Monthly Archives: May 2016

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Posted on by

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is coming out for blu-ray and digital download next week on May 31,  which made me realize that I never said anything about it here on Blogging Dead. So here are some thoughts on a marketing piece released with the film and a brief review of the movie itself. 

Zombify Yourself

Since I’ve extensively covered The Walking Dead’s Dead Yourself app, I thought I’d check out a similar feature that Sony Pictures released as part of the film’s marketing called Zombify Yourself. The press release announcing said feature said that after users visit the site they can upload or take a photo and facial recognition software will create a gif of them transforming into the decaying undead. That gif can then be shared easily across social networks or via text with friends.

My attempt at Zombifying Myself

My attempt at Zombifying Myself

I was skeptical, but I gave this feature a shot anyway, only to find out that it’s pretty boring. All you really do is upload the photo and the feature does the rest. There’s no personality or customization. And it doesn’t even really look that cool. The resulting gif might be sharable, although I don’t think I’d really want to show it to anyone. I’m reluctant to even share it with you. The transformation part happens so quickly and looks like such crap. It might be better if it was more gradual. My main issue with it though is basically the same one I have with the movie itself, it doesn’t to commit enough to the zombie premise to be engaging. So on that note, I will share my brief review of the film.

 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Review

The cast of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies doesn’t have enough Pride and Prejudice or zombies fully please fans from either camp. On paper, the mash up of Jane Austen and the undead seems entertaining, and for the first few minutes of the film it is, as you see the comical juxtaposition of 19th century English propriety against the brutal utility of what’s needed to the survive the zombie apocalypse. However the entire thing feels like one joke that overstays its welcome, just like the flamboyant character played by Matt Smith, who shows up in way too many scenes. The movie doesn’t deliver nearly enough action or contribute anything interesting to mythology to be a good zombie movie. In fact, it gets so hung up laughing at its own joke that it forgets to even explain how the undead are dispatched in this world. It also doesn’t give you enough of Austen’s characters or plot to be engaging. The only decent performance comes from Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet, who has almost no one to play off aside from her father (Charles Dance) or a warrior woman (Lena Headey). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has a zombified 19th century exterior, but it’s missing the substantive guts to make it a memorable, satisfying experience.

✭✭ ½  out of  ✭✭✭✭✭

Fear the Walking Dead Neighbors 2 Promo

Posted on by

I love zombies. I love Seth Rogen. I laughed my ass off during both Neighbors movies. So I should love this Fear the Walking Dead promo for Neighbors 2, or rather this fake pitch for “Neighbors 3: Zombies Rising,” where Mac (Seth Rogen) and Teddy (Zac Efron) take on zombies. The fact that Seth Rogen wields a longsword and that he disagrees with Zac Efron on whether to dispatch zombified fraternity brothers seems like it could be hilarious. Except the whole affair is as sad and unfunny as the joke Rogen cracks in the promo’s beginning about accidentally killing his hamster as a child because he sat on it. What a letdown.

The Walking Dead – No Man’s Land

Posted on by
The Walking Dead No Man's Land

The Walking Dead No Man’s Land

I love videogames, but I’m not really into playing them on phones, since their screens are usually small and the controls for mobile games are generally terrible. That’s probably why it has taken me so long to download No Man’s Land, the official Walking Dead mobile game. I finally broke down though, and decided to try it.

No Man’s Land is fun, so I could see how obsessive gamers who delight in micromanaging characters and camps could get addicted to it, however I’m far from hooked. Part of my middling sentiment comes from its controls (which aren’t great) and the other part comes from the type of game it is (not one of my favorites). Is No Man’s Land worth your time? Here’s a breakdown of the game in greater detail so you can decide.

Story: There’s not much story from what I can tell so far other than the game’s setup. You control a group of three survivors who escape from Terminus and are rescued by Daryl Dixon in the process. Daryl becomes your guide, telling you where to go next or encouraging you to undertake missions through dialogue boxes. Missions involve you killing walkers to acquire items or points you can use toward them. Once you complete all the missions for a particular area you can move on to new ones.

Graphics: The graphics for cutscenes in the game are amazing. If you told me a few years ago that mobile games could achieve these visuals without killing your phone’s battery I would have never believed you. During regular gameplay though, graphics are just okay, particularly on loading screens and when the game zooms out to a wider view during missions.

Controls: You tap items on screen with your fingers, and move characters by dragging your fingers across the screen. This element of the game is especially frustrating. Sometimes the game is under-responsive to your tapping, while other times it is over-responsive. Plus, dragging your finger across the screen in even slightly the wrong direction, can move your character in such a way that they could accidentally finish a turn and be sitting ducks to get damaged by walkers.

Game Type: It’s somewhere between an RPG and a strategy game. During a mission, battles take place in a turn format, where you are limited to a number of moves per turn, and zombies have the opportunity to fight back while you’re waiting for the next turn. When you’re between missions, you have a camp with various areas where you can build things, train characters, and work toward upgrades. You can change who is in your party and you can also adjust the armor and items that they use.

Is it Worth Your Time?: So in the end, is No Man’s Land worth it? Depends on the type of gamer you are. If you get easily addicted to performing repetitive missions and you love micromanaging characters to build them up, then yeah, you’ll probably dig the game. If you prefer something more story-driven with better controls and more challenging puzzles, then you’re better off checking out Telltale’s episodic Walking Dead games on console or PC. Those games are much more fascinating since the decisions you make can affect the entire course of your game. Look out for posts on those in the future too.

No Man’s Land is available for iPhone in the App Store and on Android on the Google Play.