The DVD
For centuries, sex has been a part of our lives in one way or another, from
the bedroom to the theaters spanning the globe. These desires of the mind and
body are regularly brought before the public eye in magazines, special toys
and films. They can range from the most innocent of suggestions, to the most
explicit depictions allowed by law. Adult films and pleasure devices are a huge
industry, first taking off in the 70's and now account for 10,000 movies a year
and 25% of America's motion picture revenue. It is present on three-quarters
of the videocassettes manufactured today and hasn't undergone any significant
changes in style or presentation.

But recent technological advances now make it possible for interested persons
to interact in steamy sexual situations in a more direct and interesting way.
Requiring only a DVD player or a computer and a DVD-Rom drive, the folks at
Digital Playground are the pioneers in providing us with a new, virtual, type
of encounter.

"Virtual Sex with Julia Ann" sports a interface called FantaVR. It
is a collection of menu items that allows you to control the action before you.
On this, the first of their their virtual titles, adult film queen Julia Ann
welcomes you in a brief intro. She then pauses as a menu pops up allowing you
to select her bio, a strip show, enter foreplay mode or have virtual sex.

Bio Mode
With this selection, Julia moves around on screen while you hear a voice-over
narrative about her personal desires and stories of her sex life and growing
up. No sex yet.

Striptease Mode
Getting closer, she dances around while touching her clothes and herself while
cooing phrases to get you amped up for what is coming next. Soon, everything
is off and nothing is left to the imagination.

Foreplay Mode
One of he two main situations of the interface you are taken to a shot where
she is down and ready to go. You select if you want to stimulate her with your
hand, a vibrator or orally. The different scenarios allow you to select an innocent
or demanding tone in her vocal expressions and view the action from two different
camera angles. The angles are actually two cameras running in tandem and not
separate clips. Angle one is straight on, facing forward. Angle two is either
a side shot with camera two or a digitally zoomed version of camera one. You
are also able to select between normal foreplay mode and orgasm mode, where
she writhes in typical adult movie fashion.

Sex Mode
This mode is very similar in appearance and operation to foreplay mode with
the exception of you (your ghost actor) being actually engaged in sex with Julia.
Instead of a hand, vibrator and mouth to work with, here you select the positions
of missionary, on top, on top(rear view) and doggie. Also in oral mode, she
works on you this time to produce the desired effect, as opposed to you doing
her as in foreplay mode.

The Pros
Most obviously Julia Ann and her wonderfully enhanced chest works with a real
partner (the actor playing you) who exposes only his specific body parts that
are actively engaged in the moment. This is an attempt to make you feel it is
really you in control and while being positioned a face to face alignment. The
video image is first rate and the scene well lit. The Dolby 5.1 surround is
clean and clear. Using the menu or using numeric shortcuts allow you to easily
position her in a variety of ways. I had to break out the calculator to figure
it out and was surprised to find a whopping 58 scene combinations totaling over
120 minutes of adult content.

The Cons
While great for those who like "Do this, Do that", this isn't an adult
movie, but rather a collection of short clips that don't run consecutively.
And while you can certainly control what you see, do and how it is performed,
there is no feeling that you are really participating. There is not much in
the way of creativity either, where one finger is used in innocent mode and
two in nasty mode, for example. There are also 12+ climaxes of your ghost character
and for that reason several male actors are substituted to pursue going for
the gold. But even at that, digitally reproduced money shots abound, certainly
not indicative of the normal human.

Summary
If you like seeing Julia Ann and are curious about this new technology of virtual
scene flipping, I would suggest you rent the title. But, if you're expecting
an adult flick with a storyline that excites, you probably want to pass this
one by.