May 13, 2009

Astro Boy

Tags: Astro Boy | DS | PlayStation 2 | Review: PSP | Wii

Not content with picking the bones of the literary works of western society, Hollywood has in recent years drawn it’s attention to Eastern authors too. More specifically Japanese Manga, which has proved popular to western viewers in either subtitled or dubbed form for a long time now.This popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed and now Astro Boy is getting the Summer Blockbuster treatment and as sure as day follows night, a game adaptation of the movie is in the works to complete the holy trinity.

There has already been Astro Boy games before, most recently on the Gameboy Advance which was in actual fact quite a good game. This new game which will be released in October (to coincide with the movie) and as you might expect the game will closely follow the plot of the film, which will hopefully honour Osamu Tezuk’s original Manga.

“We are confident that the Astro Boy: The Video Game will be a faithful adaption of the movie by successfully blending action gameplay with immersive storytelling,” said Alison Quirion, vice president of marketing, D3Publisher. “Players of all ages will interact with the much-lovedcharacters from the movie and square off against powerful foes from the movie for a rock solid gameplay experience from start to finish.”

There are benefits to following the plot of a movie, it provides the developer with a story arc in which to form the backbone of their own story and of course the visual style is already there too. Personally I’d rather they either made the game as a sequel to the movie, or simply the game followed it’s own path that at points intertwined with the film.

Some of the features you can expect from the game include use of Astro Boy’s Finger Lasers, Arm Cannon, Butt Machine Guns and Drill Attacks against hordes of robot enemies and larger bosses. For the collectors out there, the game will also have unlockable and collectible elements that include exclusive art work and different versions of Astro Boy.

Astro Boy will be available in October for Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation2 and PSP