Now that Street Fighter IV has successfully revived the Street Fighter franchise, Capcom is looking to keep the series going with a new expansion. The new game, Super Street Fighter IV, aims to build on the foundation laid by this year's SFIV by adding new content that includes more playable characters, improved online features, and rebalanced characters. We got a demonstration of the work-in-progress Xbox 360 version from producer Yoshinori Ono and have much to report.
Check out this teaser trailer for Super Street Fighter IV.
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Before we dive in, we should explain what Super Street Fighter IV is, and more importantly, what it isn't. This is not a downloadable add-on for Street Fighter IV. You may be wondering, as we did, why Capcom didn't simply release Super Street Fighter IV's additions as downloadable content in the same way that Fallout and Grand Theft Auto IV received massive updates by way of DLC. However, Capcom has decided that the new game will come on a separate disc. Ono explained that when Street Fighter IV was originally being developed, certain aspects of the game code weren't laid out in such a way as to support the features that are being added in Super Street Fighter IV. While Capcom had initially considered making SSFIV's content a download pack of some kind, it became clear that just tacking the new content onto the old game wasn't going to be possible. As a result, SSFIV will be released as a stand-alone disc that won't be sold at full price. But, the producer explained, before you get rid of your SFIV disc, be advised that SSFIV will offer current SFIV owners a bonus that Capcom isn't revealing at this time.
T. Hawk and his mighty typhoon grapples return in Super Street Fighter IV.
This is what you can expect from the new game: Super Street Fighter IV will offer a mix of content that's directly related to the Street Fighter community's feedback about Street Fighter IV, as well as content the team had originally planned to add in a future installment after wrapping up SFIV. The topic of new characters was an area where fans and the development team were both in sync. As a result, the game's original roster of 25 characters is being bumped up by roughly eight new playable characters. Our demo showed off two of them: a brand-new, original female character named Juri; and the returning character T. Hawk, who originally debuted in Super Street Fighter II. The remaining additions to the roster are still up in the air, and Ono stated that although the team is currently planning for eight additional characters, that number may change based on the course of development, as well as fan feedback now that word on the game is out. The current plan is to pull in more classic characters, as well as toss some new ones into the mix. From the sound of it, exactly how many classic characters versus how many new characters make it in still hasn't been finalized and may change, depending on fan feedback--so it'll be interesting to see the final lineup. It's also safe to assume that there will be new background stages for the new characters as well, although we didn't see any in our demo.
As ever, T. Hawk is ready to rise to any occasion with his trusty tomahawk buster.
Based on what we did see in action, fans should be pleased. T.Hawk has undergone the same update that the classic characters did in SFIV. His 3D model is faithful to the look of his old 2D sprite, and his moves have also been carefully translated to 3D. His super and ultra combos have gotten a spectacular, special-effects-laden face-lift that make his typhoon grapples look painful (and satisfying) to see in action. But whereas T.Hawk is the same powerhouse we all know and love, Juri appears to offer an alternative for players looking for speed and finesse. Juri is a Korean fighter, a first for the series, who uses tae kwon do and relies on an extensive array of kicks that reminds us a bit of Kim Kaphwan from SNK's King of Fighters and Fatal Fury games. The amazingly flexible and sensibly dressed vixen is fast and appears to use a variation of the soul energy Bison and Rose use. In addition to the expected array of kicks, Juri uses the energy for projectiles and an enhanced radial kick that looks to be pretty handy at dealing with enemies in the ground or air. Her supers are painful to watch; one starts with her breaking her opponent's back with a mighty slam and then lifting him up to taunt him before finishing the move.
SSFIV will also make another less-flashy-but-key addition in the form of a comprehensive tuning to each of the existing fighters. The work will include balance tweaks the team members wanted to include based on their own experiences, as well as feedback from fans. Returning fighters will get new ultra combos in addition to those seen in Street Fighter IV, which will require players to refine their fighting strategies. This work will be key to SSFIV's online matches, which are getting some serious work done to them. While Ono wouldn't go into specific details--mostly saying that SSFIV will feature an online experience that is considerably enhanced over the one in SFIV--he dropped a pretty big hint that some form of a lobby system may be added. The only downside to all this is that SSFIV won't be compatible with SFIV online because of all the upcoming changes.
The visuals in the game haven't undergone a tremendous change from SFIV. The returning characters and stages we saw looked pretty much the same. Juri and T.Hawk are done in the same art style as the rest of the roster and fit right into the game. Even though the demo we were being shown on the Xbox 360 was a work in progress, the game was already humming along at full speed.
Juri is a new femme fatale with fast feet.
