Cutscene Animation Research

https://mike-skelcher-specialism.blogspot.com/

Shadow of Mordor this game is an open world role playing game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. This game was released for the PS4, Xbox One and PC in September 2014 there was also a later release for the earlier consoles the PS3 and Xbox 360 this was released in November 2014 The game takes place within The Lord of the Rings universe although this is non-canon this game takes place within the time gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The player will take control of Talion a Ranger who horrifically loses his family by the Black Hand of Sauron and his minions, from this as they go to take out Talion himself he gets possessed and ultimately saved by the wraith of an elven lord known as Celebrimbor. The two then set out on their path of vengeance for the death of Talions loved ones and Celebrimbor wants to find his memories to seek who he really is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8HMLc9K1iA

The player will have access to an assortment of abilities both from Talion using your sword to slice and dice your way through combat and they will also be able to control Celebrimbor where the player will enter the world of the wraith to gain intel on the target, use a mystical bow and other assortments of power that no mortal man can possess. Each of these skills will be improving as the game progresses to better aid the player in taking down hordes of orcs. The interesting thing about this game is the Nemesis system, the Nemesis system will allow A.I to remember previous actions against them if you kill them during the gameplay they may show back up at a later point with an injury you caused with the aim to take vengeance fighting harder than they did prior to this event. If they should kill you in this process and you meet them again they will berate you for losing the battle to them this process will continue through their fight to become a war-chief the only definitive way to kill these orcs is to cut off their heads. This system is great because not only have you got the written antagonist's in the story but you can create your own rivalry with other characters in the game and they can last till after you have defeated the main villain of the game, this will also add to the replay value of the game having an option to create your own enemy through fighting an endless battle with an orc.

inFamous Second Son is an action adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions it’s a PlayStation exclusive and used to be in competition with the prototype games for the Xbox this was due to the similarities in gameplay, this inFamous game is the 3^rd instalment in the franchise and was released for the PS4 21^st march 2014 it was among the first games for the new generation of consoles.

The game begins with the introduction of the main protagonist for this game Delsin Rowe who is a member of the Akomish tribe a fictional native American tribe in the small town of Salmon Bay. The game takes place in Washington a few miles out from Seattle, through the introduction to the start of the game we are also introduced to an old lady known as Betty and a police officer named Reggie, Delsin's older brother. We start off with Delsin doing graffiti art on the wall and to do this the game has the player turn the controller sideways and shake it, while the player is shaking the controller the sound of a rattling spray-can is heard through the speaker on the controller this is a really great effect to give the player more immersion in the goings on within the game world. Delsin then begins his run as his brother is chasing him down for a celebration at the long house which Delsin has failed to attend, upon reaching the long house Reggie greats him at the door and they have a little argument when suddenly an out of control security truck slides down the road, the player then takes control of Delsin as the burning wreckage of the trucks destruction happens all around him. We then hear a voice of a man yelling out for help so the player finds the source and it's a man named Frank he is a convict who was being escorted to prison and got himself pinned under the truck, Frank thanks Delsin for the help when suddenly Reggie returns Frank being afraid that Reggie is going to take him back to prison grabs Delsin and absorbs the embers of the flames this is when the first power is introduced to the game, Delsin then tries to stop Hank from shooting anything at Reggie by grabbing his arm at which point Delsin absorbs the power. Later through this opening segment Delsin is chasing down Hank for answers until they run through several buildings and Hank leaves, when Delsin follows him he is greeted at the other side by the leader of the Militia group known as the D.U.P her name is Augustine she is trapping Hank in concrete. Augustine is the main antagonist of the story her aim is to capture all the magic users known as conduit's and take them to her custom built military base for intense training.

The ability to use super powers in this game is what makes it so fun to play unlocking more of them as the story progresses, to help the fun aspect of the game the animations for these moves are great making you feel like you are in control of this superhero or super villain depending on how you choose to play using the karma system which will adapt the world to your play-style. However there have been reports that the animations for pretty much everything have remained the same as previous instalments of the game for example the running, climbing and combat are the exact same to the previous instalments with the exception of the dash through vent teleportation ability which was newly added to this game. I personally didn't play the other inFamous games so this worked great for me and I had a great time playing the game. The facial animations in this game and the cutscenes are still some of the best in games today the fine details in the characters faces as they talk is brilliant, for example the laugh lines on characters move as they speak which works really well to add to the realisation of these characters.

