Drunk Driving Mel Gibson Newsgame

Drunk Driving Mel

The Game Show Network has published a Flash game that pokes fun at the recent arrest and alleged subsequent remarks of Mel Gibson. The GSN website publishes several casual games, but this one seems different in that it's topical, targeted, and doesn't really have much replay value in itself.

In it, you try to control Mel's car as he careens through the street. Your goal is to collect tequila bottles while avoiding ballistic Stars of David and stationary State Troopers -- all to the tune of "Hava Nagila." The game ends when you have run over 5 State Troopers, and your performance is assessed by points based on your current blood alcohol level. The production value is pretty high, and I particularly like the way driving becomes more difficult as inebriation sets in. Rather than simply adjusting the "pull" on the car like some other drunk driving games, Mel's car jerks and sways spasmodically.

Drunk Driving Mel Gibson, Screenshot

It's meant to be funny (and it is), but the way it ridicules Mel does constitute a commentary on the overall situation, which is actually quite serious. The game's "about" page explains the incident, and there are elements to the game -- such as the fact that Mel can't be harmed and is only "caught" after killing 5 troopers -- which seem to implicitly criticize the role celebrities exploit when they abuse their power in service of their craziness.

It seems like there have been other celebrities in the news lately for drunk driving, so I could see someone taking the same game here and switching out the images to make a different kind of commentary. How would you reconfigure this game to make fun of Paris Hilton, for example?

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