Iris of Emillion

Let me preface this by saying I realize this is an interactive movie. Gameplay is not supposed to be a part of the game, so I'm not going to rate it on gameplay.



Writing

Dialogue
I had no idea what was going on for the vast majority of the game, and while I realize that things of this nature are supposed to be 'cryptic and mysterious,' it's hard to keep the cryptic/mysterious atmosphere going when the text scrolls by at a pace a snail would pass easily. I'm a little biased here- personally, I absolutely detest slow-scrolling text for 'dramatic purposes.' An occasional quick pause is alright, but for the love of baby Robot Jesus, keep it at a pace that's likely to keep me awake. In fact, don't use the text speed codes in RM at all. I didn't finish the whole demo because of this- I was so bored at times I found it hard to make it as far as I did, and I like to think I have a pretty long attention span. One of the biggest problems in the pacing is the fact that the message box has to re-display between EVERY MESSAGE. This takes about a second, but all those seconds add up, and on top of that, you're going to get very tired of seeing the message box zooming in and out repeatedly.
There are occasional moments of redundancy ("to give some meaning to their meaningless lives," etc) and the occasional grammatical error (your/you're, etc) but none of that poses much of a problem.
As if that's not enough, the writing is all very ethereal and melodramatic, meaning it falls flat on its face. This is especially apparent in the Minstrel scene.
Occasionally, the viewer (as you're not really a 'player') will come across a little gem of decent dialogue, such as parts of the exchange with the gatekeeper of the town.



Characters
Essentially, you're the oh-so-mysterious Iris. Iris is some high-and-mighty... I don't even know. If it's revealed at the very end of the demo, I didn't make it that far, which is unfortunate. Thankfully, her dialogue is passable, and makes her seem stuck-up and stuffy, which is a type of character I always like.
The Minstrels who appear in the Chrono Trigger courtroom map seem like great character designs, if you could get around their terribly wordy dialogue. And you can't, so potentially great characters like these are lost in a sea of text. Thankfully, their dialogue is consistent, so at least what characterization they do get isn't broken by out-of-character comments.



Visuals

Mapping
Mapping is somewhere where this game really shines, even though it uses mostly Chrono Trigger rips for its maps. All the maps are consistent and there's no confusing collision anywhere.

Sprites
Almost all from Chrono Trigger, or similar games. They're consistent, and the character design for Chrono Trigger was awesome, so the sprites look good, if a little second-hand.
I was, however, shocked to see CHRONO HIMSELF (portraying a 'heretic' or some such) at the beginning of the Minstrel scene. That's just bad form, especially considering it takes place in the court room from Chrono Trigger.

Atmosphere
This game uses entirely too many fog overlays. A) it was a very overused fog overlay used for the majority of the game/movie and B) the overlay is way too opaque. It's not subtle at all- it looks like a picture laid over the game instead of a nice atmospheric effect. Turn the transparency up, make it a more subtle effect. It's just fog, not a blizzard. On top of all that, the overlay scrolls a little too far offscreen, making a nice harsh line marking the end of the atmosphere. This doesn't happen one or two times, it happens every couple of minutes, repeatedly blowing the game's otherwise good, fairly immersive atmosphere.
Lighting effects are used tastefully throughout, and the whole game is nice and dark- just the way I like it.




Likes
I liked the little speech bubble that popped up over sprites so you had some idea who was talking- a very nice touch. Could have moved a little faster to keep pacing up.
The cinematic letterbox effect was a nice touch.

Audio

Music
What music there is is well selected- gives the scenes a nice, creepy, mysterious feeling. What's used works well, period.

The Bottom Line
I think this could be something really special- it just has a way to go yet. With a ton of text-reformatting and re-writing, this could be an awe-inspiring, cinematic experience.
If you have a short attention span, this game is very much not for you. If you're up to the challenge of wading through the dialogue to get a glimpse of the well-executed lighting and atmosphere, go for it, but if you're looking for an engrossing story that keeps your attention, you're not going to find it here.
The game is well made, outside of the dialogue, but Iris Of Emillion feels like one long intro to a game that, unfortunately, never comes.