Are you catching up on emails and the web after a couple blissful days (and a few beverages) during the Labor Day weekend? Has the extent of your keeping up on the news been reading tabloid dispatches of how the UK’s Prince Harry was recently caught partying a bit too hard in Las Vegas? Do you want to get your fingers back in the mode of commandeering electronics instead of frisbees, but don’t want to fire up the PlayStation just yet?
Then Save Harry is just the game for you.
Save Harry came to my attention through TechCrunch’s tips line, and I have to say it’s a pretty hilariously brilliant game when viewed in the context I laid out above.
Essentially, your goal is to get through the Vegas hotel suite that Prince Harry navigated in the buff without being caught up in the photographic evidence that eventually caused Harry to have to fly home to the Queen Mum asking for forgiveness hat in hand.
It’s like a very very dumbed-down version of Metal Gear — you know, the classic platform game where you operate as a stealth agent navigating through a number of obstacles and potential enemies while practically unarmed. I would make a joke here about Prince Harry playing strip billiards with Vegas blondes probably having a lot in common with secret agent Solid Snake, but I’ll digress.
It’s also a great example of the kind of riffing, casual fun that is possible because of a very modern mix of things: Memes, a bit of social media, and a couple hours of clever coding. From what I understand, this thing was hacked together pretty quickly by the two Dutch dudes in their early 20s who run GamesOnly. “To us, the way in which this prince made the news was so funny that we simply had to use this opportunity,” 22-year-old GamesOnly founder Robin Ras said in an email.
Some people may scoff at the perceived frivolity, but I personally think we should all be happy to live in a time where we can have a laugh playing Save Harry before diving back into a workweek head-on.