Kotaku: tunnel rats

Uwe Boll's Tunnel Rats Game Now on Steam

Brian Crecente — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:00:00 MDT

Reader Dean reminds us that Uwe Boll's Tunnel Rats went on sale on Friday on Steam.

The game, publishers by Boll AG and developed by Replay Studios, describes itself as a "dark and intense single-player shooter for PC that depicts the horrific realities of the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of a young US soldier."

The game has you playing as a member of a Tunnel Rat squad working to clear out an underground tunnel system in the jungles of Vietnam.

The game is based on Boll's movie 1968 Tunnel Rats and is packed with an entire eight, yes eight, levels. It also include ten whole weapons and 20 types of traps. All of that for a mere $20. Pass.

Uwe Boll's Razzie Acceptance Speech

Brian Crecente — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:00:00 MST

OK, so the Golden Raspberry Award winners haven't really been announced yet and even if Uwe Boll swept the infamous bad film awards, I doubt even he would have an acceptance speech.

But, he does seem awfully proud of the potential dishonors.

Emailing BollBashers.com, Boll says points out that he's sharing the nominee list with some pretty big names:

"that I'm this time also nominated as best supporting actor against stars like BEN KINGSLEY and PIERCE BROSNAN shows that my genius comes more and more into his peak stadium! all my three movies are nominated in different categories: IN THE NAME OF THE KING (what an epic masterpiece with tons of stars like jason statham), TUNNELRATS (against Tunnelrats Clint Eastwoods bullshit Letters of Imovio ..or what the fuck was the title of that movie …is an amateurclip of brainwashed patriots) and of course POSTAL (where Dave Foley dick is in a very nice shot –i created in inspiration of Jean Luc Gordards work in the sixties…you remember: the black and white stuff with jean paul belmondo…and Verne Troyer gets raped by 1000 monkeys (this was inspired by the later work of Gus van Sant .especially the work he is doing in his trailers…).!
I never won a razzie …but this year I'm sure that there is no way around Uwe Boll so that finally I get the award I deserve!"

You know, as much as I hate Boll's movies I remain fascinated by the man behind them. I wrote up a story a few years back for the Rocky about him. I spoke with Boll, Vince Desi, some of the others who have worked with him and what I came away with was the realization that while Boll sucks at making movies, he's really, really good at getting the money to make them.

Take for instance the comments from Gas Powered Games about In the Name of the King, given prior to the movie's disastrous release. It shows just how charismatic Boll must be.

Uwe Boll on Razzie Nominations [Boll Bashers]

Boll Movie Being Made Into Videogame

Mike Fahey — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:20:18 MDT

It really was only a matter of time. Beloved *chokes* video game filmmaker Uwe Boll finished filming his Vietnam war movie 'Tunnel Rats' earlier this year, and now he is financing a game based off of the film. Developed by German developer Replay Studios, Tunnel Rats will be a dark and gritty take on the war FPS, sharing the film's focus on the overall senselessness and madness of war rather than the heroism and bravery most games in the genre tend to highlight. The film's stars Michael "Eddie and the Cruisers" Pare, Nate Parker, Brandon Fobbs and Erik Eidem have all signed on to provide their likenesses for the game, which would be amazingly exciting if I knew who any of them were other than Eddie there.

"Tunnel Rats is a first-person shooter set during the Vietnam War that tells the story of a young G.I. who escapes from a POW camp and journeys through a heavily fortified valley in the Cu Chi province," said Marc Moehring Managing Director and Co-Founder, Replay Studios. "It not only depicts his actual physical path through the merciless jungle and claustrophobic, trap-ridden tunnels, but also his emotional and psychological journey as the horrors he witnesses—and participates in—slowly deprive him of his ideals, morals and sanity."

So basically it is the experience of watching one of Uwe's films recreated in a Vietnam War setting. Plans are to release the game in tandem with the movie early next year, with a possible bundle available once the DVD release hits, most likely a week or so later.

If the laws of irony are still firmly in place, it will end up being the best video game of all time. I sincerely hope not, however, especially considering the closing quote of Game Daily's article on the game.

"If this game does well then we'll keep going with other game ideas," said Boll, who's currently wrapping principal photography on Far Cry. In addition to the original Tunnel Rats film, Boll also completed Seed, a horror movie he wrote starring Pare.

Chilling. Simply chilling.

Boll 'Tunnels' Into Game Business [GameDaily.BIZ]