Ghoulish Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 Video Game Appears Hours After Tragedy

There Is Already A Video Game Based On MH17. It Is Disturbing.
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It is less than 24 hours since Malaysia Airlines MH17 crashed in Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

There is already a video game based on the tragedy.

'MH17 Stikes Back' was released on Google Play on 17 July.

It depicts a commercial airliner flying through a smoking landscape as the sky is criss-crossed with missiles and rockets.

The aim of the game is to avoid the missiles and return fire on the attackers.

We've provided the link above for reference, but we don't recommend downloading it. Issues of taste aside, it's only just about playable.

The game appears to have been updated from a previously released game named 'Transporter Plane Strike Back'. The URL for the title has been updated to deliberately include MH17, and the name of the game as it appears on an Android homescreen is 'MH17 Strikes Back'

The game claims to be a tribute to the friends and families of those killed, offering "condolense" [sic] on launch, but is choked with advertising - all of which is presumably sending revenue to developers Hendratan Apps. Or it would do - if anyone had downloaded it yet. It is currently sitting at less than 100 downloads with a 1-star rating.

The app features graphic and disturbing imagery, apparently meant to reflect the disaster.

The game's description says:

"Take the pilot seat with this cool new Transporter Plane Shoot Back. This 3D airplane flight game is your chance to put yourself into the a Commercial Transporter Airplane seat and start your flight. Transporter Plane Shoot Back is a realistic airplane simulator game where you are fighting against enemy fighters trying to shoot you down. Your last resort is to equip transporter plane with weapons and use them to survive being innocently shoot down!

Fire your missiles away or change your weapon into machine gun to shoot down enemy jet fighter."

In the game it is possible to crash the Malaysia Airlines jet to the ground, at which point the player receives a score and gets to 'Try Again'.

For full details of the actual news event, and the unfolding political fallout, head to our news coverage: