I’ve
rhapsodized at length about the virtues of Dr. Uwe Boll* and he never lets me
down on one particular trait: Tenacity. Fresh from corralling a crew featuring
other Teutonic wonders Ralf Moeller and Til Schweiger on Farcry, the good doctor
has acquired the rights to yet another video game. This time out, however, he
won’t be violating a mediocre one that a handful of unfortunate gamers bought a
few years back. No, Boll’s started picking them up in the development phase
with the grab of the European-based action RPG Legend: Hand of God (Hopefully, they
name the inevitable sequel Manos).
For those
unfamiliar with the loooooong-in-development title, it tells the story of a
young recruit to an ancient order who is sent far away on an initiation rite.
When he returns for his promised acclaim, however, the young buck finds that an
evil force has slaughtered the order and left absolute carnage in its wake.
Thus begins his adventure. Typical stuff, but the game’s intricate plot is
being written by Susan O’Connor, who’s written for Gears of War and other
action and RPG games. She’s been working with the magnificently-titled
development studio Master Creating on the title since 2004. (EDIT: I’ve since
been contacted by the aforementioned author who says that her name is
being incorrectly bandied about by the developers. This comes as…umm…no surprise. For the record, she is not working on this game at all.)
Uwe apparently expects big things from the game, assuming it meets its late fall
2007 release date for
start shooting the film in early 2009 with a $40 million budget, no less. There’s
no telling which of the Boll regulars (Michael Paré? Ralf Moeller? P.J. Soles?
Chris Coppola? Don S. Davis?) if any will make the cut for casting, but it’s
guaranteed to be a hoot either way. Plus, he’ll be riding high from the all-but
guaranteed bulldozing that In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege
Tale does at the boxoffice in January. The film was recently moved up
one week to January 11 because – as my inside sources tell me –
in order to save the fate of its January stalwart, 1-18-08/Cloverfield
(tired of moving those fake photos yet?). Who can blame them? Mayeb even a week
removed isn’t enough…
*Hey, look at me with my fancy star. Suck and it and like it. No seriously…I’m interviewing the man/legend/god/good German doctor this afternoon, and would love to get any burning questions addressed for youze guys. Hit up the discussion thread for this article with ’em, por favor.