategy as most of the aliens move right into your cross-hairs. However, there seems to be some attempt to make the game harder by making the “targets” move faster. This, though, makes it hard to see what exactly is being shot which weakens the agenda behind the game. They could improve this by pulling back the camera and having the “targets” move slower but not in a straight path. There could be obstacles such as barbwire or snakes that the Mexicans must avoid so they are on the screen longer. Also, they could get their agenda across better by having the score based on money or crime rather than how many immigrants are shot. This would promote the need to eliminate the “Breeders” because the children would probably be taken care of by the state. Also, having “Mexican Nationalists” and “Drug Smugglers” would increase crime so that is another reason the game makers don't want them in the United States.

This game is focused on claiming that illegal aliens are welfare cases and druggies. However, the makers of this game may have been extreme in how they represented the game. It is true that illegal households receive more help from food assistance programs than non-illegal households. This accounts for 5.6 percent of federal costs for these programs (Center of Immigration Studies). On the other hand shooting innocent people is probably not the solution. The game did achieve the agenda of being racist and sexist very well though.