Videogame Nightmare 2

This review contains some spoilers.

Video games are great, aren't they? You spend many hours a week shooting at people's heads, beating up your rival with some flukey combos, levelling up your main character to make it as powerful as possible, and cleverly placing bombs around the arena to clinch victories. Some of us even join in the gaming world by getting out a dance mat and start dancing to 'Britney's Dance Beat'! Yes, I probably should play it before I bash it... But anyway, do you ever think 'wow, imagine if I was in a video game...'? Well, Videogame Nightmare 2 shows what it could potentially look like, when Mike and Justin get warped into the video game world for a second time. From shooters, party games and RPGs, the pair face all sorts of games, and they do this hilariously.

If you have watched Videogame Nightmare 1, you will notice that the animations, sceneries, voices, nearly everything, have been improved. Four years don't count for nothing! And the first game Mike and Justin encounter is Bomberman, a multiplayer classic. There really were some laugh-out-loud moments, and considering this was done first (if the directors have animated the movie in order), this is definitely an achievement. Chipped in with a couple of movie quotes, this is a solid, and very funny, start to the movie.

Another great highlight was the Mario Party sequence. People have said that it went on for too long, but as an ex-Mario Party gamer, I loved it! There were even some jokes which poked fun at their laziness, most notably the part where Mario and Yoshi (I loved the way Yoshi was put together, by the way) get replaced with two default actors. Mike Belfance and Justin Wawrzonek treat us to two 'Mario Party' mini-games they thought up, and boy were they hilarious! They have such creative minds, and I can see why directors like Daniel Martin take a lot of inspiration from them. They are like idols!

You will see other games such as Pokémon (take a look at the 'colour' version) and a hilarious few minutes of SNK vs. Capcom, before we get to my favourite bit of the movie. I really badly want to tell you all about it, but that would partly ruin the greatness of it. Let's just say that it is short, sweet, and is backed with with a very well-chosen piece of music. Are you one of those retro gamers? Well, don't worry, this is for you too! Videogame Nightmare 2 has Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, and even Pong making appearances, and any dedicated gamer of any generation should have a blast watching this. And believe it or not, there is still time for a couple of twists, taking place in Atari Land! Develop this with a sequence involving a hilarious cross between The Matrix and Mentos, along with some wonderfully funny dialogue, voiced superbly, and you have yourself a winner in this stint of the movie. Even the comedy hit show, Friends, makes a brief appearance!

Unfortunately, the ending was not as good as the earlier fast-paced hilarious action scenes, but it is still satisfying, listening to some dialogue for a change. Any other negative points? Since people are moaning about the use of MIDIs in Videogame Nightmare 2, I feel like I should cover this. WHO CARES? Seriously. As long as you turn the MIDI volume down via the Volume Control (look for SW Synth) to just less than half, you won't notice at all. After all, the music is extremely catchy and effectively suits the games involved, like you expect. Actual tunes from Bomberman, Mario Party, and Pokémon are all here, and so the music gets a big thumbs up from me! Anyone who complains about the use of MIDIs should watch this movie first without any biased opinions.

With a total runtime of around 45 minutes, this is certainly not a short movie. If you love comedy and consider yourself to be a dedicated gamer, this is a must-see. Too long for your liking? Make time! Don't miss out on one of the best comedies ever made in 3DMM! Deservedly winning Best Comedy in the 2003 3dmm.com Awards, you would be really stupid to think up of all these crap excuses on why you should not watch the hilarious Videogame Nightmare 2. Stop kidding yourself. Call yourself a gamer? Well, prove it and watch this movie!

Score: 96/100