The fake video games in movies and TV shows can be difficult to understand, for an obvious reason: they're not real games. Their function is providing a few seconds of motion, colours, and noises, and possibly a premise for a plot to riff on. They don't need to be coherent or good. Still, sometimes these glimpses and ideas are interesting enough that I quite enjoy trying to figure them out. Take Gods Of Combat, a fake first-person shooter featured in police procedural show Criminal Minds. Apparently it's such a great game that the only way to achieve a similar high after being banned is hijacking a schoolbus and forcing teenagers to kill each other.
Here's a fun (nonlethal) game we can play together, reader dear: I'm going to describe Gods Of Combat as best I can, then you tell me how you think it works.
