Doomsday Arcade Ep. 1 - 10 Review
Doomsday Arcade can be best summarized with a simple game reference near and dear to our hearts: Graphics do not a good game make.
Doomsday Arcade, for all its flash and undeniably well executed special and physical effects, falls short of the mark in almost every important aspects of a good film; its writing is abysmal, the acting is merely adequate, and the special effects (while well executed) are certainly not groundbreaking. In terms of story?well, there isn?t much to say. There seems to be a quote for one epic speech per episode, but after a while these start getting repetitive. The jokes consistently fail to meet their mark. The character of the doctor in particular relies on sheer stupidity jokes. That?s not to say there is no humor?some of the physical gags, such as the ending to Episode 10, were certainly fun (if not predictable). The acting is meh, but I?m not sure I can really call that a point against the production, simply given the age of the people involved (and the fact that they are rarely given anything particularly interesting to say). The use of TF2 archetypes, among others, was an interesting choice but the way the characters were developed caused the whole production to stumble.
Let us now turn to the centerpiece of Doomsday Arcade: The Special Effects and Editing Tricks. Now this statement should set off alarms in your head right away. Special effects and editing tricks should not be the centerpiece of your production. Even in the earlier episodes, many of the story pieces seem to depend on some sort of visual effects gag. It is worth mentioning that, as impressive as the effects may seem, they are nothing that can?t be achieved with a basic knowledge of After Effects, some plug-ins, and an internet tutorial website.
In the end, Doomsday Arcade just feels like a zombie of a production?there is certainly some value and the production is alive, but apart from that, everything is vacant. It reminds me a lot of a little video I made waaaaaay back in my youth with some neighbors called ?The Playground,? essentially following the same storyline but with little kids running around and screaming instead of teens getting their heads and feet blown off. Perhaps it is a generational thing, but I do not find any of this, from the battle scenes to the exposition, to be enjoyable. Doomsday Arcade is like The Playground?perhaps fun to make and a great memory to look back on for the filmmakers, but stripped of its effects and gore it?s just a bunch of kids running around screaming.
Doomsday Arcade can be best summarized with a simple game reference near and dear to our hearts: Graphics do not a good game make.
Doomsday Arcade, for all its flash and undeniably well executed special and physical effects, falls short of the mark in almost every important aspects of a good film; its writing is abysmal, the acting is merely adequate, and the special effects (while well executed) are certainly not groundbreaking. In terms of story?well, there isn?t much to say. There seems to be a quote for one epic speech per episode, but after a while these start getting repetitive. The jokes consistently fail to meet their mark. The character of the doctor in particular relies on sheer stupidity jokes. That?s not to say there is no humor?some of the physical gags, such as the ending to Episode 10, were certainly fun (if not predictable). The acting is meh, but I?m not sure I can really call that a point against the production, simply given the age of the people involved (and the fact that they are rarely given anything particularly interesting to say). The use of TF2 archetypes, among others, was an interesting choice but the way the characters were developed caused the whole production to stumble.
Let us now turn to the centerpiece of Doomsday Arcade: The Special Effects and Editing Tricks. Now this statement should set off alarms in your head right away. Special effects and editing tricks should not be the centerpiece of your production. Even in the earlier episodes, many of the story pieces seem to depend on some sort of visual effects gag. It is worth mentioning that, as impressive as the effects may seem, they are nothing that can?t be achieved with a basic knowledge of After Effects, some plug-ins, and an internet tutorial website.
In the end, Doomsday Arcade just feels like a zombie of a production?there is certainly some value and the production is alive, but apart from that, everything is vacant. It reminds me a lot of a little video I made waaaaaay back in my youth with some neighbors called ?The Playground,? essentially following the same storyline but with little kids running around and screaming instead of teens getting their heads and feet blown off. Perhaps it is a generational thing, but I do not find any of this, from the battle scenes to the exposition, to be enjoyable. Doomsday Arcade is like The Playground?perhaps fun to make and a great memory to look back on for the filmmakers, but stripped of its effects and gore it?s just a bunch of kids running around screaming.
