P.A.N.I.C.S.

Reviewed by Andrea Steffy
November 10, 2006

Studio: Rooster Teeth Productions Website: Click Here MPAA: NR (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language) Review Rating: 6 out of 10

P.A.N.I.C.S. (People Acting Normal in Crazy-Ass Situations) is a series based on the game F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon). The easiest way to describe this is a comical, science-fiction mini-series using the video game F.E.A.R. to act them out. Dialogue is pre-recorded then synchronized to the video game footage. The parody revolves around a special military bravo team and its newest soldier. With a whiny team leader, a skeptic, a wild one, and a sarcastic shotgun-wielding lunatic, this group of crime fighters battle supernatural enemies and investigate paranormal activity.

As the story begins, The Chief, Bravo 1, Bravo 2, Bravo 3, and Frank, are sent to a military facility in the middle of the night for some investigatory work. Things don't go quite as planned. From the inception of the premier episode, Frank constantly gets harassed and picked on by the rest of the team. As the team runs lackadaisically in wasting time, in hopes of running back out to say the job is done, then pick up their paychecks, they are met with a surprise turn of events. Something sneaks up on Bravo 1, grabs him and drags him away off screen. Without spoiling the story I can't say much more than that.

I think an immense amount of viewers would really enjoy these episodes. Dialogue is simple, clear and concise. Bearing that in mind, the dialogue makes the videos easy to understand what's going on and allows you to follow the story with ease. For those who show monetary support to the website, you can get the outtakes. Each current episode is less than five minutes in length, catching anyone's attention, and keeping those short attention spans at bay. I have to admit that I personally found some of the voices mildly annoying, and didn't like this series as much as another show by Rooster Teeth Productions, entitled Red vs. Blue (based on the popular game HALO ). So I was mildly disappointed that the show didn't seem to meet my own personal expectations.

If these videos do as well as Red vs. Blue, I can see these taking off and lasting for several years to come. There seems to be a high market and large fan base of gamers interested in watching movies and videos about the games they know and love to play.