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This review appeared in the February 5, 2010 issue of Imprint.
Jacob McLellan, Staff reporter
Final FASSity MMX, directed by Amos Boratto, is the wet dream of every gamer and still a fun, entertaining show for anyone with limited knowledge of games. Despite being a play, it uses audience involvement and text-directions let the audience direct the show as if it was a game.
Final FASSity MMX, chiefly written by Anna Kreider, succeeds due to the careful thought that was put into the jokes. There is a great balance between jokes that the average person would get, such as Mario doing a lot of mushrooms, and jokes that only the geekiest gamer would understand, such as the inclusion of the Konami Code.
The play's plot does run a tad long with its extended cutscenes, a few of which could have been excluded as there were many parts that didn't advance the plot. Sometimes, in the creation stages, you have to kill your babies. Maybe the scene is hilarious and maybe it's your favourite, but a director and writer has to realize that if you're struggling to fit your game within a three hour time-frame, something is wrong.
Length aside, Final FASSity MMX's story was engaging and entertaining. The characters were true to their original counterparts and their roles fit in great. For a game with such an immense number of characters, the writers did a spectacular job of keeping the characters' personalities original and captivating.
The only bothersome characters were Link and Zelda. Link should not have talked. Not to say that Alexander Huynh acted poorly or that his part wasn't funny, but his role would have been just as great if he only used an expressive “hyahhhh” when something happened to him. Zelda was great in her role, but seeing how Sheik fit into the mould of hero or princess would have been interesting.
The story is expansive, following multiple characters and plot lines that all converge near the end, but it is by no means complex. The main story is about game continues being gone and the heroes becoming secluded wimps who fear death at every turn.
The costume designs were spot on, making most characters instantly recognizable. The astute watcher and gamer would have a hay-day naming the horde of heroes and villains that came from different games, consoles, and decades. It was like Kingdom Hearts on crack - with all the imported characters, but luckily you don't have to sit for a hundred millennia before seeing so much as a Sebastian the Crab (to paraphrase MC Chris, comedian gamer).
The costumes appeared to eat up the bulk of FASS's budget since the environment designs were rather ineffectual. For the most part, the environment was there but it wasn't interacted with and it was usually fairly hard to discern what one particular eight-bit piece of cardboard was from another. However, this game's focus was the characters,the music, and the dialogue, not the set design; It never stifled a guffaw or hindered a snigger.
The characters' actions were highly animated, the singers were spectacular, and the staging was exemplary. Ansem from Kingdom Hearts, played by Brian Gashgarian, had the most animated facial expressions. Just watching his eyes made me double up as he looked upon his underlings with maniacal smirks and vexed frowns.
All of the singers were on key, but Ian Thompson's rendition of “I Feel Evil” was exceptionally wonderful. His loud, low, and arrogant voice carried throughout the room. It was a laugh hearing such an obviously arrogant character singing that belittling tune.
Managing to give so many characters time on screen is a huge feat. Director Amos Boratto did a admirable job staging the characters. He was obviously very anal about keeping characters from blocking each other.
The nostalgic sounds from Mario, Mortal Kombat, and various other popular games were, for the most part, properly timed. They added an element of comical hilarity to complement the game's pre-established nature. The play included multiple musical numbers that were adapted from popular pieces such as “Those Canaan Days” (“Those Evil Days”) from Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, the Pinky and the Brain Theme song (“Headcrab and Dr. Sid”), and I Feel Pretty (“I Feel Evil”).
The songs were a lot of fun and always added to the game's exuberance. The musical numbers were played by the live band flawlessly to the point that they seemed pre-recorded until a flute played an unfortunate off-note during a solo in I Feel Evil. Although, at times it was hard to hear the singers, the fact that it was a closed beta (dress rehearsal), showed me that these levelling issues should be worked out by the release date.
The controls (that is, the audience interaction) were gimmicky and fickle and can be best compared to the Wiimote. Although it's fun to flail about screaming and pretending you're in control of the characters, the decisions, and the overall outcome of the play, the controls aren't precise. It's like playing Fable: sure you can choose between raiding a farm and defending a farm, but the overall plot structure remains the same.
Final FASSity MMX's coding (techies) deserves its own section because of what it accomplished and how cleanly it accomplished it. The game was three hours long, complete with an immense number of actors had around 25 scenes and at least one hundred audio and lighting cues. To load the scenes smoothly, execute the audio and lighting effects, and prompt the miscellaneous commands as seamlessly as Final FASSity MMX's coding did is absolutely amazing.
With three hours of cut-scenes and a broken pause button that paused and resumed at will (after the first act for 15 minutes), this particular game needs to be shelved for a while before playing it again unless you enjoy fifteen hours of farming straight on World of Warcraft. But, when you put that disc in again there are many easter eggs, side quests, and hidden references that can keep you entertained for hours.
Monday's closed-beta release ended with dwarfed but enthusiastic applause from the five audience members, but from opening night to closing, this game will get the applause it deserves from a room full of gamers.
Final FASSity MMX is still playing at the Humanities Theatre Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m., 10 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 6 at 8 p.m.
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