Epic FailWizards (1977) is a cult animated movie by Raph Bakshi which combines the post-apocalyptic and fairy tale setting. The titular ‘Wizards’ are twins that look nothing alike: Avatar is a Ginger Gnome whilst the other, Blackwolf, bears a striking resemblance to an Undead Saruman. And guess what? One is good and one is evil – but which?
Always Sometimes Monsters by Vagabond Dog is a choice and consequence RPG. It’s built in RPG Maker so has an old School, JRPG look to it and is very light-weight with simple controls.
The Character creation is interesting. You don’t realise you are creating your character (although I guess I’ve kind of clued you in, huh?) but are instead asked to recruit a writer. So I picked the guy who (from the dialogue) seemed like to best. The Writer is then asked to introduce their Significant Other so the Player picks them. I once again chose based off the dialogue, therefore ending up with this Emo-looking Dude as my main character and a sharp-looking Black guy as their SO. I named them Adam and Wayne. In theory I could have gone back and had another go (often I will pick a character that looks like me) but I liked the random element of generating characters this way so I stuck with my gay interracial couple. And I did get the impression that my choice of characters had a subtle consequence on how my character was treated. The developers didn’t just seem to pay lip-service to diversity but that it actually mattered that we were LGBT, and that my characters partner was a POC.
Dreamfall: Chapters is an episodic game adventure game by Red Thread Games. It is very story-driven with a choice-and-consequence system, and these two things are certainly it’s main selling points because they are its best features.
I enjoyed Dreamfall: Chapters mainly for the story but the game was inconsistently built which made it a bit of a pig in places. Some areas were polished whilst others were not. So if this review seems a little bit bi-polar (excuse the use of the term) it’s because that is what the game is: at times wonderful and at times terrible depending on what section you are in.
Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness is the D&D Players Movie. The movie producers no longer cared about pleasing the masses and focused on their core audience. After all, after the failure first & second movies who else was there to appeal too? This movie is not in any way connected to it’s predecessors (aside from the number). And that is something to celebrate, the fact that someone must have said “It’s Dungeon’s and Dragons! Just make the movie like the game.” And it is. So if you play D&D you’ll probably be super into it Book of Vile Darkness. However, those who don’t are less likely to appreciate the fan service and more likely to notice the low budget!
I reviewed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug but I put off reviewing Battle of the Five Armies for a long time because I find it rather upsetting to watch. It feels a bit like this movie is trolling me. It has some nice scenes particularly as Martin Freeman does an excellent performance as Bilbo, parts of the movie are very beautiful and well executed but then it will pull some bullsh*t to just ruin everything! Mainly it is CGI battle stunts which are the offenders. We got some of that in The Desolation of Smaug but Battle of the Five Armies is worse, possibly because CGI battles are the meat of the movie. There’s also too much filler which includes the Tauriel/Kili/Legolas love triangle and (shudder) Alfred.
