E3 2008: Wanted impressions
posted:
7/17/2008 8:32:00 AM
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E3 2008
We all know that the majority of movie-tie in games suck. It's one of the great axioms of the gaming industry like exploding barrels, henchmen who run straight at you, and Nintendo's abuse of the Mario franchise. However there are the occasional games that break that mold and they are usually ones that are either prequels or sequels to the movie (like Chronicles of Riddick:Escape from Butcher Bay)
This is the case for the just announced Wanted video game(see, I told you we'd have impressions soon) . The game picks up after the events of the movie as the protagonist, Wesley Gibson, starts his new life as one of the deadliest guys on the planet. The game is being developed by Grin and shares engine technology with the upcoming Bionic Commando game. While the events of the movie focused on the Wesley's father, the events of the game are going to focus on what happened to his mother (we're hoping there aren't any Oedipal type situations in the game).
According to the developer the focus on the game is "Cover and curving bullets". To show that off we were shown an early level where you have to make your way to the front of a plane to find a parachute. Entering the back of the plane you find a plane full of dead bodies and very alive terrorists. The cover system in the game allows you to chain together moves so that you can quickly move through the cabin and flank enemies. This is especially helpful when you are pinned down as you can move out of harms way without the terrorists noticing.
The curving bullets is pretty obvious as you'll have full use of the signature move from the movie. To do this you tap the right bumper to bring up an aiming line and then move it over a bad guy to lock on to him. The feature does let you select enemies that are hidden behind walls but you have to have seen them first to lock on to them. Once you have have the lock the line will turn from red to white and you can fire the shot. These shots can be used to flush bad guys out of cover or kill them out right if you can land a head shot . Once you get good with the curved bullets you can even use it to take out multiple enemies with a single shot or kill them by hitting an object in the environment, this was shown off dramatically as a bullet was curved into one doors on the planet causing it to explode out into the sky, taking the two terrorists hiding near the door with it.
The developers haven't confirmed it yet but James McAvoy has given the rights to his likeness for the game. I know this because the character in the game looks exactly like the actor and I don't think he has a twin brother that would have consented his rights. The game does look good, even in this pre-alpha state and you can expect a very mature rating as the game isn't stingy with the blood. You will probably not be able to use the "human silencer" move from the movie as the ESRB frowns on corpse mutilation but a lot of the other moves from the movie will be in the game. Is this one of those games that breaks the movie tie-in curse? Early indications are positive as the bullet curving stuff is a lot of fun and they are promising other big events from the movies and comic books.
What Works
- Bullet curving and cover system work well together
- All kinds of fun ways to kill people
- The game makes being a bad ass look easy
What Doesn't
- Cover system takes some getting used to, no visual indicator of where the next cover is without having been there before
- Third person shooting games with cover are a dime a dozen now a days thanks to Gears of War
This is the case for the just announced Wanted video game(see, I told you we'd have impressions soon) . The game picks up after the events of the movie as the protagonist, Wesley Gibson, starts his new life as one of the deadliest guys on the planet. The game is being developed by Grin and shares engine technology with the upcoming Bionic Commando game. While the events of the movie focused on the Wesley's father, the events of the game are going to focus on what happened to his mother (we're hoping there aren't any Oedipal type situations in the game).
According to the developer the focus on the game is "Cover and curving bullets". To show that off we were shown an early level where you have to make your way to the front of a plane to find a parachute. Entering the back of the plane you find a plane full of dead bodies and very alive terrorists. The cover system in the game allows you to chain together moves so that you can quickly move through the cabin and flank enemies. This is especially helpful when you are pinned down as you can move out of harms way without the terrorists noticing.
The curving bullets is pretty obvious as you'll have full use of the signature move from the movie. To do this you tap the right bumper to bring up an aiming line and then move it over a bad guy to lock on to him. The feature does let you select enemies that are hidden behind walls but you have to have seen them first to lock on to them. Once you have have the lock the line will turn from red to white and you can fire the shot. These shots can be used to flush bad guys out of cover or kill them out right if you can land a head shot . Once you get good with the curved bullets you can even use it to take out multiple enemies with a single shot or kill them by hitting an object in the environment, this was shown off dramatically as a bullet was curved into one doors on the planet causing it to explode out into the sky, taking the two terrorists hiding near the door with it.
The developers haven't confirmed it yet but James McAvoy has given the rights to his likeness for the game. I know this because the character in the game looks exactly like the actor and I don't think he has a twin brother that would have consented his rights. The game does look good, even in this pre-alpha state and you can expect a very mature rating as the game isn't stingy with the blood. You will probably not be able to use the "human silencer" move from the movie as the ESRB frowns on corpse mutilation but a lot of the other moves from the movie will be in the game. Is this one of those games that breaks the movie tie-in curse? Early indications are positive as the bullet curving stuff is a lot of fun and they are promising other big events from the movies and comic books.
What Works
- Bullet curving and cover system work well together
- All kinds of fun ways to kill people
- The game makes being a bad ass look easy
What Doesn't
- Cover system takes some getting used to, no visual indicator of where the next cover is without having been there before
- Third person shooting games with cover are a dime a dozen now a days thanks to Gears of War
