Secret Level

A couple of cool episodes aside, Secret Level feels like a monument to mediocrity. The writing is painfully mid, dragging the whole show down despite the undeniably impressive visuals-though even those feel like reheated leftovers from a decade of superior video game cinematics. Honestly, what is this show trying to do or say that hasn't been done (and done better) by video game marketing in the past 10+ years?

The lineup of titles is baffling. Where are the big names? The absence of heavy hitters screams one thing: developers wanted no part of this trainwreck or were waiting to see if Season 1 could stick the landing. Spoiler alert-it didn't.

Short-form storytelling seems to completely elude the creators. What should have been tight, impactful, and memorable comes across as disjointed and uninspired. Variety called it an "uninspired snooze," and for once, Variety wasn't being harsh enough.

Secret Level is proof that flashy visuals can't hide a lack of vision, heart, or originality!

All the episodes except few felt like game trailers, like what's the point of even making them if it's over before the conclusion. They have no plot elements or any kind of character developments. Few had very well laid out foundations and its execution was also well done. Ex: I was looking something in mega man episode. Maybe the next season they try a different approach.

So far the best ones are Warhammer, Unreal tournament and Armoured Core. These episodes have the best overall narrative which can be enjoyed as a story. Others were not bad but they felt like an afterthought or like a game trailer.

You will get entertained here. Some episodes are good, some are great, some are just incredible. You need to make that decision for yourself. For me, 1.5 "You Shall know no fear" is the best of the bunch, but 1.5 is the best animation of Warhammer history and it does everything right. My god, it was unbelievably good. That said, there is no reason to read my review, go watch the episodes instead and choose your best one.

I knew that the creators of love death and robots knew how to nail animated short stories, but this simply is amazing. We need more of it.

And we simply require more of the Warhammer Universe. Exactly! As shown here.

I was really disappointed when I saw critics say this show was just mid. I've watched it and all I can say is most of the critics are wrong. I really enjoyed this show! The episodes could have been longer, that's my only gripe honestly. If you love video games, definitely check this show out. It's a quick watch too. Now I want to go play some of these games again after seeing their episodes. I would imagine the whole point of Secret Level is to attract new players, and in that regard, I think they succeeded. There was heart in a lot of the episodes too, which I also really liked. Hopefully this show does well enough to warrant a season 2. If they do make a season 2, the only thing I think they need to improve upon is the length of the episodes. I really, really wished they were all at least 20 minutes. Overall though, I'm thankful we got this show because video games mean a lot to a lot of people, myself included. Thank you to all of the people who worked hard to bring us this show. You guys rock!

The animation is beautiful, that is undeniable. I struggle to get excited about such short episodes though. They seem like apprentice attempts. Can't get fully enthralled as you know it's over before you can even get any sort of connection with the characters. Was nice to see some celebrity involvement. Reeves and Arnie both play enjoyable parts. It's just all a little too experimental and depthless for me. Additionally If I was given the chance to choose the source material. I reckon I would have chosen a completely different set of games to revere. The Pacman episode was o.k. But was a demonstration of taking artistic licence to its absolute limit. It made me laugh at least. Overall I found the whole series to be a little underwhelming. 6 for the visuals.