Videogame tie-ins to movies are usually pretty bad, but LA-based VRWERX is hoping the same isn’t true for VR tie-ins; the company has just announced a new VR game based on the Mission: Impossible franchise.
This is the second movie-based VR experience from the studio, the first being the upcoming Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul. As with that experience, the Mission: Impossible game will tell an original story inspired by the action film series that stars Tom Cruise as elite agent Ethan Hunt. An official name has not been revealed.
There’s little else to go on right now, though VRWERX co-managing partner Alex Barder did state the game would cast players as an IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent. It’s set to feature “strategic gameplay” with the team’s “proprietary movement system” which apparently allows players to run, climb, fight and perform the kind of stunts you’d expect to see from one of the movies.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how the movement system works, as the series’ fast-paced action doesn’t necessary seem suited to a comfortable VR experience. Still, we’d love to experience some of the iconic set pieces, like danging from a wire as we hack a government computer, or climbing one of the tallest buildings in the world with nothing but a pair of gloves, in VR.
It’s probably not a coincidence that this announcement comes around the same time as a sixth Mission: Impossible movie starts to ramp up production. It’s not the first time the series has mixed with VR; a promotional experience was created for 2015’s Rogue Nation, attaching users to the side of a plane.
Mission: Impossible VR is coming to the HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift. We haven’t heard a release date yet, although Paranormal Activity VR is set to release on Rift and Vive in Early Access form on March 14th, with a PlayStation VR launch coming later down the line. We got hands-on with the game at GDC this year and found a promising horror title that will try to scare players in different ways depending on how they react.
