Darkstar: The Interactive Movie is an interactive video game written, produced, edited, animated and directed by J. Allen Williams, owner of the American animation studio Parallax Studio. It starred actor Clive Robertson and original actress from the Mystery Science Theater 3000 series (Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Joel Hodgson, Mary Jo Pehl, and J. Elvis Weinstein). The game also features an animation by comic book artist Richard Corben and is the latest work of actor Peter Graves, who recounts the game. Darkstar was released online on November 5, 2010 through the company website and can be downloaded through the First Strategy. It was re-released in stores December 9, 2011 in the UK and Ireland via Lace Mamba Global.
Video Darkstar: The Interactive Movie
Interactive movies
Darkstar is different from the standard game format because it contains more than thirteen hours of live action movie - far more than the previous full-motion video games. CEO Creator and Parallax Studio J. Allen Williams gave a brief description of the project to the website Little Disappeared:
Maps Darkstar: The Interactive Movie
Plot
The player is Captain John O'Neil from Westwick . You are awakened from cryogenic sleep that has stretched over 300 years. As a result of too long hibernation, you have no memory of who you are, where you are, or why you are there. Next to you there are three other bedrooms. One is empty, the other is occupied by a beautiful woman, and in the last room there is the dead body of a man - 300 years old who died and lost his left hand.
Your ship is damaged and helplessly floating in the terrible Theta Alpha III orbit. An unknown crew member has deleted any data explaining why this happened.
You know, apart from emptiness and sadness, that someone in cold silence awaits you.
And, as if the day was not bad enough, the Earth had been destroyed for three centuries.
Cast
Darkstar has about thirteen hours of live action film including actors from all real actors. It stars Clive Robertson as Westwick Captain John O'Neil. It also features all the original players of Mystery Science Theater 3000 including creator Joel Hodgson as Scythe Commander Kane Cooper, Trace Beaulieu as Westwick First Officer Ross Perryman, Frank Conniff as both Westwick Navigator Alan Burk and the sound of unique robot SIMON (Semi Intelligent Motorized Observation Network), Mary Jo Pehl as Captain Beth Ingram Bridgebuilder and computer voice Westwick Main, and J. Elvis Weinstein as Galactic Discovery II Captain Cedrick Stone. Also from MST3K is Beth "Beez" McKeever as Westwick Pilot Paige Palmer who starred in Clive Robertson. Darkstar is also the latest work of actor Peter Graves.
In addition to Clive Robertson and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 player, the cast has a cast of almost fifty actors, almost all locals to Springfield, Missouri, and the surrounding area.
Production
Darkstar was written, produced, animated, edited, and directed by J. Allen Williams for nearly a decade. Although most credit is given to Williams alone, a number of others contribute to enormous production. The additional animation for Darkstar was performed by a prolific American illustrator and comic artist Richard Corben best known for his "Den" character featured in the 1981 Heavy Metal film and for his comics displayed in a magazine of the same name. Other important crew members include cinematographer Roger Jared, co-producer Mark L. Walters, electronic media producer Dahlia Clark, and composer Jimmy Pitts, Bill Bruce, and J. Allen Williams.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Darkstar was composed and featured by Jimmy Pitts (keyboard and piano), Bill Bruce (guitar and percussion), and J. Allen Williams (bass guitar) under the "Progressive Sound And MetalWorx" moniker. Two other players include Brent Frazier (guitar) and James Lee Dillard (percussionist). Additional music to be composed by Ruell Chappell, original member of Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Although the soundtrack was originally intended to feature more than an hour of music by rock band Rush, negotiations with Universal Music were finally disbanded and Williams was forced to replace most of the recordings with completely original scores.
The soundtrack was released simultaneously with the game and featured 38 music tracks on the 2-disc set.
The reception for the soundtrack has been positive. In a review of Darkstar on diehardgamefan.com, Alex Lucard rated the soundtrack as "Unrivaled" and wrote, "It is without a doubt one of the best [ sic ] scores that I hear throughout the year. "
Reception
Darkstar: The Interactive Movie received a negative response from the game's critics. In Metacritic's review aggregator, this game has a weighted average of 36% that shows "generally unfavorable reviews." Reviewer criticizes acting, stories, looks and technology.
Game TM gives the game 1/10, saying "It's not a game." PC PowerPlay also reviewed it negatively, with 2/10 review they called Darkstar "Crime. Send this one to the colony." XGN gave it 1/10, saying "Whatever you do, do not go and buy Darkstar: The Interactive Movie.This is one of the worst games we've ever played."
In contrast, Drummond Doroski from Adventure Gamer gave it 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "This is not a game for everyone, as some will definitely be turned off by the rarity and simplicity of the puzzle, while others may not be happy returning to the days of famous live actors as their game characters, especially when some acting reminds us why this is not always a good idea. "
References
External links
- Official website
- Darkstar: The Interactive Movie on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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