# notrealism in enemy starfighter vs star citizen > don't believe the hype > ~ chuck d public enemy in which the more wondrously abstract 'notreal' aesthetics of enemy starfighter hold far more interest than star citizen's desperately unexceptional 'meh' undead realism mike tipul's "enemy starfighter" seems a great example of artistic directness and hard-edged elegance // video here chris roberts' blockbuster "star citizen" however seems conceptually muddled and generic looking - its high graphical fidelity and slick overall 'polish' actually deny the existence of a strong aesthetic // video here _yawn_. enemy starfighter seems made only of what's needed; a functional minimalism that impresses with its clean sharp design; it looks like it 'plays how it looks' - a world bursting with light and color 'alive' in ways star citizen only dreams of star citizen seems entirely constructed of cheap hype and overstretched promises masquerading as depth; as though people need reminding that 'video garmes based on movies' often suck the entire (dubious) psychological appeal of star citizen lies in the fact its supporters seem to be imagining they're actors in some wack 90's sci-fi movie it's the pretence of star citizen and the drooling 'fundie' crowds behind such projects that good garmes can only be made by spewing money on them the truer equation however might be: the more money - the more hype - the more false self-importance; the greater the sense - if only a sense - of playing a ridiculous role as a player in some gaudy supposedly grand human theatrical (internet) drama however this drama does not spring from "star citizen" itself or its core ideas - which seem conceptually dubious and generally ill considered at best - but just that the entire project itself might the only real straight-to-vhs video ('garme') being played here to critically reinterpret the words of chris roberts star citizen brings the 'truthy' action of piloting blandly designed interstellar craft through heavy fetishized militaristic combat and pseudo exploration to a new generation of believers at a stunningly boring level of graphical fidelity often seen elsewhere - yet even more so at its hollow core star citizen is a non destination a one-off story knockoff of earlier (equally dubious) works - an incomplete universe where any number of all-too similar adventures take place allowing players to decide ir own shallow garme experience within teh garme's strict confines pick up eye-rollingly dull day jobs as a smuggler pirate merchant bounty hunter or enlist as a brainless pilot protecting the borders (of our own lack of project incredulity) from outside threats to create one cohesive universe that encompasses everything is probably not the best way to go - a huge sandbox with tacked-on lore allows players to explore or play in whatever capacity they wish - except in the ways they might really want to the psychology of crowdfunding is that its 'kickstarters' act as though they're starring on a reality tv show; funding is a self-absorbing theatrical activity aka "teh garme = you" yet brush aside the clouded atmosphere of what might be termed "aaa indie" hype and what remains in star citizen a garmey simulator for exceedingly humdrum square-jawed jarheads grinding high-fiving and t-bagging one another in the middle of an electronic nowhere (w/ brush-metal trim); an experience that succeeds only in redefining 'run of the mill' // image here: not a lot happening - star citizen: abernathy interiors even more than a theoretically rich and complex aesthetic choice "not-realism" displays greater freedom in going any any and all directions other than that of 'reality' and the kind of flat blandly slick corporate-approved graphical fidelity shamelessly promoted by artless video garme card manufacturers it takes artists (like mike tipul) to help generate a space in and of the imagination; all that star citizen seems to require is the generous over-application of metal shaders and an aggressive orchestra-heavy marketing campaign for all it's undoubted efforts when it comes to pushing the envelope of potential for science fiction star citizen seems an abject failure displaying false passions for mediocre ideas posing as innovation as someone on rockpapershotgun correctly states about star citizen: "looks like it's shot through jj abrams' a-hole with all that lens flare" such shallow concerns and design pursuits seem delightfully absent in enemy starfighter which feels like.. some uncanny electronic meditation on the artificial nature of digital physics and the reality-warping quantum potentialities of deep (inner) space exploration to think of 'all those millions' spent on star citizen as a 'waste' - which could be spent on true indie garmes like enemy starfighter - is not the tragedy; rather it's the ease with which garmers are so easily blinded by smoothly marketed b.s as to never ask - despite an excess of resources and opportunities - "good grief: is this the *best* we could come up with?" rather than "over promise and under achieve" perhaps the true failure of projects like star citizen is to under imagine from the very outset // republic of bob