For those non-nerds out there, I do apologize, but this will be a week of World of Warcraft on the blog. Today's post as well as thursday's will be totally WoW related. Today, I will be reviewing a feature-length Machinima video, entitled 'Return of the Ashbringer II: Raiders of Northrend".
This movie is a sequel film (Obviously), and I have not seen the first one. However, you don't need to in order to enjoy the film. The most interesting thing about this film is that, unlike other Machinima films based on the World of Warcraft universe, this one is shot entirely in the game. All the animations of the characters are actual emotes that players are able to do with slash commands in the in game engine.
The story is also a major highlight of the movie. This is one of the few films that actually uses the WoW timeline from expansion to expansion to tell a story. As the movie is told in both a series of flashbacks and "current" events (I say current for the fact that the events of the film are actually now in a past expansion and are no longer current content), we see events from both The Burning Crusade expansion and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
The story follows a guild named Arctica, a former raiding guild during the events of The Burning Crusade expansion. We see as they have fallen from their former glory because of the lust for battle has left it's leader, Maxcell. The viewer also follows three other members of Arctica, Kraakku, Jallu, and Pykmi, as they go on a mission given to them by Maxcell.
However, the most prominent character in the video is Pykmi, a protection warrior for Arctica. The flashbacks are mostly of his story, and how he's lost people in the past and made him what he is today. His story is told magnificently throughout the film, as his story dovetails with the history of Arctica, and why they chose to stop fighting.
Another interesting part of the film is that they actually use players to tell a story of betrayal, murder, and the battle of will. There is a small twist in the film that uses two different player characters in a way that I hope they make a third movie out of. It is very important to the story, and allows people to really see where the game headed in Wrath of the Lich King.
The movie also uses many of the in-game mechanics and story pieces that were presented in the entire game of World of Warcraft. The flashbacks have the definite feel of having Classic WoW in terms of prejudices and hate. The current film timeline feels very much like Wrath, with desperation and fear taking a major toll on each character. That expansion did a very good job in storytelling, and this film does no different.
Each of the characters have brilliant voice actors (At least one of which World of Warcraft enthusiasts will recognize as the voice of OMFGCata, Jesse Cox), and they bring the script to life with the limited canned emotes that World of Warcraft provides in game. The best thing is that the voices are recognizable, but they actually have the quality that is presented in a lot of lower budget Hollywood films.
Overall, this film is an excellent set-up Machinima, and makes you want more. If you're into World of Warcraft at all, this movie whets your appetite for more.
My review:
4/5 stars
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