Crouching Tiger well on course

For Ang Lee's seminal Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to do so well at the box office is a testament to the average consumer's open-mindedness. Admittedly there were a lot of snickering kids in the audience when I saw it, and people to whom the concept of reading subtitles is taboo, but the film, described as the most beautiful film ever made by some, and its subsequent DVD release, may have already helped to elevate the traditional martial arts film to a position of high regard in the West. Starring Chow Yun-Fat (Li Mu Bai), Michelle Yeoh (Yu Shu Lien) and the delectable Ziyi Zhang (Jen Yu), the film made an instant impression, and license holders Ubi Soft chose E3 to demonstrate the early traits of the software reincarnation. Armed with screenshots from the PlayStation 2 version, the firm announced that players can play as any of the three main characters, and the screenshots confirm that the early character modelling is very impressive. The premise is the same as the film, with the overall objective to bring about the downfall of Jade Fox, the killer of Mu Bai's master and Shu Lien's fiancé. Ubi Soft says that each character will have a different story, but Jen Yu's has not be elaborated upon at this stage. Each of the main characters is armed with an assortment of weapons including the Green Destiny sword itself, and each will have a number of staple 'special moves', which will hopefully bear a lot of resemblance to their big screen counterparts. Translating the frenetic, often dizzyingly fast-paced action of the film into a game format will be quite a challenge. The game will be released on PS2 and GBA in November of 2002, with a Cube version following in the first quarter of 2003. Cube owners shouldn't fret though - we understand that a bonus character (Chen Chang's Lo, or Dark Cloud) will be included for players to get to grips with. Related Feature - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon PlayStation 2 screenshots

Source - press release