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Christmas Competition - Meph
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| Author |
File Description |
Mephiles
(id: Titan602) |
Posted on 01/08/09 @ 11:47 AM
| File Details |
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| Version: |
AoM: The Titans |
The Nativity - by Mephiles
Christmas has got nothing to do with a fat man in red, or a tree with lights on. It's about the birth of Jesus Christ, which marked the beginning God's plan to rid the world of sin. Learn about the entire story here.
If you wish to review in the style of The Christmas Competition please use this template:
Camera Tracks x/10
Effects x/20
Object use x/20
Storyline x/25
Creativity x/25 |
| Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
|---|
| Secret |
Posted on 01/19/09 @ 03:56 PM |
Mephiles
(id: Titan602)
File Author |
Posted on 01/19/09 @ 03:58 PM |
| rakovsky |
Posted on 11/08/20 @ 08:36 PM
There was no problem in terms of Playability, as it was a cinematic of cutscenes.
Balance: 5
Likewise, there was no balance problem, because it was a cinematic scenario.
Creativity: 5
The Creativity was great because it brought together lots of elements as well as several parts of the longer story- it started with a globe spinning and then began with a Creation story, and then it showed different segments. The segments had music tracks as well as sound effects like blips resembling people typing, and the camera followed the figures in an overhead way and also in a bystander body height fashion, like with a movie animation. I really liked how the movie ended with the presenter who talks directly to the camera turns out to be the angel who appeared to Joseph, and this implies that all along, the narrator is that angel.
Map Design: 5
This goes along wonderfully with what I said in the Creativity section. It combined neat features like typewriter blips for the dialogue, camera tracking, and neat scenes like Mary and Joseph walking with a donkey in the desert/wilderness.
Story/Instructions: 4
This is one area for a bit of improvement. It would have helped to have instructions for installing the scenario. For the record, the contents of the Sound folder in the downloaded zip file serve as the direct contents for what you should put in your Age of Mythology folder's sound folder. I take it that you should leave the contents of the Typewriter folder in that Typewriter folder and then copy and paste that Typewriter folder into your sound folder in your AOM folder on your PC. This worked for me.
The Story was also really good. Two notes: First, in the video, the angel appeared to Joseph in a field after Mary walked away from him there, whereas in Matthew 1, the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream. I guess that the dream could have been one where Joseph was in a field, but the video didn't suggest that it was a dream. Second, historically the Holy Family probably stayed in a cave with the animals. This is because in 1st Century Judea, an animals' stable like in this situation would have been a cave like those known to be in that area. And there is a tradition about the manger being in a cave. This I think is not really a big criticism though because you have artistic license and people usually think of the manger as being in a stable.
One place where it could be improved is to give the meaning of the magis' gifts. The video says that each gift had an important meaning, but then it doesn't share the meaning.
Additional Comments:
The Scenario Designer wanted a special kind of rating filled out, which I'll give below:
Camera Tracks 10/10
Effects 20/20
Object use 17/20
Storyline 20/25
Creativity 22/25
The camera Tracks, effects, and creativity were great- I didn't see problems there.
I expect that Object use could have been better. For instance, in one of the opening scenes, there are a pack of people in cloaks fighting apparently with swords. They swing the swords and it sounds like people are getting hurt. But meanwhile no one falls over and it's not clear that the blows land on each other. So it looks weird as if they could be dancing or chopping wheat in the field that they are in.
I don't really remember seeing a baby in the video, but that might not have been one of the available units, in which case this is not really a criticism. I guess if you have no baby unit, then you could just show the outside of an animal cave and pretend that the baby is hid from view by animals.
Age of Mythology has sheep or goat units that can be used to help depict shepherds. But maybe you used the sheep units and I just don't remember them.
As far as the Storyline goes, I covered that earlier in this review. The Designer could add some things to give a better explanation, like: Why was Joseph in the field with Mary in one scene? What is the meaning of each gift of the magi? Still, it was actually a neat story and I liked how it came together with the angel at the end. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.8 | | Breakdown |
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| Playability | 5.0 | | Balance | 5.0 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 5.0 | | Story/Instructions | 4.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 237 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 9.38 MB |
| Added: | 01/08/09 |
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