As Need for Speed attempts to jump from video games to film, Universal's Fast & Furious franchise is attempting to do the opposite. And no, we aren't talking about a sequel to Gameloft's adaptation of Fast Five.
A rumor earlier in the week pointed towards the possibility that developer Firebrand Games, the team behind NASCAR Unleashed and Need for Speed: The Run for Wii/3DS, is working on Fast & Furious: Showdown for publisher Activision as a tie-in to the fifth and sixth movies in the series, and now we can safely say that it's true.
In another "accidental" early listing by EB Games/GameStop in Australia (since removed), the retailer has earned themselves attention this time by posting a page for the upcoming and still unannounced Fast & Furious: Showdown game, and here's what the page listed:
High Octane Action!
That delivers the definitive Fast & Furious experience of racing, heists & Teamwork!
Team Action Racing:
In Fast and Furious nature, it’s all about the crew. Every mission is played cooperatively, either with a friend or A.I.
Adrenaline-packed Storyline:
Heists, hijacks and shootouts combine in a storyline that ties events from Fast 5 and earlier movies to the upcoming Fast 6 movie.
Choose the Experience:
Play through the story taking on various roles, and switch it up as you please. Take on skill-based high scoring challenges on your own or cooperatively with a buddy, and compare your results against your friends list.
Complete 31 missions through 8 chapters in 8 locations around the world.
Missions are comprised of one or more objectives. Objectives include:
Get to Location — get to a target location as quickly as possible
Transport — transport a person, vehicle or item to a target location
Win Race - win a street race by finishing in 1st place
Catch Vehicle — catch up with an escaping vehicle
Survive Pursuit — survive a police or gang pursuit
Protect Vehicle — protect a target vehicle from being destroyed
Enter Vehicle — get your character inside the back of a moving vehicle
Wreck Objectives/vehicles — wreck target objects or vehicles
Avoid Detection — travel past security cameras at high speed
Rescue Teammate — rescue a teammate in distress
Hijack Vehicle — hijack a target car
Steal Cargo — steal cargo from a moving vehicle
The listing indicated a Wii U release date of May 15, 2013 and a release for PS3/Xbox 360 on May 22, 2013. Excited for "skill-based high scoring challenges"? Although the game has yet to be revealed and there's no gameplay available for viewing, this is a movie tie-in based around the release of Fast & Furious 6 on May 24th, and their (and the industry's) track record in these cash grab style releases speaks for itself. Not to mention the review scores for Firebrand's racing games to date.
Take a look at the last few movie tie-ins and releases built around major film releases: 007 Legends, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Amazing Spider-Man, etc. Will Fast & Furious: Showdown offer comparable or dare I say, better, racing gameplay than the latest Need for Speed/Forza games? How will its graphics compare? Will it have a great story (likely including voiceovers from the film's actors)?
We'll find out very soon since the game is only two months away.
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Source: GoNintendo