JFK Re-Reloaded

March 28, 2007 7:27 PM

Anyone remember the short-lived FPS game JFK:Reloaded? It caused quite a stir when it was released a little over two years ago. Since then, the game's development company discontinued the game and JFK:Reloaded is now considered abandonware. The full version can be downloaded here and a site dedicated to the game is located here.
posted by KevinSkomsvold (24 comments total)

If you haven't caught JFK II on Google Video yet, I recommend it. It's long, but a great watch. As for those hoping the .zip has a mac installer - I'll save you the trouble. It doesn't.
posted by phaedon at 7:51 PM on March 28, 2007

I bought the full version. I think the best part of the game was being able to replay the scene from different angles after the shooting. Also, shooting drivers and watching the cars swerve and ram each other. I guess that's not very historically accurate though.
posted by puke & cry at 7:52 PM on March 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

puke & cry: "I bought the full version. I think the best part of the game was being able to replay the scene from different angles after the shooting. Also, shooting drivers and watching the cars swerve and ram each other. I guess that's not very historically accurate though."

Ha. Yes, I did the same thing.

I purchased it when it first came out and did actually try to recreate the Warren Commission's version of the shot sequence. My best "score" was 800 out of a possible 1000. I concluded that it was next to impossible. Obviously not what the game publishers had intended.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:55 PM on March 28, 2007

For how far they've come, there still sure are topics video games aren't allowed to touch.
posted by roll truck roll at 7:59 PM on March 28, 2007

I hear there's a 1.03 patch. Anyone found it?
posted by anthill at 7:59 PM on March 28, 2007

Yeah, I did try to recreate it. Fuckin impossible, I tell ya.
posted by puke & cry at 8:05 PM on March 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oddly, and embarrassingly, I rather enjoyed that little "game", but mainly because of trying to manipulate the goofy physics.

I haven't played it in a long time, though, but it's fun to see it listed here on metafilter.

And yeah, the game is tasteless. But I don't care!
posted by newfers at 8:10 PM on March 28, 2007

That game was made by the CIA in collusion with the Communists.
posted by Falconetti at 9:51 PM on March 28, 2007

I like the J. Edgar Hoover-in-a-sequined-dress easter egg. It's the details that count.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:23 PM on March 28, 2007

Not much excitement for such a controversial game. Although for controversy, Custer's Revenge would have been worse if they had released it to a wider audience.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:40 PM on March 28, 2007

Its hard as hell to recreate the shots correctly. I usually ended up killing him, but no where near how it actually happened.

(Full disclosure: you can spend a LOT of time on this game when you and a roommate are both baked)
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:43 PM on March 28, 2007

i want my columbine fps plz
posted by keswick at 10:52 PM on March 28, 2007

Man, I can rack up like 15 kills, but it's never who I expect. I shot the prez in the face and he didn't die. I should have known he was tough.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:58 PM on March 28, 2007

Much like brother Caine, this led me to Custer's Revenge. But I didn't stop there.

That led me here, which led me here.

And now I'm sick.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:39 AM on March 29, 2007

JFK was shot 129 times from 43 different angles.
posted by brundlefly at 2:26 AM on March 29, 2007 [1 favorite]

...and several of those bullets were not of human origin.
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:04 AM on March 29, 2007

I guess it helps to be a USMC (marine) sharpshooter. To bad My stint as a space marine thru all of the Quake series doesn't count.
posted by Jeremy at 8:19 AM on March 29, 2007

It's too bad there is an unavoidable controversy around it. I've played it and found it to be a very educational tool. I learned a lot about the layout of the streets and buildings, the times of the events, and the timing and distance of the shots. It also gave people the opportunity to try out alternate scenarios. For example, it is easier to get a reliable shot as the car is coming toward the building, rather than after it turns the corner and the target is moving more rapidly across your field. However, the shot is much more distant. This led to asking the possibilities of why. Was it lack of confidence in firing a more distant shot? Was he hesitating? I also could see that because the cars start to take notice once something gets hit, I better not fail. The way the cars drive during the panic is laughably dumb, but the fact that they are moving makes it much more difficult to get a good shot.

Just because it's hard to reproduce exactly doesn't make it improbable. If I roll a die 6 times and it comes up 3-4-6-2-2-1, and then you try a hundred times and can't match it, that doesn't make it a magic roll. Or a conspiracy.
posted by ken_zoan at 8:41 AM on March 29, 2007 [1 favorite]

So do they have the part where Oswald swipes Kennedy’s brain?
posted by Smedleyman at 9:36 AM on March 29, 2007

ken_zoan: it is easier to get a reliable shot as the car is coming toward the building, rather than after it turns the corner and the target is moving more rapidly across your field. However, the shot is much more distant. This led to asking the possibilities of why. Was it lack of confidence in firing a more distant shot? Was he hesitating?

After playing this, I wondered if it might be that the Presidential cavalcade could then look up right in front of them and see Oswald in the window. Not that you'd be able to tell by the reaction of the NPCs in this game, who seem oblivious to what's going on around them unless they've been hit.
posted by JT at 10:08 AM on March 29, 2007

BTW, E. Howard Hunt (or at least his kid) seems to intimate it was LBJ (Rollingstone via Rawstory).
posted by rzklkng at 11:26 AM on March 29, 2007

The easiest way to kill the president was to get the driver first, and then kill JFK when the car came to a stop.
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:16 PM on March 29, 2007

I want the John-John Flight Sim!
posted by Cookiebastard at 4:47 AM on March 30, 2007

Believe it or not, there is a mod which repositions the shooter from the grassy knoll.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:24 AM on March 30, 2007