Based on this early look, Super Street Fighter IV is shaping up to be a smart evolution of the groundwork laid by Street Fighter IV's revival. The new content and gameplay tweaks seem like meaty additions that will offer fans a lot to tear into and master. While the incompatibility with SFIV is a downer, we're happy to hear that Capcom won't be selling SSFIV at full price (although our happiness will be directly tied to exactly how much it sells for). Super Street Fighter IV is slated to ship in spring of 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Look for more on the game in the coming months.
A couple of hours after E3 closed its doors on day one, Namco Bandai issued a press release announcing that Tekken 6 will feature a cooperative Scenario Campaign mode in which you and an online friend can pit your skills against waves of enemies and, oddly, equip your favorite combatant with weapons that include staffs, flamethrowers, and machine guns. We already checked out the PlayStation 3 version's Arcade mode yesterday, so this morning we headed for the Xbox 360 version and asked a Namco Bandai representative to show us Scenario Campaign.
In the finished game, you'll be able to play as any of the fighters on Tekken 6's 40-strong roster, but the E3 demo features only five of them. After opting for Paul, we were somewhat surprised to see that there was a second, AI-controlled character accompanying him. We already knew that the game was designed to support online co-op play, but didn't realize that in the absence of a second player, the AI will step in. Based on today's demo, the AI isn't going to be nearly as useful to you as even a moderately skilled player would be, but it at least gives the enemies two targets to worry about.
The demo kicked off in a series of back streets and alleyways where generic-looking (at least when compared to Tekken's regular cast) enemies wasted no time launching their attack. There were rarely more than four or five enemies onscreen simultaneously, and they didn't appear to pose a significant threat, but their health bars were long enough that they'd at least stay standing long enough for you practice combos on them. Alternatively, you can just find yourself a weapon and mow them down.
Weapons are dropped by certain enemies and can, of course, also be found inside destructible crates. The only weapon that we got to see on this occasion was a powerful minigun that, used in conjunction with the lock-on targeting system, made short work of several enemies before they could even get close to Paul. The weapons have limited ammo, so don't think for a moment that this is a third-person shooter that just happens to star your favorite Tekken characters. You'll have access to your chosen fighter's full repertoire of moves in Scenario Campaign mode, and you'll need them when you come up against bosses from elsewhere on the roster (on this occasion, the bosses were Anna Williams and Dragonov), who are invariably accompanied by a number of other enemies.
Did you call me a Nancy?
Another boss--or at least a bonus boss from the single-player game--who put in an appearance was the large "Nancy" robot that you'll be able to play as in certain Scenario Campaign levels. We got to see Nancy in action and, as you'll already know if you've fought against it in an arcade, it has a repertoire of moves that's almost as deep as those of the regular fighters. Stomping through a shopping mall filled with the enemies, Nancy's projectiles, area-of-effect stomps, and spinning attacks proved devastating, and although Nancy was taking a good amount of damage as well, the enemies were dropping plenty of life-restoring chickens to pick up.
After defeating Anna as Nancy, the E3 demo finished, but not before we got a look at the score screen that details how many enemies you killed, your score, and any items that you managed to find. On this occasion, Paul had picked up a pair of blue flight gloves that, when equipped, afford him extra defense. We're not sure what happens when items drop and both players try to pick them up because, on this occasion, the Namco Bandai guy showing off the game didn't know the answer to our question. We look forward to bringing you that answer, as well as other information on Tekken 6, in the coming months.
Of all the comic book superheroes, Batman is undoubtedly the closest to being a multimedia superstar. Take 2008 for example: He not only starred in the biggest film of the year, but he was versatile enough to make it into a Lego-based video game. This year, on the 70th anniversary of the character's creation, Batman will return to his comic book roots in Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum, a third-person action game that's shaping up to be as varied as it is visually stunning. We were lucky enough to see the first hour of the game at the studio's London offices, as well as speak to the people behind it.
Batman: Arkham Asylum offers a mix of fighting, stealth, and gadgetry--all of which are essential to the character.
"We want to explore the psychology of the Batman character," lead designer Sefton Hill told us. "Players should feel empowered by being Batman, and his ability to handle any given situation however he wants." To this end, Hill and the team have endowed Batman with cool gadgets, nifty weapons, and raw athletic ability and then set him loose in a highly interactive world. And while that world is a prison filled with the worst of Gotham's bad guys, this Batman most definitely makes a formidable hero.
We watched Hill play through the opening of the game, which takes the form of an interactive cinematic. Batman has captured the Joker, and given the Joker's status as the ultimate supervillain, Batman decides to accompany him right down to his maximum-security confines at Arkham. Batman passes many familiar faces along the way, including an intimidating Killer Croc, as well as some of the good guys, such as Commissioner Gordon. But while Gordon may be toasting your success at capturing the city's most dangerous criminal, Batman senses that something is awry. The Joker has given himself up all too easily, and as he teases Warden Sharp and the guards with his trademark maniacal humour, he finds a chance to separate from Batman and make his escape. With the help of Harley Quinn and an army of inmates to do his bidding, the Joker effectively takes over the prison, setting up a fight with Batman on his own terms.
