Robbery - The Coldcut Game

‘Robbery’ is a new release from Coldcut X On-U Sound feat. Rholin X, forthcoming on Ahead of Our Time/Ninja Tune. The track is also available in a new format: a free videogame for iOS. The game is a satirical comment on probably the World’s biggest crime of all time, the ongoing heist of the global economy by the Bankstr cotery.


Robbery is a 3D Virtual Surreality game set in a world where the banks have stolen everyone's savings, the Gov let them get away with it, and people are left with the bill. Maybe not that surreal then. You're given the help of Coldcut who zap the main miscreant, imprisoning him in a crystal ball. But then it's down to you to deliver justice and save the world, overcoming many challenges to arrest, charge and jail the Bankstr in three increasingly difficult levels of Marble Madness-style rolling action.


With a trademark banging beat mixed by Sherwood and featuring JA vocalist Rholin Xs musing on who’s really robbing who, each level has a different rub of the track to which your gameplay adds extra sounds. On completing the game, the user gets a bonus track.

The striking cut’n’ paste graphics are clearly inspired by Terry Gilliam; it includes artwork sampled from the great Gillray, the leading caricaturist of his time who continues to influence satire. Indeed his 18th century bloated Bankers and Capitalists are only too identifiable today, though the game also features more modern villains such as Mrs Batcher - a relentless monster and protector of the elite who attacks from the far right. Identify and avoid hazards like Adam Smith (the father of free market dismal-nomics) and watch out for that champagne, it may give the enemy a bonus- dangerous because if you don’t return enough stolen loot to the people, the villain will still bribe his way out. Add a main Bankstr character who looks suspiciously like the bastard offspring of the Monopoly man and Richie Rich, and Coldcut are again mashing up music, media and political satire in nang style. Following up the directions in their 1988 sampled graphics ecogame ‘Top Banana’ and their seminal ‘Let Us Play’ CD-ROM which signposted both today's apps and game/music convergence.


For those wanting to know the ledge, the game has a More Info link to a coldcut.net Robbery resource page. Coldcut commented:

‘The 2009 ‘financial crisis’ was just one moment in a big global rip-off whereby the 1% continue to grab more of everything from the 99% (you) - here’s how that actually works’

The page contains Videos, Films, Books, Journalism, Campaigns to join, Infographics, Memes - a decent information library focused on Banking and Inequality. This is part of an ongoing Coldcut ‘Infobone’ MOOC project, a free online teaching resource to inform and inspire activists.

Warning : The game is addictive, and tough. But getting the Bankstrs into jail was never going to be easy. Expect much phone twisting action, frustration and mirth on the Tube, esp. In the City of London area. How are your rolling skills?