Alright guys you know that I am a pretty savvy internet guy but even I could not believe the video I picked up yesterday.
I present to you Team Fortress 2: RED vs BLU!
I knew I was in for a treat true to the source when I stopped to analyze the opening sequence. The camera pan when Zebediah Mann realizes that his idiot sons have purchased a sand pit is priceless, as he immediately takes ill and falls into a coma bed, a clear homage to the hidden death-bed scene from the blog update.
The upbeat and super-heroic song is also pretty clever, designed specifically for Sniper. After the first episode I have to wonder if they won't slightly remodel the opening for the other eight classes. He and Spy were clearly the thrust of this promo episode, although I bet the Spy could easily enough get a Lupin homage and his own intro.
D'aaaaw.
Maintaining a snappy beat and poignant writing, we spend the main episode thrusting back and forth between conflicting points of view, between the RED Spy and the BLU Sniper. Each clearly views the other as a dangerous psychotic, completely untrustworthy and ultimately perverted and evil. The resolution near the end, [spoiler]where, as the Spy claims he never really was on your side, the Sniper switches teams and assumes the iconic opening's heroic RED Sniper persona[/spoiler] had me giddy.
There's several game-specific jokes since this episode takes place on 2fort, including mentions and a hilarious flashback of how exactly Zebediah's sons managed to build their forts next to each other. I also loved the way that the non-story Snipers were portrayed as cardboard cut-outs.
The second half of the promo was split between two minisodes, one high-lighting the sadistically comical domination of a Scout by a sinister Medic! There's a lot of clear homages to Japanese styles of horror and techniques, punctuated chillingly with sounds lifted straight from the game!
I shivered when the Scout seemed to finally drag himself away near the end.. only for [spoiler]the Medic's critical bonesaw sound and a domination sound clip. That poor boy's scream.. shiver.[/spoiler]
Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be a terribly strict canon here, which is pretty important for a setting in which any given cast member can be expected to die repeatedly. RED Scout returns for a classic full-comedy episode with everybody's favorite mute, RED Pyro. Kind of interesting that they got
Yuriko Yamaguchi to do the Pyro's voice. It's still a great deal of highly muddled mumbles, but occasionally that distinctive tone sneaks through. I wouldn't have known if not for the credits, though!
All in all I am highly impressed by the standard of quality and dedication set here in any work Valve does with their source material, but that's really just their own standard of excellence by now, isn't it?
I can't wait for a State release! Or for the promised Left 4 Dead promo...
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Topic: TF2 Anime Promo (Read 19976 times)