Apocalypse Now: The Game

[Jackho]

and I'm not even talking about Spec Ops: The Line

There's a kickstarter (insert groan here) to turn Apocalypse Now, the legendary Vietnam war movie based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, into a first person stealth survival horror action-RPG. Coppola approved, but there isn't even one piece of concept art let alone a game to show off yet.

As of right now they have $103,000 of a whopping $900,000 goal, with 27 days to go.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fringerider/apocalypse-now-the-game?ref=category_recommended

Thoughts?
Can it break the movie-to-game adaption curse?
Do you trust game kickstarters to deliver, and would you ever contribute to one like this that's solely a concept with no tangible work to show off?
Thoughts on Apocalypse Now (the movie) and Heart of Darkness?

[Jackho]

My own take: it was definitely a surprise to see this pop up out of nowhere and I'd like to see it succeed.

Spec Ops proved to me that Heart of Darkness can be adapted exceptionally well into a game and the proposed gameplay mechanics shows that they're aware of how far this would have to differ from the film, and how to make it work as a game without just making it a shooter.

That said, my expectations will remain non-existent until they have a lot of functional game to show off.

With the kickstarter platform there's no real guarantee that this game will ever exist even if it hits its goal, or that the finished product won't be a compromise-riddled disappointment that doesn't meet the promises. Add to that the difficulty of adapting such a huge and iconic film and the usual track record of kickstarter games, the odds may be against it.

[Absurd-Ditties]

It feels like nothing more than an idea at the minute, and certainly not something I'd throw money at.

The license also feels restrictive more than anything else. A survival horror RPG set in Vietnam sounds amazing, but as soon as you put the license on it you're arbitrarily limited in what you can do with it. Expeditions: Conquistador is a great example. It CAN be "Aguirre, The Wrath of God: The VIdeo Game" if you choose to play as a mad man and get all your men killed in the jungle, but you don't HAVE to play it like that. It's clearly not accidental too, as there are nods to the film in there. I'd much rather see something like that, a game inspired by Apocalypse Now, than something like this.

[StaticSkull]

All movie games end up bad.