THE GOODS : What If JFK Hadn’t Been Killed? Game Asks

The premise behind the new CD-ROM game “Reelect JFK” ($49.95) is fascinating.

The execution of that premise is not only flawed, it’s tasteless.

“Reelect JFK,” from Quadra Interactive, begins with images from Nov. 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while in a motorcade in Dallas. We see on the computer screen the familiar footage of the President and Jackie Kennedy arriving at the airport and then in the motorcade, waving to the crowd from an open-air limousine.

Shots ring out. The limousine quickly pulls away. It is a turning point in American history.

But not on this CD-ROM. While the screen shows images of the police searching the crowd and looking upward toward where the shots rang out, an announcer with a bad Southern accent comes on the audio-track.

“President Kennedy was shot during today’s motorcade,” he announces, “but is in good condition with what the doctors are callin’ a superficial flesh wound to his right shoulder.”

Now that that messy little business is over, you can get on with this role-playing game during which, as it says on the cover of the package, “You are JFK.”

Publicly, you begin to get ready to run for reelection in 1964. But privately, you, as JFK, also become a detective, sneaking around the White House and other locales to look for clues as to who was behind the plot to kill you in Dallas.

You sit in the Oval Office, receiving visitors such as an actor impersonating brother Bobby Kennedy (the only other real-life figure in the game). You go to meetings and hit the campaign trail. You make decisions on various pressing issues, such as Vietnam and the pending civil rights bill.

But when you are alone, you rifle through desks in other people’s offices and even telephone witnesses to the shooting (sometimes using a fake name) to ask them about memories they have of the incident.

You win the game if, by Election Day, you manage to stay ahead of the competition in the polls and also find the would-be assassin.

This plot--sort of a melding of “The Making of the President” and “Murder, She Wrote”--might be interesting in the hands of an accomplished playwright or performance artist. But in this game’s simplistic attempted realism, it’s not only ludicrous, it’s also insulting to the legacy of a major, tragic American figure.

On a game-playing level, “Reelect JFK” is lackluster. It’s slow, unfocused (it tries unsuccessfully to be a historical, political and detective game, all rolled into one) and repetitive. Just about the only good thing that can be said for it is that some of the design touches are nice. The opening section in Dallas--which makes use of still photographs and videos--is especially well presented.

Historians from time immemorial have played the game of “what if” to track alternative scenarios to real-life events.

In their hands, with the help of skilled game makers, a historical CD-ROM role-playing game could be challenging, thought-provoking, educational and engrossing, like the best of war strategy games.

But in the meantime, we can only say of this game, “ ‘Reelect JFK,’ you’re no ‘Myst.’ ”

* Cyburbia’s Internet address is: Colker@news.latimes.com.