Spine

Looking to equal gun-fu classics

Few movie fans remember sciencefiction actioner Equilibrium in part because it's best watched intoxicated.

Starring Christian Bale right before he donned Batman's cowl, it's ultimately not a good flick. It is, however, something of a cultural landmark, leaving behind the idea of an elite police force trained in 'gunkata', where handguns join swords in close-quarters combat.

Gun-fu existed for decades before this mediocre Hollywood action movie, emerging in Hong Kong action films such as A Better Tomorrow. These 'heroic bloodshed' movies were pioneered by John Woo and his favourite leading man Chow Yun-fat. As gaming aficionados, we naturally think about these over-thetop, highly choreographed, melodramatic movies way too much, so it's delightful to know we're not the only ones: the team at Nekki have spent the last few years developing a game that is an ode to movies like Hard Boiled.

HOLD, STRANGLE

Spine takes place in a dystopian European city. You play as anarchic heroine Redline, who, aided by combat AI Spine, is trying to navigate an underworld conspiracy to save her brother, all while unravelling a plot put in place by the city's totalitarian regime.