Local News with Cliff
Rockslide

Local News with Cliff Rockslide (2023) is an adventure where you play the camera operator of an independent reporting duo. You follow the reporter around the town to capture all manner of wacky situations and colourful characters. The challenge is to frame the shot perfectly to build your reputation as a legitimate journalist. It stands out for its first-person view of how the news is made and the strange world you see through the lens of your camera.

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You play the camera operator for Butterfly Valley's upstart news reporter Cliff Rockslide and work to build your influence as a legitimate news team. To advance you must compete against the traditional newspaper establishment, which often puts its image before its journalistic integrity. Play involves going about the town searching for newsworthy stories, finding colourful characters and strange situations involving vegetables and cults.

It's your job to capture them on film as Rockslide asks questions and (sometimes literally) chases the story. Do this well and you gain likes and a dedicated fanbase of followers. After the story, you get a grade for how well you did. The trick to the best reports is how you frame the action and interviews. This means quickly reacting to sudden developments to keep the action in the frame and getting a ranking based on the quality of the footage you capture for each story.

The result is a game that stands out not only for how it balances humourous and engaging characters, events, and stories with a commentary on how traditional media is run and maintains the status quo but also for how you capture the action as it unfolds.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Local News with Cliff Rockslide a year ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated a year ago.