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Red vs. Blue – The Blood Gulch Chronicles

A number of years ago, a friend introduced me to Red vs. Blue; available on the official website, this series of webisodes followed the adventures of two warring factions in a desolate box canyon named Blood Gulch. Originally intended as a very short series, the creators of RvB were overwhelmed with the positive response generated by their project; a six to eight episode stint turned into five seasons of hilarious goodness in the form of The Blood Gulch Chronicles, which is consequently now available as a six-disc DVD boxed set.

RvB employs a technique called machinima; a technique that uses real-time graphics engines to generate footage; in this case, enhanced gameplay is used from the Halo series, and then voiced over. In terms of the characters rendered, the level of facial expression is limited (this is an understatement), so the writing and voice acting have to be really sharp to make up for that deficit. RvB does not disappoint in this regard. Whether you are a gamer or not, at least a few of the jokes will appeal to you; there is something for everyone in this mixed-bag of messed-up humour.

The webisode chapters are not long, which is good because they don’t take a lot of time to watch; they are not good because their short duration makes it that much easier to convince yourself that watching another one will not really take up that much of your time; before you know it, you have watched an entire season! I’m not complaining, though. It’s worth the time.

Visually, the DVD version outclasses the original webisodes (at least, with the first few seasons this is very obvious) as the show fills the entire screen; the main selection on the DVD is chaptered to follow the webisodes. Sound is in Dolby Digital stereo and is good quality; I would have enjoyed a better mix, but given how these were done originally, they did a really good job.

The extras are also awesome. Character bios, commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, as well as the Public Service Announcements (you HAVE to watch these) make up the extra content on the first five discs. The sixth disc is a full bonus disc, with trailers, launch vids, cast and crew videos, as well as some bonus XBL movies. All in all, you couldn’t hope for a better offering on a DVD short of copies of the Halo series from Bungie.

I also loved the littel touches; DVD disclaimers that are usually serious (you know, the anti-piracy and parental discretion ones) are the exact opposite in this RvB set; completely irreverent. There are a number of Easter Eggs as well; I won’t mention them all, but one of my favourites is a menu on the fifth disc: it is obscured by an alien vehicle, which you can blow up.

If you are a fan of Red vs. Blue, and even if you are not, this box set is worth the money; originally $75 or so, the price seems to have fallen at some of the major online retailers. Even at the original price, this is awesome. Now get out there and grab this before someone throws it in the teleporter. Oh, and get me some headlight fluid while you’re out.

Posted in Reviews, Videos, Xbox 360 |