Ecks vs. Sever
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''Ecks vs. Sever'' is a first-person shooter video game for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console. It was developed by
Crawfish Interactive Crawfish Interactive was a video game developer based in Croydon, London, United Kingdom. The company was founded in March 1997 and closed in November 2002. The company specialised in games software for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance for ...
and released in November 2001. The game is based on an early script of the 2002 film '' Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever'', and is the first video game released before the film it is based on had even begun production. The sequel '' Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever'' was released within a week of the film and follows its plot line more closely than the first game does.


Gameplay

At the beginning of the game, players choose which character, Ecks or Sever, they wish to control. Both characters' plots intertwine and are given different level designs for each of their missions, amounting to eleven per character, with occasional
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...
battles against the other character. A password system is used to maintain player progress, with each level's password starting with the same first letter as the name of the character it is associated with. The gameplay is similar to other early
FPS FPS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' * '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation * ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...
titles such as '' Doom'', in that all of the graphics for enemies and weapons are 2D sprites in a 3D setting, and the controls utilize the d-pad for tank-like movement and shoulder buttons for strafing.


Development

''Ecks vs. Sever'' was developed by
Crawfish Interactive Crawfish Interactive was a video game developer based in Croydon, London, United Kingdom. The company was founded in March 1997 and closed in November 2002. The company specialised in games software for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance for ...
, which obtained the license to create the game based on an early rendition of a script for '' Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever'', an upcoming action film which had not yet entered production. The close relationship between game publisher BAM! Entertainment and
Franchise Pictures Franchise Pictures LLC was an independent motion picture production and distribution company, founded by Elie Samaha, Ashok Amritraj, and Andrew Stevens. They were known for their production in the action film genre. The company also had a short ...
allowed for the option to develop games based on any of the film company's received scripts. Video game producer Tim Mawson explained that the decision to release the game prior to the film was based on the confidence by Bam! and Crawfish that ''Ecks vs. Sever'' was "a good enough game to stand on its own two feet". Mawson further stated that the creative team was "given free to a degree", allowing them mold a gameplay model around the base narrative, characters, and environments already provided. The team constantly referred to the film script during the early developmental phases "to ensure the gameplay elements were relevant to the license in terms of atmosphere, theme and content". The ''Ecks vs. Sever'' video game was in development for about ten months. Because the game began production long before the release of the film, adjustments had to be made based on the changing screenplay. Most notably, the titular lead Sever was switched from male to female, forcing Crawfish to replace the graphical artwork for that character. ''Ecks vs. Sever'' utilizes an in-house graphics engine, first showcased by Crawfish with the opening level of '' Doom II'', leading up to the launch of the GBA. This "pseudo-3D" engine lacks sloping floors, rooms above rooms, and textured ceilings so the game can run quicker. Mawson admitted that building a proprietary, first-person engine for the GBA was very difficult, requiring much trial and error. Crawfish's 3D raycasting engine for ''Ecks vs. Sever'' was originally written in C, but was later optimized into machine code for higher processing speeds.
Lighting effects Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance, opera, and other performance arts.
and more sprites existed in early stages of the project's development, but were scrapped to maintain acceptable
frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...
s. Multiplayer levels were also adjusted to prevent engine slowdown. Bam! European developmental director Joe Booth felt that although the game's engine was meant to "push the GBA envelope" of environment interaction and background animation, its multiple game modes set it apart from other FPSs on the handheld. A
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
version of ''Ecks vs. Sever'' was in development by
Zombie Studios Zombie Studios was an American independent video game developer. It was formed in 1994 as Zombie, LLC by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, formerly of the Sarnoff Research Center. Alexander and Long founded Zombie after they completed the design o ...
slated for release in November 2002. However, it was eventually cancelled.


Reception

Whereas
the film The Film is a 2005 Indian thriller film directed by Junaid Memon also produced along with Amitabh Bhattacharya. The film stars Mahima Chaudhry, Khalid Siddiqui, Ananya Khare, Chahat Khanna, Ravi Gossain, Vaibhav Jhalani and Vivek Madan in lead ...
is considered one of the worst ever made, the game ''Ecks vs. Sever'' received positive reviews, garnering an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic.
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave the game an "outstanding" 9.0/10 and an Editor's Choice award, calling it "the best GBA first person shooter to date" and "one of the best four player games made yet for the Game Boy Advance."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecks Vs. Sever 2001 video games Cancelled PlayStation 2 games Crawfish Interactive games First-person shooters Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Advance-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games Sprite-based first-person shooters Video games based on films Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games featuring female protagonists Video games with 2.5D graphics