The trailer opens with the sound of spray cans and several different colours spraying across the screen, the main protagonist Delsin is then revealed looking at his work it’s all peaceful Reggie and Delsin having a conversation about Delsin's power, there is then a quick montage of the abilities that Delsin has as he is taking down some soldiers, then the camera cuts back to Reggie and Delsin talking about what the aim of their mission is, we are then shown more power montages this works really well to set up the story and the path that Delsin should take to fix the wrong doings in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNfJvFnzc8

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an RPG developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published By Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games, the game was released for PC, Xbox 360 in March 2006 and a later release came for the PlayStation March 2007 there was also a mobile release for the game 2^nd May 2006.

The game takes place 6 years after the events of Morrowind in 3E 433 the Emperor Uriel Septim VII (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is fleeing through the prisons trying to escape an assassination after learning that his sons had met the same fate, this is when our created player will meet Uriel Septim and travel with him to escape prison ourselves. During the escape of the prison Uriel Septim becomes cornered by 2 assassins the player is stuck and can’t do anything to help him and so finally he meets the end of his days, as he dies he passes the player the Amulet of Kings of which we must get this to Martin Septim (voiced by Sean Bean) the Emperor's illegitimate son and the future Emperor, the player will then emerge from prison into the fictional place known as Cyrodill on the continent of Tamriel and is then free to do whatever they choose you’re not restricted by the main quest-line.

 

As this is game created by Bethesda when the player finally escapes the prison and the shackles are off they are free to go and do whatever they want, the world space for exploration in this game is massive taking the player well over 172 hours to complete everything the game has to offer, the world space here is great looking especially for a game that was released in 2006 its filled with colourful surroundings, large woodland areas, built up city's and dark creepy dungeons. There are several different guilds the player can align with in this game such as the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood a group of assassins that take out people once someone has prayed to the Night Mother who is the matriarch of the family, finally the Arena where the player can fight for Honour and become the Grand Champion. The games general animation are not the best that games have to offer they are the clunky and repetitive, so from this the modding community on the PC versions of the game have completely overhauled them. However if you were to play this game on the console the animations will not be the best you have ever seen they become very repetitive very quickly striking the sword it swings left and right, and casting spells by throwing your left arm up in the air or out in front of the player. But this game series has never been known for being the pinnacle of animation it’s about the exploration and having repetitive animations in a game as big as oblivion doesn't matter, the game is about exploring the great world that has been crafted, the world space does enough to keep the player intrigued and it’s still one of the best games that I have ever played.

The trailer for Oblivion opens with a monologue of Uriel Septim telling the audience that he has reigned over the region for 65 years, but in that time he has never been in control of his own dreams and he has seen the gates of Oblivion that no waking eye can see. This beginning part of the trailer seems to get a lot of inspiration from the Lord of the Rings films, the Oblivion gates resemble the eye of Sauron and the music has the similar tone to the films this is a great choice to hook in fans of the films into a new fantasy RPG game. The camera then cuts away from the Oblivion gate with a nice change in the music as the beat go's from a heavy evil tone to a subtle calming sound, as this change happens we then see the camera fly over the land of Cyrodill the grand scale of the land we will be able to explore. Uriel Septim then introduces the year and the happenings in the land and we get a wide panning shot of the city landscape. This trailer works great to set up the world space and introduce the player to the early stages of the game and the era of which this game takes place, the use of the daylight lighting when we set out into the land of Cyrodill makes the land look beautiful making the colours of the grass bright green and the snowy mountains in the distance pop out at the viewer, the change between this blissful environment and the darkened part of the Oblivion gate opening works really well to get the viewer excited for the game to explore the land as well as within the Oblivion gates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLZ07U85h0

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action RPG and much the same as Oblivion this game was also developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, it's the 5^th game in the series after Oblivion was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC 11^th November 2011. There was a later Special Edition for the game which included the 3 DLC's Hearthfire, Dragonborn and Dawnguard this was released on the PS4, Xbox One on the 28^th October and for those players on the PC that had all the DLC's in the base game they were able to get a free upgrade given on the 28^th October. Finally there was also a release for the game on the switch 17^th November 2017 this was also one of the big selling points on the switch used in all advertisements and Skyrim Alexa this is called Skyrim Very Special Edition.