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We tell you all about our first look at Batman: Arkham Asylum.
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This opening sequence is an audacious introduction to the game. First off, the characters are brilliantly voiced by Batman regulars, including Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman, while the dialogue has been penned by Paul Dini, the scribe behind many Batman and Superman animations, as well as the TV series Lost. Dini came over to London at the beginning of the game's development and helped to flesh out the overall story alongside the development team as well as give the dialogue an element of authenticity. His work is certainly felt throughout the game, particularly in helping the Joker become an irritatingly likable villain. The Joker spends the entire game using the prison's speaker system to taunt both Batman and the goons he's taking out, with some highly entertaining results.
Then there's the look of the game, which is impressive to say the least. The Unreal engine is working under the hood, but it's virtually unrecognisable under the stylistic touches the team has added to the game. The character animation in particular deserves special praise, probably thanks to the studio's on-site motion-capture facility, which has imbued the many villains that we saw with their own individual traits. Hill described how the team used diving weights to achieve Killer Croc's ambling movements, while there's one person whose sole job it is to perfect the look of Batman's floating cape. This sort of attention to detail is easy to appreciate onscreen.
Arkham Asylum is essentially a third-person action game, but we got to see many different gameplay elements during our visit to Rocksteady. The combat is based on hand-to-hand combat at the beginning of the game, and a combo system encourages you to link moves together to earn more points. This results in experience points, and there's a basic role-playing game system that lets you use your points to upgrade either your weapons, such as the batarang, or Batman himself. The basic fighting moves include punch, kick, and flinging your batarang, but you can vault over enemies if you find yourself cornered. It's also worth noting that the health system isn't regenerative while you're in combat, but you can earn health back at the end of a fight if you're victorious.
There are also stealth elements to the game, although Hill is quick to emphasise Batman's power in these situations. "We didn't want a stealth system where you go in, learn the patrol patterns of the enemies, and then use trial and error to get past them. Batman is a powerful character--he spends time looking at a situation and then approaches it how he feels best." He demonstrated this in an open section of the prison, where numerous henchmen were patrolling with guns. He took Batman through the ventilation system, pulling off the grate and then sneaking up behind the first guard for a silent takedown. He immediately fired off a grapple line and ascended to the top of a stone gargoyle to survey the area. Engaging Batman's detective mode, we could see an X-ray of the room, with red and blue skeletal outlines indicating enemy targets and friendly NPCs respectively.
The Joker will do anything to wind people up, even taunting his own goons over the prison's speaker system as Batman silently takes them down.
Heading towards one of the isolated enemies, Batman jumped off the gargoyle and used his cape to float through the air before delivering a lethal kick to the enemy's head. This made enough noise to startle the other enemies in the area, and Batman was able to use this intimidation to his advantage. Hill moved Batman around the room to position himself above another enemy, and in a spectacular coup de grace, he used the grapple line to leave the enemy dangling in midair for everyone else to see.
Arkham Asylum is a character itself in this world. The environment changes as you progress; for instance, posters asserting Warden Sharp's authority are defaced by the Joker and his graffiti-loving crew. There are some great comedic touches, such as when the Joker leaves mechanical chattering teeth around the prison, as well as more sinister prison traps, such as gas chambers and electric chairs. In one scene, a prisoner was electrocuting one of the guards in a chair; in another, toxic gas was being let loose on the guards and the prisoners. You're the good guy, so you still have to save the odd criminal, although Batman is badass enough to beat them unconscious once they've been lifted to safety.
Arkham Asylum is stuffed full of unlockable items, and it will be well worth exploring the environments if you're a completist. As we watched the game being played, we saw Batman collecting a Riddler question-mark bonus. In addition, meeting characters in the game unlocks biographies that can be read later. There also seem to be challenges that you unlock by playing through the main game, although the developer was coy about revealing just what they are. Batman will also be able to upgrade his arsenal by collecting experience points, and it was hinted that the batarang can be upgraded to take out multiple enemies with one throw. Hill also spoke of an explosive gel weapon later in the game, which can be detonated remotely.
In case our enthusiasm isn't already apparent, we were left really impressed with Batman: Arkham Asylum. The savvy script and excellent voice acting are sure to please Batman fans, while the combo fighting system and stealth elements look like they'll be great fun. The game is already looking incredibly impressive visually--hopefully an indication that it's nearing completion in time for its Q2 2009 release window. Eidos has promised us a hands-on with the game in the coming months, so hopefully we'll be visiting Arkham again for a more in-depth look shortly.
