Fast and Furious 6 game tie-ins hitting the streets this May - Team VVV

News Fast and Furious 6 game tie-ins hitting the streets this May

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Martin Bigg

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We already knew that Fast and Furious 6 is due to hit the streets in cinemas this May, but a product listing by EB Games has outed a surprise game tie-in under the name of Fast and Furious: Showdown due for release on Wii U on May 15th and PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 20th. It's  rumoured to be developed by Firebrand Games, who previously worked on NASCAR: Unleashed in 2011, and published by Activision. 

The listing has since been removed, but leaked information confirms that Showdown's story will be situated between the events of Fast Five and Fast and Furious 6, with 31 missions spread across eight locations. Gameplay will focus on heists, hijacks and shootouts, with objectives including winning races, stealing cargo, avoiding speed cameras and wrecking target cars.

Given the last minute marketing and the less than stellar reputation for rushed movie tie-ins, which was recently exemplified by The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct's shocking lack of publicity and reviews, early signs aren't looking good, but we'll have to reserve judgement until gameplay videos and screenshots surface. Firebrand Games also predominately work on porting games over to Nintendo DS and therefore don't have much experience developing for PS3 and Xbox 360, and their last game on current gen NASCAR: Unleashed was mostly poorly received.

Unsurprisingly, this isn't the first time the Fast and Furious franchise has been used to create a console racing game cash-in. Back in 2006, Eutechnix developed a game known as 'The Fast and the Furious' for PS2 to coincide with Tokyo Drift, but it was met with a mediocre reception and has been mostly forgotten ever since. The fact that Need for Speed's popularity was at an all-time high with the success of the Underground street racing series probably didn't help matters.

Meanwhile, while we wait for the inevitible announcement in the coming weeks, a similar-sounding mobile game has been confirmed for iOS and Android devices known simply as 'Fast and Furious 6: The Game'. 

Developed by Kebam, who were recently responsible for Arcane Empires and Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North, the free-to-play title will centre on drifting and drag racing through the streets of London and will also feature a heist mode, although exactly what this will comprise of remains to be seen.

Unlike Fast and Furious: Showdown, however, a gameplay trailer has been released which can be viewed below:

To my surprise, it actually looks respectable for a mobile movie-tie in game. Graphically there's little to complain about, and there appears to be a diverse roster of cars available, from classic muscle cars such as the Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang Mach 1 to a contemporay Ford Focus ST and SRT Viper GTS.

Fast and Furious 6: The Game will be hitting the streets May 24th alongside the film. 

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