Skyrim is also known as the old kingdom, throat of the world or the fatherland is set in a huge region in the north of Tamriel it is home to the Nords strong folk who due to the climate have developed a resistance to the cold both magical and natural. The player starts off at the execution of Ulfric Stormcloak and was caught up in the capture and wrongly accused, Ulfric is the leader of the rebellion who is fighting to regain control of Skyrim. His aim is to take it from the imperials who are inhabitants of Cyrodill and servants of the Aldmeri Dominion a faction of Elves based in the Summerset Isles located in south-west Tamriel. The player creates their character after leaving the cart that's taken them to the execution, just as there head is on the headsman's block a dragon known as Alduin the world eater fly's down destroying everything in his path allowing our player to escape. After the player has escaped they can go anywhere they want much the same as Oblivion the player can join the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Mages Guild and the Arena is not in this region however the player can join the Companions a group of warriors who can also become werewolf's. Later on in the game the player will have to help some local folk fight a dragon that is terrorizing there town, upon defeating the dragon the player will absorb the dragons soul which is later revealed that you are the Dragonborn capable of using the dragons might against them to save the world from the main trouble plaguing the land.

The animations in Skyrim have slightly improved since Oblivion but it’s not a game with a big combat system, however there is the added bonus of kill cams in Skyrim which are used for many different variations of magic and weapons, my personal favourite is the bow landing a critical and watching the arrow fly towards the target in slow motion. The animations have added a few things to make it differ from Oblivion but they are still very simplistic, the player is able to cast a spell in both hands in this game and the animations for the master spells is great to give a feel of the power generating through the body. But much the same as the Oblivion game there not known for the intricate animations it’s about the exploration and Skyrim will take over 225 hours to complete but the game includes radiant quests which will never be completed they keep generating more so there will always be something to do in Skyrim, in June 2013 Bethesda announced that Skyrim had sold 20 million copies and now the game has gone on to sell 30 million copies as of 2018.

The trailer for Skyrim starts with a monologue from Esbern a lore master of the blades who specialises in ancient prophecies of Tamriel, he also predicted the return of the dragons under Alduin's ruling whose return would lead to the destruction of the world. As this monologue is happening there's a first person shot of someone running with a roar following the player, the camera then shows us a third person view as the character approaches a cliff edge and we see a shadow of a dragon fly overhead, the character draws his weapon and engages in combat with the dragon the dragon breaths fire upon the character. As this happens Esbern talks about the prophecy of the “Dragonborn”. Then the Dragonborn shouts “Fus Ro Dah” at the dragon which knocks him backwards. The amazing music for Skyrim is played as we see shots of the land the player will be able to inhabit and several scenes of combat, the music slows as we see the Dragonborn absorb the soul of the dragon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpvM9uwOcUc

Red Dead Redemption is a action adventure game set in the wild west developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar games, this game is the successor of the 2004 Red Dead Revolver, it was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in may 2010.

The game takes place on the decline of the American Frontier in 1911 and follows the story of a former outlaw John Marston, John spent his younger years learning and travelling from place to place with his former gang known as the van der Linde gang which was led by Dutch Van Der Linde. He met his future wife whilst in the gang and they had a son who was raised by Abigail and his fellow brothers in arms.

