Is an Apocalypse Now Game in the Works?

[Andy Chalk]

Is an Apocalypse Now Game in the Works?

Some intrepid internet sleuthing has turned up evidence that an Apocalypse Now [http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Now-Complete-Two-Disc-Collectors/dp/B000FSME1A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1278535902&sr=1-1] videogame could be on the way.

Movie games are a dicey affair. At best, publishers can hope to ride a wave of summer blockbuster popularity to profitable sales of some half-baked tie-in or other, but of course that plan relies on a movie being a major mainstream hit and sufficiently in the public eye that casual gamers who don't know any better will catch sight of it on a shelf somewhere and pick it up based solely on the title on the front of the box. Even then, the results of such adaptations are almost inevitably disaster and tragedy, which could naturally lead a person to wonder why anyone would think that Apocalypse Now is a good choice for such a screen-to-console translation.

Nonetheless, it may be happening, based on information dug up by Digital Development Management [http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/post/509111578/i-have-a-feeling-this-is-not-a-good-idea], includes Killspace on its client list, describing it as a first and third-person action game developer for the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPhone and Facebook platforms.

"The team is composed of developers with talent culled from Obsidian, Pandemic, Red 5 and EALA," the site's LinkedIn [http://www.ddmagents.com/DDM%20Clients%20Company%20Overview%2020100412.pdf] profile indicates that Killspace has hired employees from developers including Pandemic and Rockstar.

According to YouTube [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/11/killspace-entertainment-pulling-from-ex-pandemic-eala-working/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fjoystiq+%28Joystiq%29] nine months ago.

Is an Apocalypse Now game in the offing? Even more interesting, what kind of game could it possibly be? A generic Vietnam-era shooter hardly seems worthy of the license; some kind of adventure-RPG hybrid, maybe? I have a feeling that the sleuthing isn't done just yet.


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[dududf]

What ever it ends up being, I'm wagering a play boy bunny will be involved in some way or another.

 

[DividedUnity]

Why so much secrecy with this? Thats the one thing im curious about

 

[SaintWaldo]

It's obvious, but I feel it's oh so applicable:

The horror! THE HORROR!

 

[The Critic]

Here's the obligatory "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like, victory" quote.


Very interesting development, I wonder just how they're going to pull this off...

 

[Rigs83]

A Martin Sheen stress induced heart attack should be an achievement.

 

[Cliff_m85]

*recanted due to my stupidity*

 

[Mr.Gompers]

Quite frankly I thought the only good part of the movie was when they raid the village in the Helis. A game version of Apocalypse Now would just be a waste of a perfectly good Disc.

P.S. I might have thought the movie was bad because I was told it was a good war movie, which translates to me as a good action movie.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Could be a good game, it's got no release date to keep up with, should let it "cook" for as long as it needs to.

 

[Starke]

Well, the Platoon game was bloody atrocious, but you never know, there might be a tiny chance that this could work. Perhaps, as you said, a RPG type game. Still, I actually think a Heart Of Darkness game would work much better, I'd love to see a game set in darkest Africa during the 19th century, it could be brilliant.

I'll keep an eye out for this, but I won't be holding out much hope. Apocalypse Now! just doesn't seem like a 'game movie' if you know what I mean. It's too cerebral.

[sub]Now, to register that Heart Of Darkness idea...[/sub]

Far Cry 2...

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Informed guess here:

They will announce that you play a young soldier in Kurtz's squad set before the film setting fire to half of Vietnam and Cambodia and witnessing the beginnings of Kurtz's "unsound methods" in an open world fps/3rd person shooter. Featuring pointless cameos from Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall to make all the movie fans cream their jeans. It will badly re-create scenes from the film and fill plot gaps that don't need filling (like what happened to the surf board)

It will ultimately disappoint, being called a "mediocre shooter," that "doesn't do anything new" and squanders "a great movie license" it will average 5/10 from reviews that will run references to the movie into the ground and ultimately end up selling for 15 bucks second hand 2 months after release.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Sorry, just won't work at all. The film is wonderful, genius infact. However a game version would just be a gigantic letdown. Mission One: Navigate the wedding room! Mission Two: Drink with buddies and talk to army dude. Mission Three: Wartime!!! Mission Four: Deal with depression.

Yeah, no thanks.

Mixing up movies dude. That's the Deer Hunter but still it sounds like a better game.

 

[skeanthu]

Gah, I hope not, sorry but some things should be left to celluloid.

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

That would be the single most boring game ever. Great film, but it would be a terrible game.

 

[Vern]

Already happened in the Heart of Evil Half-Life mod. It was probably quite a bit more tongue-in-cheek than this will be, considering it was chock full of zombies and mutated gorilla, but the basic premise was the same, Kurtz goes crazy, find Kurtz and terminate him with extreme prejudice.

 

[Rainboq]

As long as its a good one, the problem with most movie tie ins is that they are RUSHED

 

[tcurt]

It could be one messed up Heavy Rain style game. That would retain the atmosphere, adult content, violence, drugs, cow killing, heads on stakes, all that mud.. The coolest part (if it was really done well - which I seriously doubt) is that you could explore some totally different outcomes to the original ApocNow storyline.

Great in concept, but it'll never happen. This game is gonna have accurate weapons and a physics engine. And miss the point of the film entirely.

As a follow-up, this same company will release a hilarious WWII FPS based on Catch-22. Let the wise-crackin' begin!

 

[Brad Shepard]

I will have to wait to see how (or if) this game is to see how i feel.