Along with the 25th Anniversary re-release of War Games, MGM is releasing War Games: The Dead Code. This film is as much an updating of the original story of a hacker whose love of gaming unintentionally makes him the government’s most wanted threat as it is a sequel.

This time, rather than hacking into the government’s tactical computer, the high school-aged hero is enticed into playing a public terrorism-themed game that the government’s new supercomputer, R.I.P.L.E.Y., uses to find potential terrorists. Thanks to a high score, he suddenly becomes the government’s prime target as R.I.P.L.E.Y. works towards a decontamination scenario that would include nuking Philadelphia.

While this film does reasonably update the fear of communist Russia into international terrorism, there are several WOPR-sized plot holes, not the least of which is the premise that terrorists play online games for cash.

Grade: C

War Games: The Dead Code is currently available.