Laden VS USA

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Laden VS USA
Did these guys seriously not learn from Terrifying 9.11?!
Genre(s): Shooter Platform(s): Electronic game Release Date: c. 2003 Developer(s): Panyu Gaming Electronic Co. Publisher(s): Panyu Gaming Electronic Co. Country: China

Laden VS USA (Chinese: 本·拉登世紀大挑戰：Laden VS USA; pinyin: Běn Lādēng shìjì dàtiǎozhàn; lit. Bin Laden's Challenge of the Century) is an LCD handheld electronic game supposedly created by Chinese company Panyu Gaming Electronic Co. Ltd. It is unknown if the company actually manufactured the game due to mass counterfeiting in China. Laden VS USA was also released in two different designs. The game is based on the 9/11 attacks and features pictures of the actual wreckage on the packaging. Laden VS USA also bears the marks of "Made in China" and "Ages 5 and Up" on the packaging.

Laden VS USA has received negative reviews and is very controversial. The game has also been banned from two stores; one in Warrington, Cheshire, England, and the other in Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Gameplay

The player controls a submarine travelling across the bottom of the screen shooting at fighter jets flying by. The game is divided into 20 levels and automatically levels you up to the next. When a level is completed, the game plays a pinging version of "Deck the Halls". The higher the level, the more difficult the game becomes. Laden VS USA is based on the 9/11 incident in 2001, all superimposed over a 9/11 photograph. Although the game is about the 9/11 attacks, the instructions on the back of the packaging appear to have been lifted word for word from the blurb of a boxing game, and the gameplay is seemingly unrelated.

The actual built-in game is a bootleg copy of Submarine Battle (CG-330), a handheld game released by Casio in 1983; Submarine Battle was frequently bootlegged on handheld devices around this time period. Due to the generic nature of the gameplay premise, it is unclear if the game is intended to be pro or anti-America and was possibly left intentionally vague (as the handheld is known to have been sold in both the U.S. and Pakistan).

Why It Lost the Battle With the USA

1. Like Terrifying 9.11 before it, this game is extremely insensitive as it's based on the 9/11 attacks that occurred in 2001.
   • Enemies are portrayed as jets that fly around, which is a disturbing reference of the jets flying into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
   • Heck, even the packaging art is offensive and tasteless as it's a photo of the World Trade Center with one plane flying into one of the towers while the other is collapsing. We're absolutely not kidding!
2. The game is a bootleg of another LCD game Submarine Battle (CG-330).
   • Even worse, both games have very outdated and primitive graphics for 2000s standards.
3. Plot hole: How did the submarine manage to be suspended in mid-air or perhaps on the ground in this game when it's supposed to be an underwater vehicle?
4. Each time you cleared a level, it plays a pinging version of "Deck the Halls", which is a Christmas song, and it feels horribly out of place in a game about the 9/11 attacks!
5. Historical inaccuracies:
   • There were no submarines involved in the 9/11 attack in real life.
   • Fighter jets weren’t involved in real life; rather, it was four jet airlines that the terrorists hijacked.
     • Also, there were no more than four jets being hijacked. And only two of them actually targeted the World Trade Center.
6. False advertising:
   • Despite being based on the real-life event, the gameplay is completely unrelated to it.
   • George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden are featured on the console, but they don't actually appear in this game.
   • Even though there's an age rating of "5 and up", children would very much feel traumatized just from seeing the package art.
7. Worst of all, despite the controversy, the game somehow was reportedly popular among children in Pakistan.

Reception

Laden VS USA has become popular among Pakistani children. Despite this, the game is very controversial and has even been banned from the shelves of a discount store in Warrington, Cheshire, England, after several protests from religious leaders. Teenager Hannah Birchall stated about the incident, "The images on the box bring back all the memories of September 11", and that she thinks that "it will desensitize children to what happened". The game has also created controversy in the town of Brooklyn, NYC, USA, where pedestrians were outraged over the presence of the game in the local store named Oakdale Dairy. YouTube toy reviewer Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia expressed disbelief during his review of Laden VS USA, describing it as "the worst concept for a game or a toy in history intended for children" and said that "it boggles the mind that it was actually manufactured and sent to the United States".

Trivia

Despite the game's negative reception, it was very popular with Pakistani children.

See also

• Terrifying 9.11
• 8:46