Posts Tagged ‘movie-to-game’
The Matrix Online gets unplugged today
All players of The Matrix Online today will be taking the blue pill, as today marks the end of the online service of the game. Sony Online Entertainment will be terminating the service after four years of delays, ad controversy, and other drama. But, we will always remember the game for what it is; a fun way to relive the movie.
Subscribers the game were raised to the highest level, and given access to all of the stuff that they might not have been able to try before the game was ended. Additionally, the game was made available free of charge for anyone to try in its last days.
This isn’t the first time an MMO has died, just look at Hellgate: London, which only survived around two years of online service.
Rest in peace, The Matrix Online.
Ghostbusters the Video Game Game Review–Just What Atari Needed
One thing’s pretty clear–some of the oldest game companies out there are getting pounded by the modern game business environment. Midway’s been getting shellacked, which you can read about right here, and Atari has been in the dumps for quite some time. This is why we all–Atari included–have reason to be intensely, almost perversely, happy about the recent release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
Set as a third person shooter, you’ll charge through the various landmarks of New York as “the new guy” (Venkman insists on not using names as he doesn’t “want to get attached”), the guy (or gal, that’s a possibility) who tests the experimental equipment and is thus most likely to be blown into New Jersey by a malfunctioning proton pack or something similar, which won’t actually happen but considering you’re working with the Ghostbusters, the chances of it happening are fairly likely. Anyway, the environment has changed, and the city is a lot more tolerant–even downright friendly–of Ghostbusters and their ghostbusting. The city’s insurance policy has actually been extended to cover the Ghostbusters and the concomitant property damage they incur, so you’ll be able to do whatever needs to be done to clear the city of ghosts. But it’s not just ghosts you’ll have to worry about; there’s a much deeper plot at work here that you’ll also have to break through.
There will be plenty of ghosts, too–you’ll be taking on construction workers and angry sous chefs from beyond the grave and even the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man within the first six levels. You’ll get to work the PKE meter and the proton pack and plenty of nifty new gadgets like the highly destructive boson dart system. You’ll pick up pages of Tobin’s Spirit Guide, the single greatest resource a Ghostbuster can have, and supplement them with actual PKE scans.
I firmly believe that this may be the single best simulation of what it’s like to be a Ghostbuster ever released to date.
Of course, it may well be the ONLY actual simulation of what it’s like to be a Ghostbuster ever released to date, but that’s somewhat beside the point. In fact, I’m somewhat surprised to see it took as long as it did to get one out. Some of that, naturally, is to latch onto the resurgence of Ghostbusters with the emergence of the third movie on the horizon but still, they could’ve been pumping these out for YEARS between two and the still upcoming three.
Not that I’m not, on a limited level, happy about this development, of course–if they HAD flooded the market with Ghostbusters games it would’ve seriously tarnished the brand, but this is largely beside the point. The point is that this is an intensely fun game that packs in plenty of action. Sure, the controls can be a little hard to grapple with, especially in the Wii version, but it’s still plenty fun to lash out with the proton pack and roll out the trap. One downside, however, is that the game stops short of giving you the ultimate experience of driving the Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters’ converted ambulance. That might well have made for the best part of the game, but no–they patently refuse to allow you drive the Ecto-1. They’ll even MOCK you for not being ALLOWED to drive it. I’m sorry, but sacrificing a fantastic experience for a cheap joke just isn’t right.
These minor points aside, well, there’s plenty of fun to be had here, and getting your hands on this game should be well worth your time.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine–Uncaged Edition Game Review–Blood Soaked. No, Really.
It’s not every day I get my hands on a game like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Having just covered the movie version of same mere days ago over on our sister site Screenhead, I knew that the game was going to be a baffling little package for plenty of reasons.
Perhaps the biggest of these reasons is that, the movie was a greatly flawed beast that had a lot of wild action fun involved with it. It virtually ignored canon and went off on a truly bizarre tangent that only resembled in passing any of the previous events. So knowing what we all know about movie-to-game translations, how would the game version, the Wolverine Uncaged Edition (now available for Playstations two and three, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, PSP, and the Nintendo DS) play for us?
First, the plot—basically, X-Men Origins: Wolverine—Uncaged Edition will follow the movie plot, somewhat, as we follow Wolverine through his military service to where he joined the Weapon X program and beyond from there. He’ll fight government supersoldiers of every stripe, including his “brother” Sabertooth (which even casual fans will know is a crock of the highest order) to get revenge on the government that betrayed him.