Within the game however this takes place years after leaving the gang and John is trying to live a normal honest life, this however isn't to be the case for the moment as the government have taking Johns wife and son hostage with the intention of getting John to become there hired gun, he is then set the task to take out his former brothers who the government have been persuing for years, to there thinking who better to take down outlaws than a former outlaw that used to ride with them and so having no other choice Marston has to take down his brothers to get his family back. The game is played in third person and takes place in a huge open world which contains many side missions and fun little games within the taverns such as poker and blackjack. The player will be able to live in the life of a cowboy in the wild west stealing horses or breaking wild ones to be able to traverse the land at there leisure. The gunfights use a system called “dead eye” to capture the feeling of a gunslinger this system allows the player to slow time why they mark up there opponent with red “x” to mark the point of the shot with superb shots. As John is moving through the game the player will be able to play a bad outlaw playthrough like his younger days within the gang or maintain his changed man manner with the honour system which will change from red to white depending on the players doings within the game, this will change how other NPC's interact with John.

The game was in development for a course of 5 years and is 1 of the most expensive games ever made, the game was praised for its visuals, dynamically generated music, voice acting and fantastic story. The game shipped 15 million copies by 2017 and won several awards including game of the year from several different gaming publications and is considered by many as one of the best games ever made.

 

The trailer for Red Dead Redemption starts with a monologue talking about the harsh realities of the wild west. As this monologue is happening we see John getting off a train and saddle up to ride around the scenery giving us a glimpse into the world space we will inhabit during the gameplay as this scene progresses the we see some combat between John and several different bandits, the trailer ends with John saying to one of his former brothers in arms Bill Williamson “no one needs to kill anyone Bill”. This short trailer is a good look into the goings on within the world and gives the player a rough idea of the theme of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOpKJ6hjPIM

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the prequel to the before mentioned Red Dead Redemption the game was released on 26^th October 2018 for the PS4 and Xbox One.

The story focuses on the gang and how the gang went from there rise to there destruction leading to why John had to go after his brothers. This stories main protagonist Arthur Morgan who was one of Dutch Van De Linde main lieutenants in the gang, through this game we get to see a younger version of John Marston during the early rebellious stages of his life and we see him develop into the man that he is within the first game.

The story within this game however tells us how the people within the land of the wild west were trying to take control of the outlaw situation, through this they were hunting all gangs down to make room for a more law based society with the Marshall's to rule the land with an implementation of laws. As the player progresses through the story they will be fleeing the law with the intention to make enough money that they can all disappear from the law.

The game can be played in either first person or third and the player much the same as the previous can take part in many side activities with the open world such as poker and bounty hunts. There are several more activities such as heists, shootouts, hunting and horse back riding with the added addition of being able to interact with every single NPC even if its something simple like saying good morning/ evening. The game has a huge amount of varied animations which all aids in bringing both the world and Arthur Morgan alive, the player can also expect to see people living a scheduled life and as the player traverses through the land you may come across people who need help and these people should you choose to aid them can be sometimes see again within towns and villages and they may offer you things in stores or give you money to spend how you please. Other different variations of activities that the player can take part in and finally you can see the wildlife of the world living there lives, a couple of examples of this are a bear hunting for fish at the river side, 2 deer's battling for territory, cougars hunting animals and you if your not careful within there territory.

The honour system makes it return in this game too through the players choices within the game, if you play as an outlaw the player can expect to see countless bounty hunters on the hunt for them this was taken from the other Rockstar game GTA which would send the law after you dependant on the severity of the crime, but along with this the player will also unlock certain outfits unique to the outlaw path, if the player chooses to play as the nice guy however they can expect discount in the stores and some other custom outfits suited to that playstyle.

Red Dead Redemption 2 broke several records and had the second biggest launch in the history of entertainment it sold $725 million in sales from the opening weekend and it also shipped over 17 million copies in 2 weeks. Once again much the same as the previous game it got praised from the critics for the story, character's, visuals, soundtrack and the open world.

The trailer begins with the Van Der Linde gang standing beside a stationary train and Dutch threatening the people inside the carriage we then see a close up of Dutch's gun this then fades to black as the Rockstar logo fades onto the screen, we then hear the first thing from Arthur the main protagonist of the game and he says “this whole thing is pretty much done, were more ghosts than people”. The screen then fades to black again as we see chalk writings on the screen telling us about the downfall of the outlaws in the west, this is followed by the gang riding across the land and different shots of the gangs members this is all happening as Dutch and other main characters of the world are talking. This trailer works really well to give the player a quick run down of the story and gives us an insight into what we will be doing through our playthrough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVhPqGMDAg

Specialism Research

 With this project i intend to specialize in animation, i aim to create a short story called Trevor's Travel's about a little girl who visits a balloon shack asking her father for a balloon, he kindly gives her the balloon but unfortunately the little girl loses grip, the balloon floats off on a adventure until it eventually float back into the little girl's room and gets caught on her bedside. The inspiration for my idea came from watching the Disney animated short, The Blue Umbrella.

