My title is quite a mouthful, and yet it sums up the most recent creation of famed YouTubers, The Fine Brothers (241 million YouTube hits and counting). The dynamic video duo, Benny and Rafi Fine, have created a Mad Men-based choose-your-own-adventure game.
The Fine Brothers, whose work includes the rapid-fire Spoiler series, have outdone themselves. This video is clever on so many levels. First, it’s a YouTube choose-your-own-adventure game, which is an underrated yet fabulous genre. According to the Fine Brothers, players receive three possible endings, based on the order of the characters with whom Don interacts. (He can choose from Pete, Peggy, and Betty.) “[B]ased on the order of which you complete the tasks the game ‘knows’ which order you chose to play the game, and in turn, will ultimately give you an alternate ending depending on which task you completed last.”
Second, it has some sly references to the TV show (which will finally re-emerge from its year-and-a-half-long hibernation on June 10th on AMC). If you pay close attention to the race between Don and Pete, you’ll see the office and…a tractor. (For those of you who don’t understand the reference, please see one of the show’s best episodes, season 3′s “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency.”)
Third, it’s done in the old-school 16-bit style of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat, complete with low-rez graphics and chirpy yet repetitive chords.
And now, the video. Happy gaming!