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Vivendi Universal Games Announces it will be Unleashing Van Helsing for the PlayStation®2 Xbox
Creatures of the night beware,
Vivendi Universal Games announced today that it will be unleashing Van Helsing
for the PlayStation®2
computer entertainment system and the XboxTM
video game system from Microsoft, based on the highly-anticipated film from
Universal Pictures. Van Helsing, the new epic action-adventure film from
writer-director Stephen Sommers, (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns) draws
inspiration from the studio's classic horror properties and introduces Van
Helsing, Bram Stoker's fabled monster hunter, who is summoned to a distant
Eastern European land on a quest to vanquish evil. The stars Hugh Jackman
(X-Men, Swordfish, Kate & Leopold) and Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor) and is
slated for a May 7, 2004 release.
Van Helsing, the third-person action game, transports players back to the
macabre world of 19th century Transylvania – home to the legendary Dracula, Wolf
Man and the Frankenstein Monster. As the renowned monster hunter Van Helsing,
players must hunt down and destroy the evil that inhabits these ancient lands
before darkness engulfs the world. Van Helsing is being developed by Saffire
Studios and will be available in the Spring of 2004 in conjunction with the
film's release.
Working closely with members of the Van Helsing film production, Vivendi
Universal Games and Saffire Studios have set out to put players in the boots of
the title character, allowing them to experience interactively key moments and
battles from the film while building out Van Helsing's mythology through
exclusive access to a backstory that they will not get in theatres.
"The Van Helsing game puts a fresh, exciting and contemporary twist on some of
the most legendary characters to ever appear in print or film," said says Luc
Vanhal, President and Chief Operating Officer, North America, Vivendi Universal
Games. "Paralleling and expanding on the epic events of the film, the game
offers players a cinematic action experience packed with nightmarish creatures,
furious combat and daring escapes."
"Van Helsing builds on the legacy of Universal's monster franchise, while
bringing a new, dark hero simultaneously to movie and video game screens," said
Bill Kispert, vice president, Interactive, Universal Studios Consumer Products
Group. "The haunting world created by the filmmakers, and the interpretation of
these legendary characters as we have never seen them before, offers a fantastic
jumping off point to develop an emotional and atmospheric action game
experience."
As players progress through Transylvania and the strongholds of Castle
Frankenstein and Castle Dracula, they'll encounter untold fiends and evil
minions including the legendary dark prince Dracula, the Wolf Man, the
Frankenstein Monster and Igor as well as a host of original creatures created
for the game including stone gargoyles, fell sprits and banshees. To help turn
the tide of darkness, players can dish out double-fisted damage with a
devastating arsenal of melee and ranged weapons including tojo blades,
scimitars, pistols, a shotgun and a hand-cranked gatling gun for maximum
carnage. Additionally, players will be able to utilize Van Helsing's signature
grappling hook to escape impending doom, explore the gameworld and unleash
devastating fatality attacks.
About the Film
Writer-director Stephen Sommers, who successfully reinvigorated a genre with his
1999 smash hit The Mummy and its blockbuster sequel The Mummy Returns, once
again draws inspiration from the studio's classic horror properties in an
all-new action adventure film entitled Van Helsing.
Set in the late 19th century, Sommers' screenplay finds Bram Stoker's fabled
monster hunter, Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman), summoned to a distant Eastern
European land on a quest to vanquish evil. Now, for the first time since the
1940s, Universal's greatest classic monsters - Dracula, the Frankenstein monster
and The Wolf Man - return to the screen as complex, multi-dimensional beings
re-imagined by writer-director Sommers. The Van Helsing character first appeared
onscreen in the seminal 1931 Universal classic Dracula and has since appeared in
hundreds of motion picture and theatrical adaptations of Stoker's novel.
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