 Dragon age inquisition is a RPG developed by BioWare and published by EA this is the 3^rd game in the franchise and was released in November 2014 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

 The game will see the characters created player embark on a quest to settle the divide between the Mages and Templars and aim to get them united for one purpose to destroy the demons that are entering the world through a rift in the sky. Some believe the players character also known as the inquisitor to be the “chosen one” because of the mark on their hand, the mark on their hand is the only thing capable of closing the rifts tearing through the sky. This is a rather big task however so as your journey takes off you will meet people who are willing to join your cause to find the sole of this evil and bring an end to its destruction. In the development stages of this game Bio Ware wanted to merge the 2 aspects from their previous instalments into this next game, so from this inquisition has much larger environments and in turn a lot more room for exploration.

 This is a video of all 3 different trailers released for the game the first of which starts with a slow transition over a land that has been ravaged by war as this is happening the music gradually becomes loader and more intense, it then cuts to a solider running through the battlefield knocking back countless soldiers in his path  as his men are fighting by his side, the soldier then grabs a man by the throat which then the camera gradually zooms out to reveal that it’s a Qunari or to be more specific Iron Bull who is one of the men the player can hire throughout his journey in Thedas, Iron Bull then drops the enemy as a giant emerges from the foggy background he then charges at the giant and drives his Warhammer into the beast then a rift erupts into the sky. Iron Bull then realises that its demons that have broken through and gets his army also known as the charges to head towards the demons with the promise of money. This trailers lighting is brilliant to captivate the destruction of war I like the surrounding silence the darkness from the dried up trees as the camera begins to gradually climb up to the battlefield, as Iron Bull runs through the soldiers the fog blowing around them is a great effect to show the darkness of war. The music enhances the feeling with the strong beat this coincides brilliantly with the combat within this trailer.

 The second trailer is more of a calming tone this trailer starts with tavern music playing as the inquisition is having a good time drinking in the tavern, we then see a dwarf or Varric leaving the tavern as a barmaid is serving drinks to the patrons she approaches a man at the back of the bar this is where things escalate, he tries to grab the women and becomes rather abrupt until the women slaps the man in the face he then goes for her and gets struck with a crossbow bolt, Varric returns and saw what was happening the 2 of them have a back and forth conversation the rift then tears open the sky and everything is stopped Varric then walks outside and says “eh not again”. The music in this is great to create a feeling of joy and the sudden stop when the action picks ups is great to make it more intense.

 The final trailer here has a camera trailing over the hinterlands a region in the game that the player can visit seeing more war and as we progress further through the trailer a dragon sweeps past, the camera follows the dragon which then leads the viewer to a giant throwing a boulder down upon some soldiers then the camera slides through to the rift in the sky. I really like this motion because I feel that through the camera cuts being fast passed it makes the player more excited to see where the game will take us. The camera is then up in the rift as the music picks up the camera drops to the ground as the beat drops we see the inquisitor walking across the battlefield this adds to the feeling of excitement for this game, the battle then continues with the players inquisition fighting demons all around him we then see a massive demon walk through a fire and he has a standoff with the main protagonist of this game, the inquisitor then uses the mark to close the rift the rift is closed and all is clear until suddenly a dragon appears and breaths fire down upon the inquisition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbVCuMlembs  

 Mafia 3 is a third person shooter developed by Hanger 13 and published by 2K Games the game was released 7^th October 2016 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One there was a later release for the Mac 11^th May 2017.

