TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
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This delivers everything we expect from a Pixar short. It's clever, funny, charming, sad but not overwhelmingly so, has something to say, the music and sound work are great and it is incredibly well animated. This one focuses on making it look just right when the clouds make babies. We all know the thing about small children being taught that storks bring newborns(and in case an actual kid is reading this review, I want to assure you, that is absolutely true). This one takes it to its logical extreme. It asks, what about the one that has to bring the dangerous ones?
I really loved how this so clearly communicates that even uncommon situations deserve to be addressed, and that all problems no matter what have solutions. The porcupine being thrown back and forth was hilarious, very well done slapstick. Recommended. 8/10.
I really loved how this so clearly communicates that even uncommon situations deserve to be addressed, and that all problems no matter what have solutions. The porcupine being thrown back and forth was hilarious, very well done slapstick. Recommended. 8/10.
Before I discuss filmmaking I will just briefly note as others have, it feels pretty exploitative to make something like this now. If it had come out 10 years prior that would not be the case. And if it had been a short film released for free instead of a $50 million theatrical movie that people paid to watch showing something that at the time and really still today there is an actual fear might happen.
The cinematography and editing are impeccable. It places as right there not giving us the comfortable distance that we're so used to. Other times there are swoops and pans That I'm only used to seeing in video games and stuff that's purely CG. Before drones cameras simply didn't move like this. The acting is excellent. It's no wonder Cailee Spaeny has been so praised in recent years. She and Kirsten Dunst playing against type are spot on.
The action strikes a delicate balance. Early on it is, if not exciting, certainly compelling. By the end it has gotten numbing without reaching tedious. People who've actually experienced combat will tell you that is an extremely accurate depiction. Ultimately this film is hurt a lot by a refusal to take a stand. There are definitely things that it is against and some that it is resigned to accept but when it really counts it is unwilling to make a clear statement. You end up wondering why it was made if it wasn't for that. I don't want to believe that Alex Garland just wanted to make money off one of the scariest times in modern history. Recommended. 8/10.
The cinematography and editing are impeccable. It places as right there not giving us the comfortable distance that we're so used to. Other times there are swoops and pans That I'm only used to seeing in video games and stuff that's purely CG. Before drones cameras simply didn't move like this. The acting is excellent. It's no wonder Cailee Spaeny has been so praised in recent years. She and Kirsten Dunst playing against type are spot on.
The action strikes a delicate balance. Early on it is, if not exciting, certainly compelling. By the end it has gotten numbing without reaching tedious. People who've actually experienced combat will tell you that is an extremely accurate depiction. Ultimately this film is hurt a lot by a refusal to take a stand. There are definitely things that it is against and some that it is resigned to accept but when it really counts it is unwilling to make a clear statement. You end up wondering why it was made if it wasn't for that. I don't want to believe that Alex Garland just wanted to make money off one of the scariest times in modern history. Recommended. 8/10.
This consists of two chapters, the first one of which is free, making this a really great entry point to the overall franchise. Adding to this is that the continuity can really be experienced in any order, so if you don't need to also not lose any money then you really can enter this at any time at least up to and including this one. I'm not going to make much distinction between the two throughout this, all I'll say is if you really get into one you'll like the other as well.
The second one does take the obscure puzzles to a new level even for these, but if you like any of the ones leading up to it you will have already seen that element of them, and presumably that is part of what you want more of if you keep going with these. And as usual there are hints, you just have to get on the right wavelength. And note that it is almost impossible to brute force these, there are simply too many different things you can do, it would take an absolute eternity.
Dale wakes up in a locked room. While it is nice looking, there is a sinister vibe to it and obviously it is always going to be off putting to realize that you seemingly cannot get out of where you are. Not to mention that he doesn't remember how he got there. This is easily the most claustrophobic of these if you go in Steam release order as I did. I understand that there are a bunch of other escape room ones in this series.
This does mean less interaction with NPCs, something they had been building in the ones leading up to this, and it really underlines how alone you find yourself in the circumstance here. They continue to really play with the illusion of freedom. Obviously there are countless ones similar to this where you are not given much choice and they never even pretend that you had it. That can work, it wouldn't here. When you are led to believe that you have it and then you realize that you do not, that has a different effect on you then if otherwise.
By this point they have completely eliminated those frustrating bits where you'll be trying to click on one thing and it'll think you were attempting another. The only annoyance that remains is that sometimes you cannot tell if you are meant to give something once, twice, three times a click in order to proceed. While I can imagine this is much less of an issue on touch screens than PC, I do think they should have addressed it once they made these ports.
This doesn't add any new features, rather using the old ones to great effect and there are a lot of incredibly varied brain teasers here. It does not feel like they were resting on their laurels. I greatly appreciate little things like that when you use the phone you actually have to properly dial, not merely clicking on the individual ones directly. On more than one occasion in this you travel through time without getting out of your confinement. In addition to this obviously just being plain wicked cool on its face, it also really opens up all the things you can hypothetically do which of course makes the challenge increase as you now have to keep track of even more.
