While the turnaround time of Flash games based on popular news events is generally rather amazing, one such game based on the recent hostage tragedy that occurred on a bus in the Philippines earlier this week is drawing criticism.

A disgruntled ex-policeman named Rolando Mendoza boarded a bus of tourists in Manila in a misguided attempt to win his job back. After a long standoff, which the consensus says was mismanaged, police finally stormed the bus and killed Mendoza, but not before he murdered eight of the tourists, all of whom were from Hong Kong.

The game based on this event is named Bus Hostage by Policeman and appears on the Newgrounds site, where it has received scathing reviews (0.95 out of 5.00) and comments, for both its subject matter and buggy, awful gameplay. The game itself has players attempting to shoot Mendoza through the windows of the bus, asking participants “Can you stop him and blow his brain?”

Among the comments:

A just-released online news game allows player to try their hand at saving the economy.

As reported by the New York Daily News, Addicting Games exec Kate Connally describes Trillion Dollar Bailout:

With this game we're giving game players the chance to experience what it's like to make a decision about who to bailout and who not to. Games can help people experience news events by putting them in the shoes of the people in the action.

 

News events are something that really unite our culture, everyone experiences it together, so adding games into the mix of how people are experiencing major national events is just part of what we do. They're not just a silly pass time. It's a form social commentary.

In Trillion Dollar Bailout players are presented with cash requests from corporate executives and average homeowners. It's up to the player to decide how to dole out the bailout bucks.

GP: We initially embedded the game with this story, but - rather obnoxiously - it starts running when the GP page loads. You can, however, click the link to check the game out.