Augmented reality (AR) videogames for smartphones are becoming ever more ubiquitous thanks to ARKit and ARCore, with a heavy focus on location-based gameplay. There are a few with tie-ins to big IPS such as Ghostbusters World, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and The Walking Dead: Ourworld. Next month comedy sci-fi franchise Men in Black (MIB) will get its own AR experience Men in Black: Global Invasion, so you can run around hunting down extraterrestrials.
Much like the other AR titles mentioned, Men in Black: Global Invasion is all about getting players off their sofas and outside, combining gaming and some healthy exercise. Featuring iconic characters and weapons from the original MIB movies as well as the most recent Men in Black: International, the videogame tasks players with capturing rogue aliens roaming across Earth.
So players can wander around capturing aliens or head to specific locations such as landmarks to further improve your chances. Once seized that’s when you can start building your own alien superteam to fight rogue agents in turn-based team battles. There are over 40 aliens from the MIB universe to find, each one bringing their own unique abilities and characteristics to fights.
To coincide with today’s announcement, developer Ludare Games Group, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Consumer Products are offering pre-registration rewards linked to the number of players who register. Two rewards have already been unlocked with two more still to go. The last reward is the Ionhibitor, an iconic rifle from the original MIB movie often wielded by Agent K. The Ionhibitor will be unlocked for all players once 100,000 sign-ups have been reached.
Just like when Pokemon GO or Reality Clash launched, Men in Black: Global Invasion has seen a staggered launch to iron out any problems. The release in September will be the official worldwide launch but if you live in the UK, for example, the title is already available via the Google Play Store. Men in Black: Global Invasion will support both Android and iOS devices which support AR.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of the latest AR videogames and experiences, reporting back with any further announcements.
