[yasr_overall_rating]
Champion gamer Max Troy discovers events in a new video game are being mirrored in the real world, and must join forces with the game’s protagonist, Orson Creed, to unravel the conspiracy before the game’s sinister plot overwhelms the city.
In a world where e-sports are rapidly rising to become mainstays of public entertainment and video games have been a childhood staple for over three decades, “Beta Test” feels decidedly out of place in 2016. Rife with gamer stereotypes and all the tropes of a bad conspiracy flick, the film suffers from an unbelievable plot and wooden characters. Had “Beta Test” been released in the 1980s, it would probably be viewed today as a quaint “so bad it’s good” cult classic. Unfortunately for us, it is slated for release this summer.
The plot is simple enough: Max (Larenz Tate), an apparent savant who dedicates his life to video games, is sent an advance copy of a new game from an electronic entertainment juggernaut called Sentinel. Inevitably, Max discovers that the real life events soon begin to mimic missions in the game, and that fictional protagonist Orson Creed (Manu Bennett) is actually a real person embroiled in a deep conspiracy to further shadowy corporate and government interests.
The problems with “Beta Test” are innumerable and difficult to ignore. The first thing that becomes evident, from the opening scene to the closing credits, is how poor the acting is. Ironically, video games populated entirely by CGI characters with reasonably talented voice actors surpass this cast in terms of believability and engendering audience empathy. Perhaps this is because director Nicholas Gyeney didn’t bother to hold auditions or screen tests for his actors. I found it difficult to care about any of the characters or the nebulous conspiracy that they found themselves embroiled in, which leads me to my next point: the plot is so trite and cartoonish that it makes the film nearly unwatchable. The antagonist of “Beta Test” is so dense and overtly evil that it is simply not believable that the general public would not see through his very flimsy plan.
Ultimately, where the film fails is in its refusal to treat gamers and the video game industry seriously. Ernest Cline showed in his book and soon-to-be Steven Spielberg film “Ready Player One” that it is not difficult to craft a reasonable portrayal of the intersection between business, video games, and society at large. Instead, “Beta Test” opts for an over-the-top mess of a film.
Don’t waste your time with “Beta Test.” It adds nothing to the science fiction genre, and if your jones is for gamer protagonists or nerdcore, there are already far superior pickings to be found. There is little in the way of redeeming value to be found here, and it is probably for the best that audiences avoid this fiasco all together.
“Beta Test” will be released in approximately 15 U.S. theaters July 22nd
