The Boondock Saints Becomes Co-op Shooter

[Marshall Honorof]

The Boondock Saints Becomes Co-op Shooter

In nomine Patri, et Fili, et Spiritus Sancti, Critical Mass Interactive will shepherd a cooperative shooter based on the cult classic crime movie.

Small developer Critical Mass Interactive is like 7-Eleven; it's not always doing business, but it's always open. Recently, it opened its doors to an unusual project based on an equally unusual property: a cooperative shooter that continues the story of The Boondock Saints. Fans of quirky cinema will remember the story of Connor and Murphy, two Irish brothers who wage a two-man vigilante war against organized crime. The developers at Critical Mass see the characters as a natural fit for an action game, and promise fans that they'll do whatever it takes to honor the spirit of the film.

"We don't want to do a crap-ass franchise game," said Critical Mass CEO Matt Scibilia. "We're staying true to the content. We're looking to expand the story, not just retell the franchise." Scibilia explained that Boondock Saints: The Game will be available for PC and Xbox 360, with the possibility of a PS3 port. While he did not specify which two characters will be controlled cooperatively, fans can take a solid bet that protagonists Connor and Murphy will be on the roster. However, Scibilia promised that other characters will show up - despite being dead, in some cases. ""[The] banter, the relationships between Rocco and the brothers, the Catholicism, that will all be featured in the game."

Few other details are available at this point, but Critical Mass intends to show the game to press at PAX East and a wider audience at E3. The game may end up shipping as episodic downloadable content. If so, it may remind film buffs of nothing so much as another cooperative, movie-based XBLA title: smart-mouthed, cross-dressing detective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/5834-Review-Watchmen-The-End-is-Nigh].

Source: G4 [http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/721155/boondock-saints-game-a-co-op-shooter/#readmore]

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[Marter]

Because what we really need is more Boondock Saints.

Oh right, there are people who like the franchise. Well, count me out of this game, as the films were definitely not for me.

 

[Catalyst6]

"We don't want to do a crap-ass franchise game," said Critical Mass CEO Matt Scibilia, "but we're probably going to make one anyways".

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

A unknown developer is gonna rape a amazing set of movies and turn it into a generic FPS...
Yeah. Fuck these guys. Fuck them hard. Why would anyone even sell these guys the rights to it?

And lets see, Matt Scibilia has credits in 3 games. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Sid Meier's Covert Action & Knights of the Sky. 2 from the 90s and 1 from 2002.
If it were not for the Boondock Saints name this guys very existance would not even be worth acknowledging.

 

[Reaper195]

I'm...not sure how to respond. Unlike almost the entire internet, I like Nickleback. I also like The Boondock Saints, and think it is still one of the funniest action movie ever. While I long got over the stage of "Lol, all action movies need video games of them. It'd totally work as one!", I'm surprised I find this somewhat interesting. Fuck, if they get most of the original voice actors back (At the very least Billy Connolly and the brothers), I'd buy the game just for shits and giggles.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Hehe, to me it just sounds like they've ran out of movies to make games out of so any movie will do now.

Though that could lead to loads of awesome... well interesting... well it might lead to seeing more games on the self, I hate seeing empty spaces. o.o

From the people that brought you Heavy Rain, CLOVERFIELD the quick time even game! or even a Hot-Fuzz third person shooter, with Max Payne bullet time. Or Rockstar-Games could make A Clock Work Orange... Now that I'm done with random thoughts I wait for the money to roll in!

-sits and waits-

A Cloverfield game would be great. Stealth, trying to run through a destroyed city, multiplayer sandboxes so players fight over evac, randomly placing players throughout the city at the start as the monster smashes things.

I'm kind of sceptical about this one though. There's simply not enough action/shootouts to make proper levels out of, and a dialogue-based RPG wouldn't work since we don't want to replace the original dialogue.

I'm not going to start saying HERESY a lot, but it's not a good idea. Make a game inspired by The Boondock Saints, not a direct adaptation.

