Deadpool Video Game

Ever wonder what "awesome" actually looks like? According to the box art for the upcoming Deadpool video game, awesome incarnate is a mouthy masked assassin - dressed head to toe in red and black spandex. For weeks we've been covering the highly-anticipated adaptation from High Moon Studios, the developer that is responsible for reigniting interest in Transformers video games - after uninspired movie and TV show tie-ins had somehow managed to make giant transforming robots (in disguise) boring. In Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, the studio blended fun third-person shooting mechanics, on-the-fly transformations, vehicular combat, and giant boss battles into a set of satisfying video game experiences.

However, the real strength of the titles was how High Moon Studios incorporated fan-favorite characters and storylines - resulting in two high-quality single player campaigns that could please both die-hard Transformer fans as well as casual gamers. Can the developer achieve the same success with Deadpool - especially considering the various nuances that come with the character?

An essential element of the Deadpool character, one that wasn't utilized until the final seconds of his big screen debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is his self-referential humor - allowing the "Merc with a Mouth" to break the fourth wall and explore meta-comic book narrative. Speaking directly to an audience (in this case, the player) outside of the story, and recognizing that he is a figure in a video game, was clearly a focus for the High Moon Studios team - as evidenced by the game's box art which sees Deadpool outright question the viewer:

Deadpool Video Game Box Art

Given Deadpool's egotism, he makes no mention of the other characters depicted on the cover - including Rogue, Cable, Domino, Psylocke, and Wolverine. That said, it shouldn't come as a surprise that High Moon Studios was sure to include the iconic characters on the cover of their game - to help ensure that it isn't just Deadpool that gets paid.

In addition to the various mutants highlighted in the box artwork, we also know that Red Hulk, Mister Sinister (plus his Marauders: Arclight, Blockbuster, Riptide, and Vertigo) will also factor into the story and, in most cases, serve as enemies to fight.

Based on gameplay videos, the combat is primarily hack and slash stylized action - with third person shooter capability (combining mechanics that were introduced in Fall of Cybertron). Overall, the combat appears to be relatively straightforward, so players looking for a lot of depth will likely need to ratchet up the difficulty to get much of a challenge. However, Deadpool wasn't designed to be a "deep" action title like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta and, instead, has been positioned as a platform of chaos and pandemonium for the title character - where he fires guns, slices and dices with katana blades, and shoots off at the mouth.

Of course, we won't know for sure until the final build of the game releases mid-summer.

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Deadpool releases June 25, 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

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