This does not have as much of you doing something terrible in order to proceed, it's possible that they simply felt that they had pushed that as far as it could go, or maybe they were focusing on making this distinct from some of the others. It does retain the expert playing with expectation, something they share with the output of Frictional Games. Sometimes they will subvert and other times you had it exactly right when you thought you could see where they were going, and like a Grecian tragedy you are powerless to stop it. Only it's worse isn't it? Because you're actually causing some of these terrible things to happen.
Like the other parts of Rusty Lake, this is a point and click, with hidden object stuff going on albeit it is less about clicking on stuff that just looks like maybe there'll be something there. You interact using LMB, and can drag, which is how you use the aforementioned telephone. You have an inventory that stores items you gather that you then have to use at the right time and place. There is a real morbid sense of humor, where it uses the frailty of the human body as well as some functions thereof to strong impact. So when you see a person in this even though it might mean at least temporarily you are not the only one around, it might also indicate that something terrible is about to happen to them right in front of you, possibly even done by you.
This incorporates some live action footage, which I understand to be from the short film which I will watch and review when I've played the earlier Cube Escapes. It does clash with the heavily stylized graphics. I do not think this is a problem but I can imagine it might bother some so I thought it worth mentioning. It is definitely a very interesting idea to release something in another medium to go along with a video game, a lot of the time it's the other way around, a VG adaptation promoting the other piece.
This really delivers on the hook, and as usual the ending is a gut punch. The additions to the lore are compelling and I think it's great. As I make my way through these I really love piecing together what's actually going on and admire greatly their ability to have each of these add something without spoiling the rest of them. It reminds me of the Paranormal Activity movies. Strongly recommended. 8/10.
The second one does take the obscure puzzles to a new level even for these, but if you like any of the ones leading up to it you will have already seen that element of them, and presumably that is part of what you want more of if you keep going with these. And as usual there are hints, you just have to get on the right wavelength. And note that it is almost impossible to brute force these, there are simply too many different things you can do, it would take an absolute eternity.
Dale wakes up in a locked room. While it is nice looking, there is a sinister vibe to it and obviously it is always going to be off putting to realize that you seemingly cannot get out of where you are. Not to mention that he doesn't remember how he got there. This is easily the most claustrophobic of these if you go in Steam release order as I did. I understand that there are a bunch of other escape room ones in this series.
This does mean less interaction with NPCs, something they had been building in the ones leading up to this, and it really underlines how alone you find yourself in the circumstance here. They continue to really play with the illusion of freedom. Obviously there are countless ones similar to this where you are not given much choice and they never even pretend that you had it. That can work, it wouldn't here. When you are led to believe that you have it and then you realize that you do not, that has a different effect on you then if otherwise.
By this point they have completely eliminated those frustrating bits where you'll be trying to click on one thing and it'll think you were attempting another. The only annoyance that remains is that sometimes you cannot tell if you are meant to give something once, twice, three times a click in order to proceed. While I can imagine this is much less of an issue on touch screens than PC, I do think they should have addressed it once they made these ports.
This doesn't add any new features, rather using the old ones to great effect and there are a lot of incredibly varied brain teasers here. It does not feel like they were resting on their laurels. I greatly appreciate little things like that when you use the phone you actually have to properly dial, not merely clicking on the individual ones directly. On more than one occasion in this you travel through time without getting out of your confinement. In addition to this obviously just being plain wicked cool on its face, it also really opens up all the things you can hypothetically do which of course makes the challenge increase as you now have to keep track of even more.
This does not have as much of you doing something terrible in order to proceed, it's possible that they simply felt that they had pushed that as far as it could go, or maybe they were focusing on making this distinct from some of the others. It does retain the expert playing with expectation, something they share with the output of Frictional Games. Sometimes they will subvert and other times you had it exactly right when you thought you could see where they were going, and like a Grecian tragedy you are powerless to stop it. Only it's worse isn't it? Because you're actually causing some of these terrible things to happen.
Like the other parts of Rusty Lake, this is a point and click, with hidden object stuff going on albeit it is less about clicking on stuff that just looks like maybe there'll be something there. You interact using LMB, and can drag, which is how you use the aforementioned telephone. You have an inventory that stores items you gather that you then have to use at the right time and place. There is a real morbid sense of humor, where it uses the frailty of the human body as well as some functions thereof to strong impact. So when you see a person in this even though it might mean at least temporarily you are not the only one around, it might also indicate that something terrible is about to happen to them right in front of you, possibly even done by you.
This incorporates some live action footage, which I understand to be from the short film which I will watch and review when I've played the earlier Cube Escapes. It does clash with the heavily stylized graphics. I do not think this is a problem but I can imagine it might bother some so I thought it worth mentioning. It is definitely a very interesting idea to release something in another medium to go along with a video game, a lot of the time it's the other way around, a VG adaptation promoting the other piece.
This really delivers on the hook, and as usual the ending is a gut punch. The additions to the lore are compelling and I think it's great. As I make my way through these I really love piecing together what's actually going on and admire greatly their ability to have each of these add something without spoiling the rest of them. It reminds me of the Paranormal Activity movies. Strongly recommended. 8/10.