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In a post 9/11 world Muslims haven't exactly had the most rounded portrayal in the west - though when it comes to video games they never had much positive representation before 9/11 either. At worst they're sprinkled into shooters as enemy cannon fodder, and at best represented as innocent civilians you're protecting from their homeland's violent extremists. Civilians of these regions are seldom fleshed out beyond panicked extras, so when 1979 Revolution: Black Friday comes along and portrays a good guy who ends his prayers with "Allahu-Akbar", it stands out.Yet 1979's inside look at the Iranian Revolution is but the tip of the iceberg in terms of what developer Ink Stories is doing here. It wants to use the medium of video games as a vessel to teach people about under-represented cultural histories, while remaining entertaining on a more basic level. Can a video game function as an educational tool without seeming like a pandering piece of "edutainment?" Can the medium's interactivity add anything to a piece of history usually told via film documentaries, photographs and non-fiction prose? Can it hook players who enter the title with limited knowledge of its subject matter? Based on 1979 Revolution, the answer's positive.
Developed by the Iranian born Navid Konsari - along with several other Iranian developers (some of whom cannot be named for the safety of themselves and their families) - 1979 Revolution's game design doesn't re-invent the wheel as it owes a lot to Telltale's recent adventures. Much of the game is spent choosing between four dialogue options (one is usually to remain silent), examining objects, and engaging in scripted quick-time events. But that's only its skeleton. As Life is Strange and Until Dawn have proven, this format can be pretty elastic.
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