[Removed at the request of Lionsgate]

When it was first rumored that The Expendables 2, sequel to Sylvester Stallone's homage to machismo cinema, would be getting a movie tie-in it was unclear what type of title developer Ubisoft would be trying to create. Would it be a third person or first person shooter? Would it be able to capture the excessive violence and overabundance of bullets that made the first movie so successful?

Now, we have the answer to some, not all, of our questions regarding The Expendables 2 in the form of a gameplay trailer that has just appeared online. While it has no context and only briefly shows off combat, it is quite illuminating for a number of reasons.

From the get go players will notice that, like The Expendables 2 is a team up of ex-military heroes so too will the video game provide gamers the opportunity to team up in what appears to be four player co-op. Our guess is that many of the characters featured in the first film, and those added to this sequel (like Chuck Norris) will be available as playable characters.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, The Expendables 2 looks almost like a top down, twin stick shooter, only your standard third person shooter's camera angle. Animations look a little stiff, and the rendering of Stallone specifically is a little like that of a wax figure, but it's too small of a slice to judge the final product.

Though tie-ins like Battleship and Men in Black have appeared seemingly out of nowhere, at least those products were announced by their publisher, whereas we have heard nothing from Ubisoft about this game. Given the nature of the footage, and the lack of information, it feels entirely possible this game never made it that far in development, and has since been cancelled.

Many will be quick to dismiss The Expendables 2 because of an assumed rushed development and the stigma associated with a movie tie-in, but there's no denying there are some interesting ideas at play in the gameplay footage. Hopefully the game can, at the very least, deliver a fun cooperative shooter experience that allows gamers to play as their favorite '80s action heroes. That is, if we aren't looking at footage from a cancelled game.

What do you think of this first look at The Expendables 2's gameplay? Which of the film's many stars would you most look forward to playing as?

The Expendables 2 should be releasing some time in August — alongside the feature film — but nothing concrete has been announced