It's no secret that a strong IP can give a game a major leg-up in the market, but what if you combine two of them? Recently such IP crossovers have been making a serious mark in gaming with Disney Crossy Road making waves on mobile, while The Escapists: Walking Dead does the same on PC and console. With this in mind, we asked a few members of the Tag Team to imagine their dream IP crossovers. They came up with some fascinating (and occasionally bizarre) ideas for winning combos that need to happen.
Read on to find out more!
Robocop / Watch Dogs
Derek Patterson - Producer
It still surprises me that no-one has done a 3D Robocop game yet. The near-future setting and all the gadgets would be perfect for something along the lines of Watch Dogs, only with retro-futuristic technology and a good dose of sharp satire.
The main story would follow the movie and centre around Robocop as he discovers who he really is and sets about taking down the corrupt corporation that controls Detroit. Add to that a whole host of crimefighting side missions where you’d travel round the city and you have the perfect recipe for an open-world action title.
Robocop’s array of gadgets would be a major component of the gameplay and you could bring in RPG elements to upgrade your abilities and tech. The jetpack from Robocop 3 would have to make an appearance as well (even if the film itself isn’t exactly fondly-remembered), both as a means of traversing Detroit and for taking down airborne crooks.
The Sopranos / Adventure Capitalist
Nina Cliff - Head of Business Development
I've completed all six seasons of The Sopranos and currently have a sweet spot for Idle Clickers, so my idea sees Adventure Capitalist meet the world of Tony Soprano.
You'd replace your cheery Adventure Capitalist avatar with the hulking presence of Tony Soprano as he aims to take over New Jersey under the guise of ‘waste management’. Start small selling subs at Satriale’s pork store, progress to drinks and other "services" for punters at Bada Bing gentlemen's club and slowly but surely grow your criminal empire.
You would enlist help from Tony’s crew to manage assets and bring in more cash. Tony's hapless brother-in-law Bobby could handle the day to day street jobs while Silvio, your number one consigliere, takes care of the more complex undertakings.
You can only get so big in New Jersey, so that's where Adventure Capitalist's Mission Control feature comes in, allowing you to discover and invest in new markets. Will you step on the toes of your rivals in New York, exploit Tony's connections in Florida or his family up in Canada? Outside New Jersey lie bigger risks but also bigger rewards!
Westworld / Theme Park
Gavin Moffat - Marketing Executive
A 70s sci-fi set in a theme park staffed by gunslinging cowboy androids, Westworld is about to be rebooted into a series by HBO and so should be ripe for a game tie-in.
Theme Park with a twist could be the order of the day here. Much like Bullfrog's classic sim you'll have to manage money, staff and customer expectations as you build the attractions in your park, but this time you'll also have to manage the unpredictable automatons that form your park's main attraction. If they go on the rampage like they do in the movie, then you'll have to wrestle back control of your park before too many guests meet a grisly end.
Like all park builders I think it would work pretty well in an F2P setting. It’s a genre with plenty of potential for IAPs and the periods of android chaos could be implemented as retention-boosting timed events. You could be given say, a 24 hour warning before the rampage, allowing you to plan how to deal with the attack and invest in your defences.
Akira / Extreme G / GTA
Marc Williamson - Development Director
Apart from a clunky NES visual novel, Akira games have been surprisingly thin on the ground. It might be approaching its 40th birthday, but Akira still has a huge following and post-apocalyptic Tokyo would be the perfect setting to build an engrossing open world.
Gameplay-wise I’d be looking for something that put the series’ futuristic motorbikes to good use. You could take the lead from cult N64 hit Extreme-G to make high-speed bike racing the focus, possibly even bringing in the open-world element of Burnout Paradise to take full advantage of the setting. If you want to be even more ambitious you could go full-GTA on this one, mixing up vehicle and on-foot sections with a strong narrative.
Taxi Driver / Crazy Taxi / Eternal Darkness
Gavin Moffat - Marketing Executive
Bit of a wildcard this one, but I’d like to see an unlikely crossover between Robert De Niro's darkest moments and Crazy Taxi. Set in a grim backdrop of 70s New York, your antihero runs up the meter ferrying the city's deadbeats to their destinations as the timer ticks away.
As the game progresses, your character would develop and his errands would begin to take him on a path of redemption and helping others. However, there's an added twist, inspired by Gamecube favourite Eternal Darkness. In later stages, your character slowly descends into madness much like he does in the film, ramping up the difficulty as fantasy and reality collide in the game world. What's real? What's not? Is this idea so crazy it just might work? Answers on a postcard please...