Now…on to the game itself; I don’t remember the last time I played a game involving Marvel characters that was this extravagantly blood-soaked. And I definitely don’t remember the last time Wolverine did quite this much killing. Seriously—by the end of the first level he’s going to have a body count higher than any Marvel enterprise I’ve seen lately, and probably higher than the last time Jason Voorhees took a run at some campers. When Wolverine’s outkilling the undead juggernauts of my favorite horror classics I know something is GRAVELY wrong.
And the plotlines of the movie and the game will actually be somewhat divergent. How divergent, you wonder? Well, let me put it to you this way—the game will involve Sentinels. You see so much as a robot in the movie? No? Well, neither did I. I’m having a hard time with this game—most movie translations to game at least TRY to look like the movie they’re translated from, but this is just ridiculous. And sure, I’m glad that a Marvel property actually tried to be mature for once, but all this blood is actually sort of out of place. I remember thinking, this is why Wolverine pretty much had to be a good guy. If he were evil he’d be an unstoppable killing machine. And this is actually the biggest problem of all.
Wolverine is supposed to heal up from pretty much any damage, up to and including being shot in the skull with adamantium bullets. That’s canon. We saw that in the movie, too. So how do you translate this into a play mechanic that doesn’t end up with the character being invincible? Sadly, you can’t—thus, you have to water down Wolverine—give him a health bar and force him to regenerate by not taking damage until you can recover.
So really, the movie to game translation of X-Men Origins: Wolverine—Uncaged Edition is much bloodier, and yet at the same time much less substantial than the movie. And the movie wasn’t saying much to begin with, so it’s safe to say unless you’re dying for that sweet Wolvie Berserk Style in your gameplay, this one isn’t worth a snikt.
Wheelman Game Review–Go Fast. Turn Left. Repeat Until Disgusted.
Oh, Vin Diesel–you’d cash in on just about anything, wouldn’t you? In all seriousness, though, I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy. He’s a halfway decent actor, most of the time, and I can’t help but find it interesting that Vin Diesel has once again defied standard conventions. We’ve all seen game-to-movie translations, and we’ve all seen the converse, movie-to-game translations. We’ve even seen some movies that we KNEW would eventually be games, and vice versa. But this may be the first time I’ve seen a game that looks for all the world like it was SPECIFICALLY INTENDED to be converted into a movie, and probably starring its lead voice actor.
The game in question is called Wheelman, and it’s all about Vin Diesel, who this time appears as a guy named Milo, who works for a group called the Agency. Milo’s specialty is driving really fast and really recklessly, which makes him an excellent resource for those who need quick getaways and to do so while evading pursuit. And since Milo’s not working for celebrities, his talents seem tailor-made for the criminal element. Thus, Milo finds himself working for the criminal element in Barcelona, Spain…and you’ll have to do a lot of wild driving, recovering stolen cars, making friends and influencing people, and a whole slew of other things just to keep yourself from getting shot by the various criminals you both work for and work against. Seems Barcelona has a LOT of criminal factions, and when you help one, you hinder the other, and these are not guys who enjoy being hindered.
The best part is, after looking up a little information about it, this is indeed the case. Vin Diesel will be reprising his role as Milo in the film adaptation, which was originally slated to be released alongside the game, but since I’m talking about the game and have only just heard of the movie, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Unless, of course, you count Fast and Furious, but I don’t.
The game itself, meanwhile, is fun enough to play. It’s one gigantic adrenaline rush that really took me by surprise. It is a very faithful capture, at least as far as I can tell without actually instigating a high-speed police chase myself, of the way it feels to drive down the streets of Barcelona at a hundred-plus miles per hour while being followed by the cops and taking time out, occasionally, to slam into them. Yes, it’s a great deal of surprising fun to drive through buildings, or to make a preposterous jump from a six-story office window, or pull PIT (pursuit intervention tactics) maneuvers on cops. But let’s face facts, folks—at the end of the day, this is a driving game, only this and really nothing more. Surprising fun it may be, but surprising fun for how long? There’s the million dollar question.
Much like NASCAR, it’s just “go fast and turn left”, though occasionally, in Wheelman, you will be called upon to turn RIGHT. There are different types of missions, of course, but they’ll mostly be accomplished behind the wheel or occasionally handlebars. On very rare occasions you will be permitted to LEAVE THE CAR. So if you’re into driving games, then this one will definitely blow your mind with the addition of an actual plot. Those who hate driving games, however, will find absolutely nothing to like here.