Drawn

The Act is touted as an “interactive film experience” but is, in essence, a traditionally-animated video game — the animation of which is created by a slew of ex-Disney employees. I got to play The Act in Ottawa at the animation festival, and it was a lot of fun. I was immediately reminded of Don Bluth’s forays into the video game world (Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace), but The Act differs in that it has a focus on subtlety and facial expressions built into the gameplay instead of fast-paced action. The control to the game was a single knob that, when rotated, would advance or retreat the main character’s actions or emotions between two extremes, and it was great fun to feel like I was controlling the animation. However, I did find that the controls, on the demo I played, were somewhat finicky and frustrating to get the feel of, but was told that there were still some kinks to be worked out. You can watch the trailer for the game on The Act’s website, although it really doesn’t give you a feel for how the game is played. As if a coin-op in a world dominated by home gaming systems wasn’t unconventional enough, the animation, controls, and nuance-based gameplay make The Act pretty unique. I hope it does well.