Essential linkage: Gearbox's Randy Pitchford still has high hopes for a game-adaptation of crime classic Heat.
A game based on the Michael Mann classic Heat has been on Gearbox's radar for years. Now that Borderlands is on the even of release, Gearbox's Randy Pitchford is doing a lot of press, and the folks over at Gamespot thought it was high time to see what was happening the movie-cum-game.
Long answer short: not a lot, right now.
The long answer, though, si a lot more interesting, and we must admit it seems Pitchford at least has the best of intentions in adapting Mann's gritty epic:
"The very first thing I told Sanford is I'm absolutely not doing this unless it's blessed by the people that created this brand. I'm not doing it unless it's legitimate. There's a love that I have there for the brilliance of Michael Mann's filmmaking and his approach to the heist film in Heat that we haven't seen before. And, frankly, we haven't seen since."
Pitchford goes on to add, in reference to the initial meetings with Mann on the project, "But at the end of the day, I mean, we care for our respective crafts, and when we have a brand that we've created, we care about that."
So, at least it seems as if Pitchford wants to see an homage, not a rip-off.
But to our mind, the real question is: does there need to be a game based on Heat? It's one of my personal favourite films (and I am practically drooling at the thought of a Blu-ray release at the end of the year), but will the drama and clinical planning of the film, its austere sensibility and precisely constructed soundtrack translate to a game scenario?
The only way I can imagine the game working is by mixing matching existing elements from other great games. For instance, you'd need a combat engine reminscent of Call of Duty 4's excellent weapons modelling and sound work. But you'd also need some good dialogue and roleplay elements - for that, there are two chioces, each subtly different. You could either go with something like Mass Effect's branching system, or if you want a more controlled story, something like GTA IV's well-scripted in-engine cut-scenes.
Given that Heat is all about choices (jobs to take, how to take them, who trust and when to cut and run), we'd rather see something like Mass Effect.
But, we can at least say what we don't want to see - another mess like Kane & Lynch. It very obviously referenced Heat in a lot of its sequences, but matched a poor ballistics engine with some awful AI and an overwrought story.
Of course, a Heat game may never see the light of day. But with Gearbox finishing off Borderlands, and now with Mann done with Public Enemies (though he has about a half-dozen projects in pre-production), maybe now's a good time for Pitchford and Mann to sit down again.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012