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Realm Pictures, a UK video and photography studio, follows up its first real-life FPS project for ChatRoulette with a new and slightly different take on the concept.
A couple of months ago, Realm Pictures gave ChatRoulette, Omegle, and Skype users a fun and unsuspected treat, by allowing them to direct the actions of a character in a real-life FPS zombie shooter. Now, the creators of the incredibly clever presentation have added another wrinkle to the idea, setting “Level 2” in deep space aboard an alien ship filled with infected walking dead.
As with the previous YouTubevideo, the protagonist is controlled with voice commands rather than the traditional gaming set up of a controller or mouse and keyboard. However, this time around, the production value is decidedly higher, with an entire industrial plant rigged with ominous lighting, smoke machines, and high-tech props to resemble an environment that wouldn’t be out of place in sci-fi horror titles like Dead Space or Alien: Colonial Marines .
As the character progresses throughout the ship, the clip makes references to different video games—for example, the protagonist eventually arms himself with a gun reminiscent of the MA5C Assault Rifle that can be found in Halo 5: Guardians —as well as science fiction cinema, with George Lucas’ first feature film THX 1138 getting a nod. After players successfully navigate the “map”, Realm Pictures teases a continuation of the series with a “Level 3”, which is rife with potential.
Taking the commercial viability of a true-to-life FPS into consideration, it might prove beneficial for game developers to at least look into the concept of Realm Pictures’ creation. After all, studios are always attempting to innovate and make titles more realistic for players. And now that virtual reality headsetsare becoming more prevalent, the industry could start moving toward producing releases for a more immersive and shared gaming experience, by pairing up livestreamed gameplay with in-game action being dictated or suggested by fans completely on the other side of the planet.
Nevertheless, many would argue that such technology isn’t really feasible at the moment. Not to mention, it will be probably a long time before similarly-themed releases such as Vertigo Games’ admittedly impressive VR zombie title Arizona Sunshine become the norm, as there will undoubtedly still be kinks to work out of virtual reality and augmented reality as a whole.
What did you think of Realm Pictures’ “Level 2” video? Do you think it was better than “Level 1”? Now that the team has done survival horror and sci-fi, which genre do you believe should be given the real-life FPS treatment next?
Source: Realm Pictures – YouTube