 

[tippy2k2]

"We don't want to do a crap-ass franchise game," said Critical Mass CEO Matt Scibilia, "but we're probably going to make one anyways".

The question is: do they posses the constitution, the depth of faith, to go as far as is needed.

Well played...

Anyway, I really hope that this goes well. I personally loved both movies (even though they were two very different styles) and can hope that it goes well, even though we all know that this will likely just end in tears.

 

[XMark]

This could be good - a game made to coincide with the release of a new movie is always crap, but sometimes games based on an older movie end up decent.

 

[Felgy76]

What this game needs is some rope...

 

[Therumancer]

Well, this is a bad idea if I ever heard one.

Half the point of Boondock Saints is the differances between how the protaganists envisioned things and what actually happened even if the results were basically the same. The other half is he quirky characters and how unexpected it was the first time.

All a video game could do here (and is going to do from the sound of it) is ape the characters from the movies. I can't see how they could do the "point of view" thing because if you go running in and doing all the FPS stuff that is 9 kinds of aweome, I mean you did it, a cinematic showing some spoof of what you actually did (when you know what happened because you controlled it so to speak) just wouldn't carry the same weight.

Basically it's a horrible fit for a video game, what works for a movie does not always translate well into a video game.

... and really, as awesome as the rope dangling was, we've seen it, and emulating it in a video game because it's a classic moment that defined the film, just isn't going to capture the same magic. Especially seeing as I've already shot people while dangling upside down in video games (justified by various events, like being held by a monster) to the point where even if the do it right it's kind of "meh" for the genere.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Basically it's a horrible fit for a video game, what works for a movie does not always translate well into a video game.

Honestly, the best thing about that movie wasn't the violence and the action, it was the flashbacks, and the investigations, and the characters. Character interaction could work in a game, but since the brothers already have defined personalities then there's nothing new to say.

 

[ultrachicken]

This doesn't bode well. The first movie (only seen the first) did feature violence, but not enough for a game based primarily around shooting. I don't see this working out as anything BUT a shitty franchise game.

 

[VladG]

*shudders* I see no way this won't turn up bad. Nothing that made that movie great can translate into a movie. It's just going to be another b-grade shooter cashing in on name recognition. And that's the positive scenario. I smell another Kane and Lynch

 

[tippy2k2]

Basically it's a horrible fit for a video game, what works for a movie does not always translate well into a video game.

Honestly, the best thing about that movie wasn't the violence and the action, it was the flashbacks, and the investigations, and the characters. Character interaction could work in a game, but since the brothers already have defined personalities then there's nothing new to say.

Your description gave me a great idea for this...alright, here me out and maybe the game can actually be not terrible (I sure as hell don't expect this to actually happen considering it's a little baby of a studio doing this but I can hope).

The game is broken up into two sections:

1. The Saints. This is a "Stranglehold" type shoot'em up game with lots of bullet time dives, incredible stunts, and big explosions. These parts always go first. You could also have a part before this where you get to plan how you enter the building and what type of weapons you use (see the game "SWAT 4"); witty banter and Saints character ("They always need rope") development here.

2. The cops. This is a "LA Noire" type investigation where you piece together what ACTUALLY happened based on what you find. Once you've pieced everything together, you get a new cut-scene showing what actually happened with the Saints (versus how the Saints saw themselves; see section 1). If you screw up the investigation, you get an incorrect cut scene (see "What if it was one guy with a bunch of guns?" scene from the first movie).

Keep the dark humor of the first movie with the highly stylized action of the second movie and you might be able to get a Boondock Saints game that is not just a "Kane and Lynch" clone.

 

[Something Amyss]

The Watchmen game was pretty lackluster. The mechanics may have been solid, but the game really wasn't. I couldn't enjoy it either as a gamer or a fan of the source material. If this is similar, it deserves a fall to obscurity.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

I really enjoyed the movies so I'll keep optimistic about this project