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Magnus Prologue vs. Shadowiii
Magnus Prologue MANGUS IS ON THE WAY TO DISTRUCTION
Pepsi Ranger
Download: 804 KB
V.S.
Shadowiii
Play Time: 0 hours and 8 minutes
Review # 17 for Shadowiii MANGUS IS ON THE WAY TO DISTRUCTION
Them's Fightin' Words
    The Magnus Sequel Marathon. Something that will go down as one of the most bizzare contest ideas of all time. For those who have been members of the community for a while, they should know very well what the MSM is. Basically it was a contest that spanned a few months in which a number of participants tried to create sequals to what has been officially dubbed the "Worst OHR Game of All Time": Magnus. The game was simple enough: you played Ryan and recruted "Alex" to go off and defeat evil...sort of. Except in Magnus the text was pratically ununderstandable and not even proper ENGLISH (I still think that game was made by someone whom English was his second language...)...but enough about that.

The sequals were, overall, not wonderful. People didn't take the contest seriously (I myself suffered from multiple hard drive crashes and accidental overwrites during that period so I'm not really one to be pointing fingers...) but overall it was about as successful as normal OHR Community Contests. The basic theme of the contest was to make a series of games that played as a series (one after the other). The trick was that you couldn't see the previous person's game...you were working in the dark. Tricky, yes. Funny, possibly. Sane? I think not.

Well, this was Pepsi Ranger (the creator of the contest)'s "entree," that is, his part in the story that was supossed to start it all off. It is a rather humerous piece of work, especially if you have played Magnus, because it almost takes Magnus seriously. Almost.

Another thing to remember is that this is an "OHR Movie"...a game where you just sit and watch it play. So grab some popcorn or chili dogs (...what?! That's what I eat at the movies!) and enjoy the show!
Graphics
    Graphicly, this game looks pretty decent. There are a few nice touches (the flying birds in the intro have shadows, but when they fly higher the shadows no longer are visible), as well as some impressive stuff (the town "zoom in" is pretty dang cool) but basically the graphics just...are. There isn't anything exquisate about them...they look generally good.

It is obvious, thought, that some thought has been put into detail. Characters have many, many "animations", from putting their sword down, to dropping a beer bottle out the door, to cutting a chair in half, to reading a book...there are many different little "movies" in this game using NPC manipulation that looks...very well done. The graphics add rather then degrade from the game...that is...they look wonderful and are animated very fluently. The graphics were good, they certainly dont' need improving, but they arent' amazingly gorgeous.
 
Storyline
    Ah...it is an OHR Movie, so it HAS to have a storyline right? Once again Pepsi powers up his "storyteller's flare" to give us what is probably the best story out of all the Magnus sequel games. It tells of a knight Fargus, who is out to find Alex (an original party member from Magnus) who finds the old man drunk, and completly ignorant of what happened eighty years before. Fargus tosses Alex a journal that contains the record of Alex's past adventures with Ryan. There are a few flashbacks, and then they reach the last page of the journal...it contains one word..."Magnus." What is Magnus? WEll, we never find out, even after the bloody sequels. This game leaves it open (for obvious reasons), so you'll play the sequels and decide. Eh.

The one thing I liked about the story most of all was the fact that it took Magnus seriously. That made it blazingly funny. The parody between Ryan (creator of Magnus)'s crappy rendition of the English language and Pepsi's genius storytelling makes the story downright hilarious. It also makes you want to play Magnus (Oh, Pepsi, how could you!? You've created a monster!) just to see what the HECK all these people are talking about. Of course, playign Magnus won't make any sense either, but what the hay, its all in good fun anyway. Or something.

Generally, this would make a fantastic opening sequence to a "professionally" done Magnus Sequel, so I guess it got the job done. It makes you want to play the sequels to find out if anyone resolves what the heck Magnus is...so it works. As for the overall storytelling...supurb as usual. The characters have some form of development, that is, they are interesting. The story seems decently crafted and is told very well. It works, and that is about all I can say.
 
Gameplay
    N/A  
  Battle
    N/A  
  Map Design
    N/A  
  Balance
    N/A  
Music
    Eh, I liked it better when I first watched it without music. Pepsi needed to snag a few more tunes, maybe even grab some from the original Magnus and throw 'em in for humor. :P But the tunes just...don't fit the mood. Ever. When Fargus read "Magnus" in the book, I wanted a "BUM BUM BUM!" to pop up and scare me. But it didn't. There wasn't any music. There is only about three or four songs in this entire "game"...it doesn't work out well. The music doesn't add ANYTHING to this, so it probably shouldn't even be there. I thought up better tunes when watching it silent.  
Enjoyment
    It was certainly fun, and I don't think I wasted my 8 minutes (thought I definatly could have spent it on something better). If you plan on playing the Magnus Sequel games, you should definatly play this one first to get the general feel. This game convays what Pepsi wanted the overall contest to convey: making light through seriousness an immensly stupid game. It works (not many Sequels do, though), so you can give it a shot. Heck, its only 8 minutes and is a decently small file. It's worth the download to see the well animated NPC's, to say the least.  
Final Blows
    Its an OHR movie. And the prologue to the Mangus Sequel games. It is basically what Pepsi wanted the contest to be like: semi-serious fun with a Magnus touch. If you plan on playing the sequel games, play this. If you plan on playing Magnus (or have played Magnus), play this. It was the most enjoyable of the sequels in my mind (well, there are a few that were pretty fun but this one was the only one I really "played through" more than once), and it certainly is good storytelling.

I only have one major complaint. Alex was black in Magnus, and he isn't in this game. That should definatly be fixed. :P

Get it for the animated NPC's, if nothing else. That alone is really awesome. :P
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<br>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Final Scores
Graphics: 7/10.0
The animated NPC's are nice. The graphics looks good overall. Better then Powerstick Man, definatly, and certainly the NPC's are nicer to look at.
Storyline: 6.5/10.0
Funny, and it does what it should. Any Magnus "fan" should watch it. Its funny. Yeah, that is about it. The storytelling is good too.
Gameplay: 1/10.0
N/A (disregard score)
Music: 4.5/10.0
I disliked it. I don't know if it is original or not (it sounded original) but it sure was place badly. BAH.
Enjoyment: 5.5/10.0
It was fun. Worth a few minutes of my life. Maybe. Being a Mangus "fan", I found it really funny. Give it a shot...its just a few minutes. Its my favorite MSM game, by the way.
Overall Grade: C
Final Thoughts
    I am Hercil not Hercol. Arrrr Guards  


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