Because no blockbuster film can apparently exist without some kind of video game adaptation that may or may not bear any real resemblance to the film in question, Activision and developer Double Helix have today announced that they will be teaming up with Universal Pictures to bring an extremely loose interpretation of the studio's upcoming sort of adaptation of Hasbro's classic boardgame Battleship to video game consoles everywhere.
Undoubtedly you've seen the myriad ads for the Peter Berg-directed film, which features innocent battleships suddenly caught in a massive alien invasion that looks more or less like an accidental Michael Bay parody. The game will apparently follow a storyline wholly separate from the one that features Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, and Alexander Skarsgaard fighting aliens (and also Liam Neeson collecting yet another paycheck.) Instead, you'll play as Cole Mathis, some manner of demolitions expert who is not on a battleship, yet is somehow capable of commanding a number of battleships while fighting off the aforementioned ocean aliens.
The game will split its battles into first-person shooter sequences and tactical "Battle Command" sequences, where you tactically position ships into tactical situations to tactically defeat the alien enemies, presumably while using tactics.
"With a BATTLESHIP videogame, we have an amazing opportunity to take our beloved property and give it a modern-day spin," said Mark Blecher, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media and Marketing at Hasbro, and also a guy who apparently forgot EA already made a version of Battleship for Xbox Live along with a bunch of other Hasbro properties, and thus likely will be getting a very irritated phone call from them later today.
"The merging of tactical and action elements immerses players in an epic maritime conflict. Activision is completely up to the task of delivering a high-intensity thrill ride that's perfectly suited for today's console owners," he added, clearly unaware that the makers of last year's generally disliked Green Lantern game, as well as the universally reviled G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra game would be developing this.
Battleship will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this April in Europe, and May in North America. Separate adaptations for the Wii, 3DS and regular old DS will be coming later down the road from developer Magic Pockets, makers of the GBA version of that horrible Catwoman game, and Petz Dolphinz Encounter, which is something that exists, apparently.