Today's most poetic video: Beowulf
by Jared Rea 
{ Jul 27th 2007 at 12:35AM }
Ubisoft has made quite a show out of the San Diego convention, revealing their nerd trifecta of Heroes, Lost and of course, Beowulf. While this first glimpse doesn't feel particularly inspiring, it's not nearly as tacky as the CG effects in the film itself.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
blooh @ Jul 27th 2007 12:41AM
looks like god of war only he's a viking
(which is pretty cool)
Roxinos @ Jul 27th 2007 12:56AM
Nothing makes Doctor Who fans cower. NOTHING.
RRT @ Jul 27th 2007 4:28PM
Only the thought of Catherine Tate as a regular.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
REUYL @ Jul 27th 2007 1:08AM
Imagine a Beowulf clust-...
Eh, forget it.
chalito @ Jul 27th 2007 10:24AM
I for one welcome our Viking overlords..
bm @ Jul 27th 2007 1:31AM
Looks pretty boring to me. Looks like yet another mindnumbing brawler where an army of enemies nicely wait on the sideline while you're busy killing them one at a time. And the whole "press buttons during cutscene" thing got old in the first few levels of God of War 1.
One of these days I'll just quit games altogether. Fuck this.
Evan @ Jul 27th 2007 1:59AM
Hey at least it's not yet another first-person shooter for the Xbox 360.
bm @ Jul 27th 2007 5:00AM
I feel that both are equally depressing, to be honest.
GRANTED @ Jul 27th 2007 10:18AM
word. waiting for little big planet and spore.
Lijik @ Jul 27th 2007 1:37AM
Meh I was more excited reading the preview in GI.
When they told me I was going to mainly be hacking and slashing they dressed it up and made it sound cool, which I guess is the goal with every magazine preview ever.
PyrosNine @ Jul 27th 2007 1:46AM
I just hope it won't be as bad as Beowulf the movie.
Man that sucked. But there was nudity...
Yaume @ Jul 27th 2007 2:25AM
Male nudity? ;)
Raikage @ Jul 27th 2007 3:19AM
Ah... the oldest Epic Poem ever discovered, I didn't think it was too bad of a story either. Hopefully the movie is ok...
Mr. Picklesworth @ Jul 27th 2007 12:01PM
Actually, the oldest epic poem (and oldest known piece of written literature) is the Epic of Gilgamesh, from around 4500 years ago, later transferred to clay tablets where the story withstood the test of time.
It is an absolutely incredible story about man's quest for immortality and society's role of preserving mortal lives for eternity. Completely real, and amazing in how well it connects with life today, so many years later. I hope Hollywood never makes a movie / game fanfare out of it, and particularly that they do not give it the same title as the epic, because they are completely missing the point of all these ancient stories.
Beowulf is not about people slashing things with swords; it is about the nature of mortality. That is something very difficult to capture in a film, and they are not giving it the respect it deserves. Instead they are painting an image of complete savagery in our past, which is an insult to our ancestors. It is a complete ignorance which makes that division in the calendar (BC vs. AD) successful in dividing history and concealing the messages from before 2007 years ago.
The fact that they made a video game makes it very clear: They screwed up. Again.
eldee @ Jul 27th 2007 3:33AM
reminds me of a game from way back called Rune.. it was sweet, so therefore this must be sweet.
pchea @ Jul 27th 2007 3:36AM
Mr. Rea, please define "tacky cg effects" as Beowulf is entirely in CG.
Or you mean to say the film as a whole is tacky?
bobby d. @ Jul 27th 2007 3:43AM
was that el gigante?
Slayeric @ Jul 27th 2007 4:36AM
I get it. The title of this article is ironic because Beowulf is a epic. Hahaha...too much sarcasm?
I can't wait to see the movie thought. I want to play the game too, but it looks like a rental/borrow from a friend type thing.
JonFitt @ Jul 27th 2007 9:20AM
Looks ike mindless fun.
They need to fix those sound effects though; those wet splortches sound ridiculous. They also sound incredibly repetitive.
miannone @ Jul 27th 2007 8:27AM
This games looks awesome, I cant wait to play it. It looks like a mix between Prince of Persia and Gods of War. Games like these are making Ubisoft one of my favorite gaming companies.
doomcloud @ Jul 27th 2007 10:46AM
alright, i am NOT down with a cg angelina jolie
uncanny valley in full effect!
Joe Smith @ Jul 27th 2007 12:50PM
With all the licenses they are announcing they are starting to look like the old Acclaim.
Richie @ Jul 27th 2007 12:54PM
less shields and swords more limb ripping and unnecessary overkills... I pretty much want this to be Turok but not suck.
Kasey @ Jul 27th 2007 2:01PM
Please tell me one of Beowulf's special abilities is unlocking his word-hoard.
Tolkien translation, anyone?
JerJer @ Jul 27th 2007 2:24PM
what is that like...10 frames per second?
ducky @ Jul 27th 2007 4:17PM
and the best part is you know you are going to die
gst @ Jul 27th 2007 7:39PM
And another hack-and-slasher enters the ring.
Think of it this way: if it doesn't completely suck we can all add another much needed entry to the list of "Licenced Movie Games that didn't me want to die."
You never know how it could turn out. So much that makes brawlers like this fun are things that you can't really see in a trailer, like fluid controls, switching up the action, good pacing, etc.
John @ Jul 27th 2007 9:57PM
Classic PC framerate lag. Can't stand it. I could handle (maybe) a CONSISTENT frame rate of 15fps... but when the framerate goes high to low, and especially lowest in the midst of battle? This is disgusting. This is why we play consoles.
John @ Jul 27th 2007 10:01PM
Word to Mr. Picklesworth. This is a HUGE problem in gaming today, assuming that people only want action.
You don't take a classic tale (it's classic for a reason, and not because of people killing each other) and turn it into a hackfest, tack a historical name on it.
Developers are starting to get better at background story and meaning (Resistance, Heavenly Sword), which will be another of the marks of a truly next-gen game, where history and anthropology are intertwined and the experience is intellectual and soulful, as opposed to simply visceral (Pac-Man is visceral, people).