 The game takes place in 1968 after the main protagonist of this game Lincoln Clay returns after many years of battle in Vietnam, the game starts off within 2 different areas first off we see Lincoln and a character known as Georgie robbing a bank vault, the other scene that we jump back and forth between is Lincoln returns to his surrogate family the Black Mob and picks up where he left off before going to Vietnam, the Black Mob were facing trouble with the Haitian Gang so Lincoln heads to their territory with the aim to take out the Haitian Leader known as Baka. Once this has been settled he returns home to his family with the good news and is told that he has a meeting with Sal Volcano the leader of the Italian Mafia. Lincoln then heads off to see Sal at his Retousse Yacht Club and here we meet Georgie at the doors, we get a brief introduction to Sal and fans of Mafia 2 will see that Vito Scaletta is there from the 2^nd game in the franchise. Vito leaves and we see a conversation between Lincoln and Sal in which Sal says that he would like Lincoln to take control of the Hollow where the Black Mob are, Lincoln refuses because he can’t turn his back on the leader of the Black Mob as he raised Lincoln like one of his own Sal then maintains his friendly nature however there's something off about him he becomes shifty. We cut back to the ending of the bank heist where Lincoln and Georgie are planning their escape with the help of 2 accomplices one of which is Lincoln's step brother Ellis. Upon the return they meet back in the Hollow in the bar and Georgie turns up with his father Sal and another man this is when things turn bad Sal gives Georgie a look upon which Georgie shoots Lincoln in the head and Sal murders Lincoln's father they finish off the rest of the members in the bar, burn it down and leave with the money. Lincoln's path of vengeance begins here as he forms his own Mafia recruiting people one of which is Vito and murdering Sal's lieutenants to take down the criminal empire that Sal Volcano has built.

 The game is great fun to play and the cinematics in this game are written and animated so well that you actually feel like you’re watching a movie, the direction of the scenes makes you compelled to keep watching as you want to know what happens in the story. This however is the best part of the game as the gameplay although it’s fun having to take down different rackets across the city, the animations when you capture a crime boss or interrogate someone into giving you the locations of his boss are the same all the time, there are 9 districts in total and you have to do the interrogation 2 times in each which means we have to do the same animation 18 times and it’s the same for all districts meaning that we are doing this about 36 times total. All this happens until you draw out the lieutenant controlling that area in which case the story kicks back in and we get brilliant missions with different things to do and the great story moments, this is what compels the player to continue working our way through the ranks to eventually take down Georgie and Sal Volcano. However the gameplay for driving and shooting in this game is great the cars grip to the road nicely with a nice variety of different vehicles to drive and a service that will drop a car off for you. The same for the gun-play it feels impactful with a huge variation of weapons and different melee kill animations with the different types of fire arms, the melee animations in this game are brutal Lincoln has a bowie knife and the kills he does with this are gruesome. 

 The trailer starts with Lincoln walking through New Bordeaux the fictional city based on New Orleans that this game takes place in, Sal's men are taking control of the city doing drive by shootings and giving orders to the men who work for them building up there corruption over the city. Then the camera cuts to Vito as getting a gun from his car, Cassandra interrogating someone, Burke killing someone at the scrapyard and finally Donovan blowing up cars with C4 they all then join Lincoln on the walk through New Bordeaux this trailer is great to show the new crime family that Lincoln is building all this happening while the destruction takes place behind them works really well in setting the feel for the game all this accompanied by Ice Cubes – Nobody Wants To Die. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNiHOpHbCzM

 Dishonored was released 9^th October 2012 for the PC,PS3 and Xbox 360 there was a release at the later date of August 2015 for the PS4 and Xbox One this also included some DLC that included Daud looking for his path to redemption after killing the Empress in the main game.

 Dishonored is a stealth action adventure game set in the fictional city known as Dunwall, the inspiration for this city came from late 19^th century London. The game was developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, this game follows the story of Corvo Attano bodyguard to the Empress of the Isles we start off with Corvo returning after a mission with important news for the Empress, upon his return things go terribly wrong very quick when a mysterious figure known as Daud teleports in putting Corvo under heavy fire with the intention on killing the Empress and kidnapping Emily the Empresses daughter. This is when Corvo takes on the role of an assassin going after those who conspired against him, eventually Corvo will come across a group of loyalists who are the resistance group who agree to help Corvo reclaim the city of Dunwall, he will also be taken into another realm to meet the Outsider a powerful being with God-like power who provides Corvo with supernatural abilities like teleportation or as is known in the game “blink”.

