In 2008, Electronic Arts released their video game, Dead Space to awaiting gamers. Simultaneously, they released a direct-to-video animated movie that served as a prequel to the story featured in the game. This film was called Dead Space: Downfall, and was jointly developed by EA and animation studio Film Roman (The Simpsons, King of the Hill). The story in the first Dead Space animated film concerned itself with a mining spaceship called the USG Ishimura and the troubles and horrors its crew encountered while on a mission on the planet Aegis VII as they fought against the alien Necromorphs. The ending of the first film segued into the beginning of the first video game.
Now, Electronic Arts and Film Roman are back with a new video game, Dead Space 2, and a new accompanying animated film, Dead Space: Aftermath – both to be released on Tuesday January 25, 2011. In this film, which takes place in between the first video game and the second, Earth has sent the USG O'Bannon, a first responder ship, to Aegis VII on a rescue mission to investigate what happened to both the crew of the Ishimura and Isaac Clarke, the protagonist of the Dead Space video game who was on the ship USG Kellion that answered the Ishimura's distress signal.
The main story of Dead Space: Aftermath is told mostly through flashback sequences as the four surviving crew members of the O'Bannon relate their horrific experiences on Aegis VII which are told through the talents of different animation directors. This gives each segment a different look and feel, which may be appealing to some and jarring to others as the same characters can look quite different from sequence to sequence. The film also mixes traditional two dimensional animation with CGI, and the results are uneven. We know that CGI and the 3D effect it creates are all the rage today, but we felt the 2D sequences to be much better done, more fluidly animated, and more visually interesting. We would have preferred the entire film to be done in 2D.
Clocking in at 78 minutes, the film is long enough so that its story feels sufficiently developed and not rushed or cramped. Just as in the first film and video game, this second animated film leads into the second game, which take place a couple of years later. The voice cast in Dead Space: Aftermath is quite good and includes names that will delight fans of science fiction: Christopher Judge (Teal'C on Stargate SG-1), Peter Woodward (Galen on Babylon 5 and Crusade), Graham McTavish (Red Dwarf, Peter Jackson's The Hobbit), Ricardo Chavira (Carlos on Desperate Housewives), and Gwendoline Yeo (Star Wars: The Clone Wars).
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FOR FANS OF THE VIDEO GAME SERIES: |
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FOR ANIMATION FANS & THE CURIOUS: |
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