Scourge Of The Worlds - A Dungeons And Dragons Adventure

Starring: Dan Hay, Lester Rosenthal Director: Dan Krech Original UK Premiere: 2003 Dvd Release: 6th October, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Animated, Colour, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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DVD Extras: Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure fills the DVD with the 900-plus animated sequences, presumably leaving no room for extras. The only options are between stereo sound & far more involving Dolby Digital 5.1. The image appears to have been taken directly from a digital master & is flawless, the images only limited by the TV-standard computer rendering.

Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure is not a film sequel to Dungeons & Dragons , but the DVD equivalent of an interactive role-playing novel. There are over 900 short digitally animated sequences, leading every so often to a choice to be made with the remote control, resulting after about 90 minutes in one of four possible endings.

Just as the original D&D was inspired by The Lord of the Rings, the scenarios here are Tolkien rehashed: a newly arisen darkness is seeking an ancient ultimate weapon, against which stand a human warrior, Regdar, a halfling, Lidda & an elven wizard, Mialee. The CGI is closer to Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles than the pseudo-realism of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the electronic score is tiresome & the contemporary American voice acting, using such expressions as heads up & …or something, is laughable.

What of the interactive element? Essentially it offers two equally uninteresting paths at the end of every major scene, uninteresting because its impossible to care what happens to the marionette-like stereotypes no matter what they do. While the adventure does offer plenty of well-choreographed cartoon-style action, interacting with Scourge of Worlds is ultimately about as much fun as watching someone else play a computer game, & thats just the first time through.

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