Not to be outdone by Electronic Arts and its game Dante's Inferno, Activision has dipped into the inkwell of literature and signed the Bard himself, William Shakespeare, to a three-videogame deal. We recently got an early look at the first product of that collaboration, an epic action experience based on the classic play Hamlet.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, you play as a fallen prince hell-bent on hacking and slashing his way through the rotten wastelands of Denmark to regain the throne stolen by his evil Uncle Claudius. The controls will be familiar to anyone who has played a major action game like God of War, Heavenly Sword, or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The left stick controls movement, the right stick evades, and the face buttons allow you to jump, attack, and so on. What's new in Shakespeare's Hamlet became apparent as soon as Activision reps booted up the game: Yorick's Skull hovers around Hamlet's head, his constant companion throughout the story. Besides providing comic relief, Yorick offers tips on enemy weak points and indicates in what direction the next objective lies. Even better, you can fling him at enemies using the shoulder buttons for some wicked ranged combat. As you progress through the game, upgrades become available for both Yorick and Hamlet's sword -- in our demo, for example, we equipped a poisoned blade. Hamlet will also gain the ability to summon familiars, such as the ghost of Hamlet's dad, who causes anyone who sees him to go mad and run away.

Preliminary Verdict: The assistant producer demoing the game noted that the Hamlet story already has all the elements of a great action game: ghosts, skulls, sword fights, drownings, murder most foul. As we watched Hamlet spinning and stabbing his way through a sea of royal guards, blood spurting satisfyingly from their wounds, we couldn't agree more.


[Intermissions is a series of silly little posts on games that may or may not exist. For more Intermissions, click here. Find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bbretterson.]