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Author |
File Description |
sissi |
Posted on 08/22/09 @ 08:40 AM
File Details |
Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
To play that cinematic,you'll need AOK the Conquerors patch 1.Oc and the modification Renaissance, by O liver
This is only a non-interactive cinematic.
If you never heard of T E Lawrence before, if you haven't read any of his books, you will not learn much about him. This is no historical campaign neither. And this time, not funny at all.
Just a tribute to a fellow human being.
I just hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless.
Thanks for downloading it !
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Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Popeychops
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 05/11/10 @ 02:04 PM
Lawrence, Al' Aurans is a cinematic detailing the adult life of the eponymous hero "Lawrence of Arabia". It is told in the for of a monologue from the point of view of a man at his funeral.
Playability: 5
Oliver's Renaissance modification was used to great effect, accurately producing British (rainy) weather in one section of the map. Beyond this, the map appears to be of a normal construction, while still being an enjoyable cutscene. While the majority of the map is desert, and therefore naturally plain, care has been taken to ensure the viewer is not bored.
A mellow and relaxing choice of background music greatly improves the atmosphere.
Balance: 5
A flawlessly smooth cinematic, I see no reason to deduct in this category, as per the reviewing guidelines for cinematics.
Creativity: 4
While the aforementioned "rain" affect shows creative flair, much of the cutscene is spent following the protagonist in travels around the map. However, when an event does occur, it is executed in some style.
Map Design: 4
Due to the nature of the region featured in the map, an arid desert, the terrain wasn't going to be varied. It does in places look slightly rushed, while in others there is evidence of detail. The map is certainly not flat, however the minimap is frequently erased, which disorientates the player and does not show the true scape of the desert.
This re-writing of the map certainly makes good use of a smaller map size.
Story/Instructions: 5
Slightly nearer to poetry than prose, sissi has provided a serious and thoguht-provoking homage to the WWI veteran. It is historically accurate, and shows emotions as well as events. It is highly detailed and moves in a chronological, flowing manner.
Not only that, but the installation instructions are thorough.
Additional Comments:
Once again this author has created an excellent piece of storytelling, one that holds the viewer's attention throughout and leaves them somewhat wiser than before.
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Mash (id: Mashek)
Staff
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 05/26/10 @ 11:29 AM
'Lawrence, al'Aurans' is a cinematic with a running time of about ten minutes. The story rediscovers the life of renowned Englishman and Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas Edward Lawrence or more popularly known as 'Lawrence of Arabia', acquainted through the 1962 film.
Called up in late 1914 to liaise with the Arabs a British officer during the onset of the Great War, Lawrence finds himself entangled in the desperate bid for Arabian independence from Ottoman expansionism. Caught up in between the modern and irresolute, Lawrence is torn between his allegiance to Great Britain and his passionate support of a foreign cause, and presented with the hard truth of failing either. He would find himself a hero to one and a traitor to another, forced into committing his soul toward two masters and sacrificing a part of it each day, in a war that was never his.
For all that, there is a terrible feeling at the end of it all; a journey left unresolved, a story disappointingly anti-climactic, and a life broken on the side of a tarmac road, dripping red.
PLAYABILITY: I must confess; I'm an absolute sucker when it comes to touching cinematic files and it goes with a long tradition of my avid movie-going habits, and a profound love of epics. 'Lawrence, al'Aurans' is not so much an epic as it is a meditation of the impact one man has had on many, an observation of some of the extraordinary feats Thomas Lawrence achieved during the Great War while serving in Arabia. We enter the stage a stranger to Lawrence, now only a corpse buried at Dorset village of Moreton, and rain turns the evening into mud. Rather than attempting to interpret the story objectively, the author has opted for the chance to tell Lawrence's story through the introspection of a priest at his funeral, described through the second-person. The author's empathy for Lawrence permeates through the priest's struggle to understand a life so profound, wasted because of a small utterance in history's great events - a motorcycle accident. The resulting narrative is touching and evocative, and is not so much prose as it is poetry, while the atmosphere is poignant, involving and real. There is no doubt as to whether the author has given her all to the story, and for all that it serves as a good reflection of Lawrence's life. I feel that the author has included enough here to maintain the attention of most. While certainly a little obscure and limited in places due to the nature of the cinematic, the narrative is wound nicely and captures the essence of Lawrence's struggles, the personal rather than the impersonal. It is a refreshing take as opposed to the simple and monotonous underlay of a historical event cut and pasted onto screen. Still, I believe that in order to gain the full-experience of this cinematic a little before-hand reading on T. E. Lawrence is required. It's a minor cost to watching this cinematic and nothing that detracts from the viewer's experience. 5+
PACING: Sentiment aside, the cinematic's technical merit is of an obvious high-standard and utilises a few of the more traditional aspects of a cut-scene in order to adequately capture the cinematic's depth and story-telling vision. There were many examples of sufficient trigger work used to support what occurred on screen, and the timing between scenes, including the use of music to capture the story's essence, flows well-enough. There is hardly a complaint here, if only that, as for everything, there is still room for improvement with regards to a few obscurities (a change view effect here and there seems awkward and the scene just before Lawrence takes Aqaba ends perhaps a little too late...) but more reflects my own thoughts than anything significant. 5
CREATIVITY: The style of the cinematic inevitably limits its creative output somewhat and much of what you see is a story told chronologically, if not traditionally, and there is some room for improvement. Still, the author's unique angle of an historical account is the work's highlight and the music by Pink Floyd ("us and them") is well-chosen and suits the story comfortably. The file utilises oliver's 'Renaissance' to good effect in order to capture scenes in Lawrence's life, and is worth the hassle of having to swap over data files, the dread of many designers - particularly of myself. The depiction of the 'Hejaz Railway' and the train was a welcome sight. 4+
MAP DESIGN: As the story relates much of Lawrence's life onto screen, one can expect to see an allotment of scenes set in England as well as in the Middle East, the dreary British weather contrasted with the sun-scorched sand of the Arabian desert. The terrain mixing is complimentary and for the most part defined rather well, however with a few scenes here and there being less well-defined than some. That aside, the desert is generally captured realistically, and the depictions of a fortified Turkish port and muddy cemetery capture the imagination. 4+
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS: The evocative-style the author has chosen to tell the story with is without a ghost of a doubt the cinematic's strongest point. It is poetic and touching, and the bitmap resounds equally with an image of Lawrence's motorcycle that killed him. Together with adequate instructions, plenty of in-game text to push the story along and a strong history section, there is little anything else one could ask for. My only protest here was that the author's preference of the 'Chat Messages' over the 'Display Instructions' effect to evolve the narration was a little distracting, and perhaps less effective than what it could have been. 5
CONCLUSION: 'Lawrence, al'Aurans' is not so much as 'history' as it is homage to the World War One veteran, Thomas Edward Lawrence. His duty was to be a thorn in the enemy's side, and in quiet reflection he achieved what he set out to do, thinning out the Ottoman's ranks in Palestine where they were later routed by General Allenby's troops in 1918.
In a sentence - Evocative and involving, sissi's 'heart-felt' touch on the cinematic should not be passed over.
In-closing - A highly-recommended download.[Edited on 03/13/18 @ 06:10 AM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.6 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 5.0 | Pacing | 5.0 | Creativity | 4.0 | Map Design | 4.0 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 485 |
Favorites: [] | 3 |
Size: | 8.98 MB |
Added: | 08/22/09 |
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