 The animations for this game are what makes it so fun to play the player is only limited by their imagination whatever they choose to do is possible, the developers worked on the different variations of the powers in development looking at fun ways to combine Corvo's powers such as combining the high jump with blink which would enable the player to reach further away places, instead of restricting the player using the combined abilities to enhance the game the developers tried to design the levels to accommodate it. The main trouble was balancing the gameplay the development team wanted the player to feel like they had control of all these powers without making the game to easy so from this they added a mana pool in which the stronger the power the more mana it would consume, or they limit the time that the specific power would be active, all this combined works really well to create a fun experience that the player can do what they choose but not so much as to make the game too easy.

 The game is played in first person and the player will be given a series of objectives on the way to the top conspirators in which they can play in many different ways including playing through the whole game without killing anyone, the player will be able to do this as the game provides many different path ways to the objectives which you can find and the option to neutralize the key enemy. As you play through the game it will adapt to your play-style for example if you go around relentlessly killing everyone the city will become overwhelmed with rats carrying the plague and weepers who are infected plaque victims, however if you don't kill anyone the skies will be clearer and there will be a smaller amount of rats and plaque victims. The supernatural abilities grant the player extra perks that help in the play-style you choose but in sticking with the theme of choice you can also play through the game without using any supernatural abilities. 

 The trailer for Dishonored begins with several shots of the city of Dunwall with the Drunken Whaler song being played in the background this together gives us a creepy vibe perfect for the plaque ridden state that the city is. The trailer then gets more action orientated with the beat becoming exaggerated and the city in chaos starting with the assassination of the Empress we then see shots of weepers everywhere, robotic suits with soldiers controlling them on the march, rats swarming people and Corvo beginning his war path of destruction. The action then slows down as we see the beloved Empress lying where she was murdered  and Corvo assassinating everything in his path in slow motion, the trailer then gives us a shot of little Emily reading by the fire place and the title hits the screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XbQgdSlsd0&has_verified=1

  

 Dishonored 2 is an stealth and action game in first person and is the continuation of the story from the first game in the franchise, it was developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks released 11^th November 2016 for PS4 Xbox One and PC, the game was first announced at Bethesda's first E3 showcase 14^th June 2015, the games development was led by creative director Harvey Smith who also was the lead designer of Deus Ex.

 After the events of the first game this game takes place as little Emily the Empress taking her throne and everything seems blissful until a legion of troops guarded by some clockwork soldiers which are steampunk style machines built as bodyguards, this heavily armored group march through the great hall up to Corvo and Emily the guards put down a cabin and Delilah steps out the main antagonist in the Dishonoured 1 DLC's. She wanted to trap Emily in a painted world while Delilah rules as Empress this is eventually stopped by Daud on his path of redemption, she comes in to the hall to introduce herself as Emily's aunt and claims she is the rightful heir to the throne as she is former Empress Jasmines sister, combat begins as Corvo uses his powers granted by the Outsider to teleport around and kill all the soldiers the game then allows the player to choose to play through the game as Emily or Corvo after the choice is made by the player Delilah captures the other in hard stone and knocks out your chosen character. You are then dragged through the castle as a path of your dead allies lie all around you and the game starts with you having to escape the castle, staying true to the Dishonored franchise you can play through the game killing everyone or no one the game still provides a plethora of paths that the player can find to never initiate combat or clever paths to get the drop on your targets.

 The game also provides great replay value as you can play without any powers or with a large range of them, Emily and Corvo both have different powers even blink has changed for Emily she uses an ability called far reach which works like a slingshot flinging Emily through the air, finally this game gives the player a new game+ mode in which the player can choose who to play as and they will be able to use both Emily's and Corvo's powers. The game is much the same in respect of the animations which is what makes this game so fun to play however this time the animations are more smooth making the free running more fun to run through, the assassinations seem to have a bit of variety too. During the DLC's of the first game Daud was voice acted this was a test to see how it would work, upon the release of Dishonored 2 both Emily and Corvo are voiced Emily's voice actor has changed from Chloe Grace Moretz who voiced her in the first game, this time around they changed to Erica Luttrell which works great for Emily making her sound more like an adult and Corvo was voiced for this game too by Stephen Russell. Having voiced protagonists in the game makes the story more engaging to follow because it adds some personality to the characters we play as.

