Joe Lieberman's Video Game Cameo Unveiled

I have vague memories of Bloodstorm from the early nineties: mainly how I snuck it into my house (since my parents didn’t approve of violent games) and how I thought Mortal Kombat was a better title. Don’t get me wrong, the ability to hew off limbs and deliver instant kills was cool, but Bloodstorm’s cartooniness just wasn’t as cool as the photo-realism of the MK games.

Now, however, part of me wants to go out and find a copy to play because of this stunning news:

BloodStorm’s stocked with more codes than any of its contemporaries (with the possible exception of Tattoo Assassins), and, true to form, most of them are crude jokes calculated to upset watchful parents. After each fight, players can input any number of button-and-joystick combinations to trigger some special effect.

A few of the results jump to new stages or change characters, but most of them figure into the game’s “taunt” system, which displays all sorts of middle-school putdowns or in-jokes. Included are jabs at Mortal Kombat (“Who cares where Goro is?”), plugs for Electronic Gaming Monthly (“You don’t know [$#!+] about this game…Go buy EGM.”) and a message for U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, who’d only recently begun his campaign against violent games at the time of BloodStorm’s release. Lieberman even shows up, along with the game’s staff, as a hidden “bighead” fighter.

OK, Lieberman as a playable character in a game that he was bemoaning in public is entertaining, to say the least. Heck, it’d probably be a helluvalot of fun to simply watch him get the snot beaten out of him. But does it make Bloodstorm worth tracking down and playing again? In my opinion, probably not… but then again, some cartoony uber-violence mixed with booze and friends could make for a stellar Friday night.

‘Might Have Been’ – BloodStorm [Game Set Watch]

[via GamePolitics]