Now THIS is the way I figured this feature of the site would go. Remember the commercials that tried to make you believe that being a game tester was a “cool” job, and something that colleges respected. Well this I think may have been done by the same director.

Gamebox 1.0 is about Charlie, a game tester that is given an opportunity to “beta test” a new game system. The system itself is called “Gamebox 1.0″, which says a lot about the system. Personally I don’t think it will last very long in a cluttered market of systems with at least some what more imaginative names like… oh wait this isn’t that kind of post.

Anyway Charlie is a game tester in his real life with his friends as some generic and unnamed company (with the fat kid from The Sandlot). He also is in mourning for his girlfriend that was shot by a cop… who was high. Yeah weird right. So when he gets the system, the instructions are simple; Take pictures of people he knows for use in the game. He also needs a villain so he will need to take a picture of some one he hates. Naturally that person is the cop that shot his girlfriend.

As the “Gamebox 1.0″ starts up Charlie is given the option of playing through a couple different scenarios. He can play in “Zombie Land” which is like a super generic L4D or RE, ”Crime Spree” which is like GTA, “Alien Planet” which is just boring and apparently on an alien planet where their space crafts are literally flying saucers.

The “game” as he so generically refers to the in-game help, offers no real help at all except; he can do anything, his wounds are real… AND HE CAN’T QUIT THE GAME! *gasp* It is truly the “Ultimate gaming experience”. His first mission is to get a briefcase. This briefcase is attached to a girls arm, that girl just happens to be represented in the game as his dead girlfriend played by Topanga. As the story unfolds Charlie soon realizes that he really can’t get out and his “real life” begins to blend with his gaming life. This is when he realizes that, as the tag line puts it, “The only way out is to win.”

This movie is super cheesy. It is probably more amusing to a person that plays a crap ton of games. It makes subtle jokes about the differences between real life and life in a game that are kinda funny. The issue being that it also takes itself a bit to seriously. There are some decent camera angles and some pretty good setups for shots, but I feel like it could have benefited a lot more from a bigger budget.

This is truly the crappy movie that I was hoping for. The love story is kinda lame and really only there as a reason to have Topanga in it. It had potential but never was able to fully realize it. Topanga is cute and all but I feel dirty having her in any kind of romantic role outside of “Boy Meets World”. I guess I can look forward to seeing Gamebox 1.5 or dare I dream of Gamebox 2.0.