This adventure-romp has a true 16-bit aficionado’s attention to detail – there’s even a cameo from the high priest of geek, Kevin Smith
![Max Reload and the Nether Blasters review – eager tribute to 1980s gaming culture](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8a0f78396972200d6fafccdde38ed0485dc3816d/951_0_2650_1591/master/2650.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctcmV2aWV3LTMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=b2c5c1c91ec9e7934a4ad91e3f02f92c)
A bargain-bin version of Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, this Kickstarter-funded feature debut by Scott Conditt and Jeremy Tremp has a similar video game veneration and chirpy tone. But their sci-fi/fantasy action-comedy engages more frontally with gaming culture, specifically the intersection between ye olde pixellated times and the all-streaming, all-dancing, eternally online new generation.
Max Jenkins (Tom Plumley) is a cocky online gaming hotshot who, when not rampaging around in barbarian avatar guise, works as a clerk at local emporium Fallout Games, along with fellow virtual squadmates Liz (Hassie Harrison) and Reggie (Joey Morgan). Left alone on the evening shift, he is flabbergasted when a mysterious stranger leaves a package on the counter containing a cartridge of Nether Dungeon, a legendary 80s title lost to history due to a beef between its two creators. He uploads the game for the internet faithful – unaware that its source code contains an incantation from an ancient sect with designs on enthralling (in both senses) mankind.