I’m not a huge gamer but tend to love the releases that Rock Star Games (i.e. the company behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Red Dead Redemption, etc.) puts out.
Therefore I was doubly interested when news broke in the fall that Mad Men alum Aaron Staton (AKA Kenny Cosgrove) would front the game, one in which dazzling new facial recognition technology makes its animated actors look frighteningly like their real selves in every expression and nuanced gesture.
I dug into the game recently and had an enjoyable number of hours trolling around a moody and atmospheric Los Angeles of 1947 mainly through the lens of Staton’s character, police detective Cole Phelps. The game turned out to be much more filmic than any I have ever played before, which in practice cuts in a few different ways. On the positive side, the acting, dialog, “cut scene” animation, and much of the writing was incredible, while on the downside the action and challenge to the gamer pale in comparison to GTA IV or RDR.
One of the biggest delights, however, was discovering an array of other Mad Men alums throughout the course of the game. Patrick Fischler, who was outstanding on Mad Men as caustic comedian Jimmy Barrett, gets a meaty role as crafty gangster Mickey Cohen.
Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell) has a fun little role as a weasely water heater repairman, Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) plays a mostly forgettable travel agent, and Michael Gladis (Paul Kinsey) plays a bartender that must be pressed for information pertinent to a hit-and-run case. Seeing Cosgrove and Kinsey, er, Staton and Kinsey back together was most satisfying as Kinsey is one of the original core cast (along with Bryan Batt as Salvatore Romano) who did not appear throughout Season Four.
Ryan Cutrona, who was marvelous as Gene Hofstadt AKA Grandpa Gene, also had a solid role as a corrupt senior police official.
All of this Mad Men reminiscing is sending my desire for Season Five skyrocketing. Maddeningly (get it? ah, tough room), we’ll all be waiting well into 2012 for a new edition of the AMC gem.
