District 9 Turn Into Game?

by c.J
published by Rinie 30 August 2009


The odds are pretty decent if you spent at least two hours of this weekend watching Neill Blomkamp's innovative, intense alien action film District 9. And if you're anything like us, you walked out of the theatre thinking a few things: (a) that Neill Blomkamp should direct a Halo movie and (b) District 9 would make a kick-ass video game experience. It could be something along the lines of Halo meets Call of Duty, Resistance 2 meets inFamous. The film comes to us from the folks at Columbia Pictures, whose brethren, Sony Interactive, has some experience delivering some badass gameplay, so it got us thinking that not only is District 9 about to become a recognizable brand name, but it has all of the essential elements for a great action video game.


Three Distinct Playable Groups – Military/MNU, Gangs, Aliens


Every massive game needs good guys and bad guys. In this case, we have multiple sets of bad guys, a few sets of good guys and blurry lines all over the place. In a game version, D9 could include gameplay as main alien character Christopher Johnson, MNU agent Wikus Van de Merwe, one of the MNU soldiers and one of the members of the Nigerian gang. Or better yet, levels that allow you to play as different characters with diverse objectives. As well, we also have the element in which Wikus is undergoing a transformation throughout the film — something that could be explored in the game.



Wicked Vehicles, Alien and Human




In the film, there are several high end vehicles in both the human and alien arsenals, but those are just starting points. Game creators could expand on the concepts presented in the film to bring to life cool MNU assault vehicles and alternate alien technology, creating a user experience that is much more than just one character walking with a badass gun. Who wouldn’t love to take a spin in the alien command module or defend humanity from an awesome MNU armoured vehicle? I know I’d like to have that happening in my life.



Human-Alien Co-op Mode / Online Multiplayer



The film’s climactic sequence is one in which Wikus (human) must help Christopher Johnson (alien) avoid the fire of the army in order to reunite his son, the ship and ultimately his way home. This screams co-op, which can be played both in person (2-player mode) and online. As well, my gamer-sense tells me that players around the world are always itching for a cool property to play online, in massively multiplayer ways. If executed properly, a D9 game could be the online multiplayer experience that keeps those bean bag chairs wet.