Conspiracy Theory

Our government is taking flak not just in film, TV and music. Now it's being satirized to great effect in "BlackSite: Area 51." This fun shooting adventure mocks the unpopularity of the president and the Iraq war. It hints a draft lurks around the corner.

"BlackSite," being released Monday, is so subversive in a lighthearted way, the story line suggests government doctors are fusing space alien DNA with that of soldiers to turn them into super disgusting killers, who accidentally go on the loose.

It's up to you, the player, to portray an elite American soldier, trying to save our great land from ... us. You shoot machine guns, rocket launchers and plasma rifles to take down DNA-corrupted U.S. soldiers and big, ugly aliens running amok around Area 51.

But first, we begin with a back story in Iraq, where you shoot at people who are shooting at you on a makeshift battlefield at an oil refinery.

"Is everyone in this place armed?" So asks a soldier buddy of yours. "Who gives assault weapons to refinery workers?"

"Um," a fellow U.S. soldier responds. "I think they bought this (weaponry) from us," meaning the United States. "I hope they got some good money."

On and on, the statements roll. There's even a nod to the political tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, an allusion to how people in New Orleans thought the government would help them.

If you're familiar with video games, it's not terribly surprising to find one so anti-establishment. Game makers are a paranoid bunch. Two years ago, developers with a good sense of humor parodied the supposedly glorious 1950s by creating really repressed idiot Americans in "Destroy All Humans!" Also in 2005, the unrelated and awesome "Area 51" played on fears that the moon landing wasn't real.

Before the 2004 election, three Vietnam games reminded us of the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq, just when Vietnam vet John Kerry was failing in his bid for the White House.

Even "Call of Duty" World War II games flash forboding quotes on the screen, such as one by 15th century humanist Desiderius Erasmus in "Call of Duty 2": "War is delightful for those who have not experienced it."

Many war games are, by definition, implicitly pro-killing if not pro-establishment. Explicitly pro-establishment games are harder to come by. The big exceptions are "Tom Clancy" games, where villains are the liberal media and terrorists of various skin colors. "Clancy" titles are, by the way, quite fun.

Politics aside, Midway has delivered here an entertaining escapade. It's long and beautifully drawn, sending you scurrying to search and destroy through detailed trailer parks, Nevada neighborhoods and canals.

Online, you can tap into death matches, team death matches, capture the flags, and human vs. alien levels, where you try to slay alien-morphing humans before they corrupt you.

In offline solo missions, you save some civilians who refuse to leave their government-destroyed, alien-infested towns.

"Yeah, they told me to evacuate, but I'm up to my eyeballs in a mortgage for this place," a Nevada resident says.

A few seconds later, a two-story alien bursts from the ground and eats Mr. Mortgage. Regardless of politics, this is cool. Death is almost always cool in video games, no matter how wrong it's supposed to be, because killing is the nature of the beast.

("BlackSite: Area 51" retails for $60 for Xbox 360 -- Plays fun. Looks great. Challenging. Rated "T" for blood, language, violence. Four stars out of four.)