From the creators of Super Mario comes a new video game that will conquer the planet. Topicton It’s a world of overwhelming simplicity: a hero who wears camouflage one day and a T-shirt the next – because he suffers from selective identity dissociation – lands on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano to solve a national security crisis while an assistant serves him coffee from a snack bar Gloop, gloop, gloop. For every cup of coffee drunk with due agility, a killer falls in Guayaquil. Chock, chock, chock. For every bite he eats, he gains a battery line on his lightsaber.

We must be proud, the Carondelet Palace will be immortalized in this cunning computer programming that leads us to immerse ourselves in the intriguing criminal networks from the very Plaza Grande of Quito. The realism of the graphics allows us to experience first-hand the adrenaline rush of a hero in a yellow, blue and red cape who is convinced that providing security for a color company is akin to running a country. Nothing stops him, which sniper will eliminate one by one the enemy of the state.

Once the first difficulty level of the game is overcome, yes, we begin to understand what we are really up against. Who has the keys to the political puzzle that must be solved in order to open one of the essential exit doors from the crisis? The hero can no longer act alone. How does the economy manage to comply with international obligations and agreements on which both small producers and large exporters depend? The main character, Topicman, is at a difficult crossroads.

Fortunately, once Topicman meets the minimum time milestones (surviving the first 100 days at all costs), the game offers him a rare opportunity. You can create an additional character to help you, but without mercenary abilities, with the ability to explore different levels of difficulty, but with different weapons, to gain points where intimidation has little potential. The problem for Topičman is that this character implies his disappearance in the short term, that is, as soon as the regular presidential elections come.

On the other hand, the alternate door in the game takes us back to the past, before the appearance of Topicman, where the characters agree to a priori solve the social, economic and political landscape of the country without having to shoot and thus deepen the problems. levels of violence. The difficulty level is not lower than in other corridors and basements, but I admit that the game here is much less exciting. Enemies no longer worship on the streets of Francisco de Orellana or Montañita, but in a complex international drug-trafficking system that is difficult to control even in the Netherlands.

In Topicton, the player is faced with a difficult decision: opt for a slower, more moral act or for fireworks of purely symbolic value. While Topicman is attractive, removing or avoiding him can help win. (OR)