Video Game Vintage Title: Megamind

Megamind

Megamind the video games are based on the DreamWorks Animation animated movie of the same name. Several licensed video game tie-ins published by THQ were released on November 2, 2010 to coincide with the film's release. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version is titled Megamind: Ultimate Showdown, while the Wii version is titled Megamind: Mega Team Unite and the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS versions are both titled Megamind: The Blue Defender. All versions of the game have been rated E10+ for fantasy violence by the ESRB and published by THQ. It was the last DreamWorks Animation game released for PlayStation Portable.

Megamind Plot

In Megamind: Ultimate Showdown the story begins after the movie ends with Megamind being the new hero of Metro City. Just before Megamind intends to use his Death Ray to give everyone in Metro City free cable, a sudden crime wave hits the city, orchestrated by an organization called the Doom Syndicate. Several members of the Doom Syndicate have broken into Megamind's secret lair and obtained samples of Megamind's and Metro Man's DNA along with Megamind's DNA tracking device. It's up to Megamind to hunt down the Doom Syndicate (with the help from Minion and the Brain-Bots), stop the crime wave and find the missing pieces of the DNA tracker. Other than that, Megamind also has to use the DNA tracker to locate and battle Hal Stewart, who has broken out of jail and is now using the DNA samples to become Titan again (only this time, he gets a blue tone in his skin due to Megamind's DNA, thus becoming Blue Titan) and get his revenge on Megamind.

In Megamind: Mega Team Unite, Megamind forms his own superhero team, the Mega Squad (composed of himself, Minion and their former nemesis Metro Man), in order to combat the crime wave that the Doom Syndicate has caused. Also, Titan is a good guy (assuming he has seen the error of his ways since the movie story) and joins the Mega Squad as a new member to assist them. The Mega Squad then battle Destruction Worker and track down other Doom Syndicate members to defeat them as well. Their adventure is broadcast "live on the scene" by Roxanne Richie, who follows them and gives them helpful hints.

Megamind Gameplay

On the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 the game levels and locations are all accessed from Megamind's Lair, essentially the Lair is a 3D room in which the player can run around as Megamind and select their level or mini-game, check out any trophies and unlockables gained while playing the game and view the progression in building the 'DNA Tracker' machine which is the core purpose in the game before the end boss fight. The game plays out as a liner series of levels (that unlock extra mini games) as you progress through the campaign story.

The level gameplay also plays out in a linear fashion as you punch or shoot your way through waves of Doom Syndicate enemy goons using the Mega inventions that are lying around the levels. There are simple platforming sections and puzzles (or switches) that progress you to the next location. After completing each level you are taken back to Meagmind's lair where the next level is unlocked. At the end of each 'themed' set of levels you fight a Doom Syndicate boss in a bespoke gameplay battle to gain the next part of the 'DNA tracker' machine with the goal of getting it working and locating the Blue Tighten for a final showdown. A second player can join as a 'Brain Bot' (one of Megaminds servant inventions from the movie) in a co-op fashion, the gameplay for the brainnbot is limited to picking up the blue energy for Megamind that spills around the level during battle.

On the Wii, the game is setup as a 3D arena based brawler/shooter with simple co-op or competitive game objectives and challenges in each location for any variation up to four players. There is always four players active and in cases with three or less human players the extra character/s are controlled by AI. The AI players characters can be chosen at the start of any level by the first (human) controller.

The 'Story mode' and 'Battle mode' are essentially the same gameplay. The story mode starts with only four playable characters and layers a simple story thread through the arena/levels with cutscenes of Roxanne Ritchie reporting "live from the scene". After completing each level and defeating the boss character, that boss becomes a playable character to choose in the next level. In battle mode you can pick any of the nine playable characters and any number of the arenas (game modes are locked to arenas) in a playlist.