It may be the most hideous Choplifter rip-off ever created, but at least "CyberDodo fights against the sexual exploitation of children" has its heart in the right place.
Did you know March 4 is the World Day Against Sexual Exploitation? If you're anything like me, you had no clue. Then again, if you're anything like me you would have realized that these world days should really be called world marketing days, as they are merely excuses for companies to line up advertising promotions with important issues. We know sexual exploitation is bad. It's not like we slowly begin to warm to the idea for 364 days and need reminding.
I digress.
CyberDodo is family-friendly community platform that is dedicated to defending life, and they do so through cartoons, reports, and flash games, hoping to educate people on topics like world hunger. Now they've set their sights on the sexual exploitation of children, with a strong focus on child prostitution.
To that effect, they've created a game where you pilot a helicopter around, dropping a line to save children being harassed by perverts. I mean, I assume they are perverts. Fat, ugly men with their stomachs hanging out of their shirts seem to fit the bill.
As you travel through this seedy virtual underbelly, dropping coconuts on the perverts' heads and collecting fuel icons to keep you in the air, pressing the space bar lowers a line, lifting the children into the warm womb of your copter, where they are safe from harm. "Thanks," they say casually, as you fly them away from oppression. "Thanks."
Oh, and be sure you dodge the birds. I think they represent bird...oppression?
While CyberDodo's game is indeed laughable, it at least tries to deliver a message about the sort of topic that mainstream game developers go out of their way to avoid, so kudos to them. I'd still like to see a company with a larger budget try and tackle subjects like this.
And not just on the World Day Against Sexual Exploitation.