Yes, for those of you keeping score at home, this might be a feat not seen since Street Fighter: The Movie — The Game: Double Helix’s upcoming Battleship first-person shooter is a videogame based on a movie based on a board game. Got all that? Try to keep it straight…

It’s true, a major motion picture studio optioned the rights to the classic board game Battleship and made a movie out of it…starring Liam Neeson…where the main antagonists are aliens who trap the American Navy in a giant dome in the Pacific Rim. We realize we probably just blew your mind, so we’ll skip ahead to the good part: the videogame version isn’t just another Call of Duty clone. Though it is a first-person shooter set on the islands of the Pacific Rim, it actually incorporates the strategic elements of the board game into the gameplay — in real time, no less.

“At any point during gameplay, you can pull up the BattleComm unit, where you can then direct your fleet,” explains producer J.D. Livergood. “How that affects the land game is that there are capture points. If an alien ship is on that spot, they can support their units on land by firing explosive units at your guys.” If you’ve ever played the board game, this might sound familiar.

“But if one of your ships is in that position,” he continues, “you can call that support. Everything you’re seeing on that map is happening in real-time. You’re going to be seeing these missiles flying overhead. We said, ‘Let’s drive those Michael Bay moments.’”

Before you ask, yes, the artillery you’ll rain down upon your alien foes — and vice versa — will have a familiar peg shape. As for whether or not to expect any other nods to the original board game, Livergood laughs and says sarcastically, “You might, might hear something along the lines of, ‘You sunk my battleship!’ Maybe."

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PUBLISHER: Activision  •  DEVELOPER: Double Helix  •  MULTIPLAYER: None  •  RELEASE DATE: May 2012  •  FOR FANS OF: Naval combat, board games