Van Helsing

Written by Chris Reiter  on February 24, 2004

First Impressions: A man named Van, who's powerful as hell, sings the destruction of all monster life around him.

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There exists a viscous cycle every year that continues to flow through various mediums. Until the "hotness" of a certain trend cools off, the cycle spins elsewhere. Right now, Hollywood's digging the whole comic book and movie franchise thing. Video games in the same nature are taking back from Hollywood. Back and forth, you'll see one thing based on another thing, and another thing based on another thing. It's unstoppable -- so don't try. Last year Vivendi managed to gain the property rights for what was anticipated to be one of the best comic book movie translations of the year. That was until the movie released and many saw that the film wasn't that great. The same thing happened with The Hulk's video game translation. Naturally, you can't ever predict what's going to be good and what isn't. But at least you can follow the guidelines of what these games or movies have in store. This year one of the most intriguing flicks is again getting its own adaptation, and again this product will be published by the big wigs at Vivendi Universal. Only this time it's not a comic book-based film or game. And it's certainly not based on any video game (well, it isn't exactly a video game yet). What you could relate Van Helsing to, however, is that it's close enough to these mediums to be "cool."

There are those beings among us that have shapes and functions that are out of this world. Summoned to a distant land where evil forces roam, Dr. Van Helsing is an adventurous and famed vampire hunter called out to the European territory to rid the land of its problems. Problems besides Count Dracula. Now encountering several adversaries, including Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, Dracula himself, and the elusive creature of the night with a splitting personality disorder, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Along with his new and lovely partner in crime (whose family background stems off a long line of vampire seekers and destroyers), Anna, Van Helsing is about to embark on a quest that will result in a combination of some stiff competition.

Loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, Van Helsing is essentially the Abraham Van Helsing character from the story, minus the Abraham. Wherein Dracula, Van Helsing was old-fashioned and just plain old, in this updated and younger portrayal of the man (who in the movie will be played by Hugh Jackman), the Van Helsing here will be a swashbuckling scalawag. Taking its cues from the movie's likeness with a fresher approach, Vivendi is aiming to also bring Van Helsing into the limelight modeled after one of gaming's biggest badasses of them all: Dante. Akin to the whole Devil May Cry formula, Van Helsing will feature an array of up to eight distinct projectile weapons, including a shotgun, dual pistols, tojos (saw-like blades sprung from Van's arms), and a crossbow that will allow for multiple purposes -- either to drag enemies toward him to juggle and finish them off in midair, or to complete puzzles such as pulling down a bridge to gain access to it.

Facing off to around twenty characters at the same time, Van will be able to mix weapons with the blood spurting from legions of creatures. Each monster type will generally be classified under a ranking system. For instance, within an army of German trolls there'll exist captains, warriors, and infantry types. Across thirteen levels in all, from Paris, to Notre Dame and Transylvania, Van will also need to step up to several nasty boss fights. These will consist of the legendary 19th Century myths, of Dracula; the head of all vampires, Frankenstein; the mighty giant, the Wolfman; a ferocious beast, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; the chemist and his murderous self-creation, and even Igor; the hunchback assistant.

Inside and outside Helsing's character and level creations, Saffire, the development team, are not looking to redefine the quality in visuals you've already seen before, but to issue a palatable standard you already know. Van Helsing himself will appear crafted reminiscent of the black cloaked and hatted persona from the anime Vampire Hunter D, while the creatures ported from the Van Helsing movie are shaping to represent their silver screen counterparts in the flesh. Through interior and exterior locations, level designs will cast a variety of special effects, from snow, to rain, to the magic powers monsters manifest. In short, Van Helsing should have some interesting details to offer for what you're going to be able to visualize.