It’s been almost a year since Now You See Me 2 (starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Radcliffe) hit the theaters, but the magic of the franchise hasn’t yet faded—as evidenced by the new mobile VR game, Now You See Me: Back to Macau, developed by Sidekick VR. Like many great magic tricks, the game appears to be a relatively straightforward puzzle game where you are challenged to find a series of hidden objects, but things become more complex as you progress through its story.
Back to Macau debuted on the Samsung Gear VR on Wednesday, and players can try the first two cases for free with an option to purchase the rest of the game. It is the first hidden object game to come to virtual reality, and Sidekick plans to follow it up with similar games based on Hollywood IPs. Guy Bendov, co-founder and CEO of Sidekick VR, invited AListDaily to take a closer look at the magic of mobile VR to see what we could find.
What is Now You See Me: Back To Macau about?
Now You See Me: Back To Macau is a game that’s tied into the two successful movies from Lionsgate, Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2. The game itself is one of the first hidden object games in VR, and we’re very excited about it. Instead of doing some sort of movie tie-in promotion, we’ve created a full hidden object puzzle game that’s part of the Now You See Me universe. We’re launching on Gear VR and will have Google Cardboard and other platforms later, and you’ll be able to download the app to try for free.
You’re playing the role of a new FBI agent who has been tasked with finding the Four Horsemen, who have escaped again. You’ll go through a very deep storyline by uncovering items that will help you solve the mystery. You do that using hidden object mechanics (looking at items for a time or using a controller to select them) in scenarios where there are multiple items that you need to find, and you keep going until you find the one object that lets you continue the story. There’s a progression that starts with three or four items, but it becomes more complex toward the end. We’ve created about 70-100 different items per scene, so you’ll have a slightly different puzzle each time you play.
What’s nice about VR is that you’re able to immerse yourself in those environments instead of having them in a framed window, which is what games have been until now. With a 360-degree environment, you can look around and feel as though you’re part of the scene.
The first movie released in 2013 and its sequel came out last summer. Why launch a game based on the franchise now?
We were very excited about the universe but didn’t want to tie into the promotion of the movie because we want the game to stand out by itself. While some things are influenced by some of the second movie’s scenes, the story itself is separate and allows for the expansion of the universe. A lot of what we’ll do around the creating and marketing content is in expanding that universe rather than repeating a story that’s already been seen. You’ll be familiar with the characters and concepts of this world, but what excites us is using a hidden object game in VR as a platform to tell additional stories using different brands and IPs.
Since the game takes place in the world of Now You See Me, is any magic involved?
We’ve tried to add a few magic tricks, and we’ve integrated the card throwing as a mini-game. We are looking to introduce more magic in VR, which we might be doing in the future.
The Four Horsemen are the stars of the films. Will players get to interact with them in the game?
The characters we introduce are entirely new, and they’re from the FBI and The Eye organization from the magicians. The Four Horsemen and other characters are mentioned, but we’re using new characters to expand the universe.
Why develop a mobile VR game instead of a traditional mobile game or premium VR experience?
Mobile VR creates great accessibility. You can download the game and play on pretty much any smartphone you have. The game itself doesn’t require a lot of processing power, it’s very easy on the eyes, and I think it’s a great introduction to VR overall. In testing, 100 percent of our users commented on the quality of the visuals, the environments and the storylines, which focus on the gameplay rather than trying to be a movie promotion app. You can very quickly immerse yourself—whether it be for twenty minutes or half-an-hour—into the world of Now You See Me.
It’s important to note that with the Cardboard version, you’ll be able to play without a headset. You can enjoy the 360 environments by rotating your phone and looking around.
Will Lionsgate be helping to promote the game, even though it’s not a movie tie-in?
Yes, Lionsgate is very particular about its brands and IPs. We worked hand-in-hand, practically on a weekly basis, to make sure the storylines, characters, environments and music are in line with how they see the world of Now You See Me. We’ll also have Lionsgate’s support during the launch. They’re reaching out to their fan base in showing the game.
How are you getting the word out about the game and how it’s not a movie tie-in?
A lot of our promotion focuses on how it’s a separate storyline that’s expanding the world instead of repeating the first or second movie. We found that Lionsgate has a very strong fan base for all of its movies, and we’re promoting the game as a way for people to continue enjoying the world—that the world doesn’t stop after the second movie is done.
Why the emphasis on hidden object gameplay?
The hidden object game genre is very successful on multiple platforms, including the Game Boy. Unlike shooters, they are truly family-oriented with worldwide appeal. In VR, it made sense that people would look for these kinds of experiences in addition to shooting zombies and so on. VR is a great platform for telling stories because it immerses players into them as they go in to find objects. To be honest, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more hidden object games come to market.
We’ve very happy and proud to be the first to bring that genre to VR. There’s a wide market on mobile VR that’s looking for something that’s easy on the eyes and not a rollercoaster experience or a flight simulator—experiences that let players enjoy being transported to an environment without having a lot of craziness going on. Hidden object games are perfect for that, and Now You See Me: Back to Macau is the first in a line of stories that we plan to bring to market.
Out of all of Lionsgate’s properties, what drew you to Now You See Me?
We actually sat down and looked at their entire portfolio, and they have an amazing back catalog of movies, and great ones are coming out all the time. We felt that Now You See Me was perfect because we saw the second movie as it was being edited. There are rich environments in every scene and a complex storyline with multiple characters, which made for a very strong base for content. Having the second movie come out fairly quickly after the first one was in line with our strategy for expanding the world.
Why do you think the Now You See Me franchise remains so popular and engaging?
The movies were great because of the stories and magic, but I think it was mainly the interaction between the many characters. We tried to keep that type interaction and dialogue in Back to Macau. We tried to make a game that would continue the excitement for the fan base, and I hope we’ve done a great job doing that.