 The trailer starts off with the Outsider saying “look around you, you haven't been watching the dark corners of the world, maybe living in a palace has made you soft” this instantly shows the player that perhaps everything isn't as it seems and that darkness is working its way over the realms Emily rules. Delilah is then introduced as the lost sister of Jasmine the former Empress she claims that she is there to take the crown from Emily, the camera then cuts to the Outsider talking about the happenings this back and forth between the inside of the palace and the dark realm in which the Outsider inhabits work great to keep us engaged in what will happen. The Outsider asks the Empress what do you aim to do about it and the music cuts, we then see Emily run across a rooftop and dive off at which point a montage of destruction begins much the same as it did in the first games trailer with Corvo. Throughout this montage we get to see some of the new abilities given to us through the use of Emily including a shadow walk and a giant crystal used to mesmerize an enemy the trailer then ends with Emily assassinating someone and saying “we'll be face to face soon … Delilah”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLNC8VDTlQ&has_verified=1

 Deus Ex Human Revolution is an action RPG developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix it was released for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in August 2011, it is the third game in the franchise and is a first person shooter, stealth and role playing hybrid the player will take on the role of Adam Jensen a mechanically augmented chief of security who works for a biotechnology company Sarif industries, they will have the opportunity to explore multiple city environments. The player will be granted experience which are called praxis kits and the player can use these after completing quests which will allow the player to customize Adam to their liking, choosing from a selection of different augments either stealth based or heavier combat or the player can combine them for a balanced mixture between the 2.

 The player will have the opportunity to have conversations with many NPC's who inhabit the world and choose from a selection from different dialogue choices some of which can change the way the story plays out for the character. The game is set in the not so distant future of 2027 and the story focuses on the story of Adam Jensen who is employed at Sarif industries a company working on the development of artificial organs which are named augmentations, An attack on Sarif industries leaves Adam badly injured and to save him the CEO of the company David Sarif subjects Adam to extensive augmentations, six months later Adam has now recovered and has a lot more advanced augmentations.

 The trailer begins with Adam Jensen lying prone on a table badly injured it appears that his spirit then leaves his body flying into the sun the gloomy lighting over the top of the building as Adam bursts out is great to set the atmosphere, this links very well with the music that was picked for this trailer seems like something you would expect to see in a horror film as the danger approaches, the animations within this part are great as Adam Jensen bursts through the roof his arms that were severely damaged inside the building start to gradually form these glowing angel-like wings. As he approaches the sun they seem to burn into demon like effect as the camera cuts he then suddenly awakens in his bedroom from a dream looking down at his augmentations. We then see a flash back of the attack on Sarif industries and the day his ex-girlfriend disappeared, as this is all happening we hear the inner monologue of Adam Jensen talking about the tragic events that took place and what he aims to do to bring justice to the world as he sets out on his journey to fix the city. The camera cuts between the destruction and Adam work really well to keep the viewer intrigued as to what's going on, we see a close up shot of Adams open arm augmentation the animation in this sequence is really great as we see all the different parts moving in his arm as it closes. This trailer works really well to sell the game to the viewer building up a sense of intrigue and anticipation for the games release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq5KWLqUewc

 Deus Ex Mankind Divided released in August 2016 for the PS4, Xbox One and PC the game is set in 2029 taking place 2 years after the events of human revolution, the story focuses on the events happening in Prague, Dubai and London where several factions play major roles in the world one of which is the Illuminati

a group of corporate elites that influence human society for their own benefit, however they are being stopped by the juggernaut collective a group of hacktivists led by Janus a shadowy character.

 The trailer for Mankind Divided has some great animations as there are several points throughout the trailer that we see people who are augmented and the robotics within their augments look realistic with the jagged motion of the technology working within them. The flying drones that hover around make sudden jerky motions adding to their robotic appearance.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfV01sTqB68