Fallout. That name may not mean much to console gamers, but fans of PC role-playing games revere it. Published a decade ago by Interplay, Fallout became an instant classic by blending excellent role playing with a memorable setting and an ironic sense of humor. Fallout was followed by the equally popular and critically adored Fallout 2, but the series almost died along with Interplay's fortunes. That's when Bethesda Softworks, maker of the highly successful The Elder Scrolls series, swooped in to purchase the Fallout name and property. The result of that is Fallout 3, an incredibly promising and beautiful RPG that's set to arrive on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 next year. Bethesda has actually been working quietly on Fallout 3 for years, but the company finally opened its doors to show off the game, and we were there for a very first look.
Welcome to the world of the 24th century! Unfortunately, it got nuked some time back.
The combination of Bethesda and Fallout may seem a bit strange. After all, Bethesda is known for first-person fantasy RPGs, such as the blockbuster hit Oblivion, which let you roam around pastoral lands armed with swords and sorcery. The Fallout games were top-down RPGs where you go around a nuclear wasteland armed with shotguns and assault rifles. However, Bethesda does have a history with postnuclear war games featuring guns (1995's Terminator: Future Shock was one of the very first first-person shooters with mouse-look), and executive producer Todd Howard explained that the folks at Bethesda have always been huge fans of Fallout. "It's the kind of game that we really love, in terms of [how] you make the kind of character that you want and then you do whatever the hell you want," he said. In fact, Howard said that the company had toyed with the idea of offering to make a new Fallout game when the sequels stalled at Interplay. When the opportunity to purchase the rights for Fallout came, Bethesda leapt at it.
First, here are some key basics about Fallout 3. Yes, it's a first-person game, but it also has a third-person camera if you like to play that way, and the camera can be moved so that it almost mimics the perspective of the original Fallout games. No, it's not a pure action shooter, though it can be played like a shooter in some ways, if you want. However, the game does rely on role-playing statistics to determine whether you hit or miss. More intriguingly, you can pause the combat at any time and target specific parts of an enemy's body, just like you could in the original Fallout games. And, yes, it's very much a role-playing game with hundreds of quests. While it only has a few hundred characters as opposed to the 1,500 in Oblivion, each of the characters in Fallout 3 will have his or her or its own distinct identity and dialogue. But we'll cover all of this in a bit.
Fallout 3 is set approximately 30 years after the events in Fallout 2, though knowledge of the first two games is not required. The world of Fallout isn't based on our own. Instead, it's the world of 2050 as envisioned by those in the 1950s and then blown up in a nuclear war with China. Your character's ancestors sought shelter in Vault 101, one of the many high-tech bomb shelters built by the Vault-Tec Corporation, which has the grinning Vault Boy mascot that doubles as the mascot for the game. Over the course of the next 200 years, the huge blast door to Vault 101 never opened. And it is into this underground city that your character is literally born. That's because character creation is cleverly tied into various childhood scenes, such as your birth, your 10th birthday party when you are given your Pip Boy (a computer that you wear on your wrist), and your 16th year, when you have to take the vault aptitude test to find out where your talents lie. When you determine the look for your character (you can play as either gender), you determine the look for your in-game father, voiced by Liam Neeson himself. He's the main scientist of Vault 101, and his mysterious disappearance will lead you to escape to the outside world in search of him.
This is your father, voiced by Liam Neeson. His appearance will actually change depending on what your character looks like.
When you reach the outside world, you'll find yourself in the blasted wasteland in and around Washington D.C., a departure from the American West seen in the first two games. This is an area teeming with wild creatures and rival factions, such as the Brotherhood of Steel, which defends the remnants the capital; the Slavers who occupy Paradise Falls, a converted strip mall; and the super mutants, tough-as-nails humanoids looking to take over. This world will be slightly smaller than the one in Oblivion, but that's still big. Where you go and who you ally with will be up to you because the game will have multiple endings. And yes, there will be a definitive end to the game, at which point you can start over to explore the many other choices. And Bethesda really wants to make choices count in this game, much more than it did in Oblivion. After all, in Oblivion you could pursue every quest in the game and be all things to all people. In Fallout 3, the choices will be much more binary, and they will have far-reaching consequences.
The example that Bethesda gave of this involves Megaton, a shantytown built around the worship of an unexploded nuclear bomb. When you arrive at Megaton, you'll eventually have two choices. A stranger will reward you if you rearm the bomb, as he represents a developer that would like to wipe Megaton from the map to make room for a nice postnuclear suburb. Or you can inform the town sheriff of the plot and save the town. If you choose to go along with the stranger, Megaton will be wiped out of existence in a glorious nuclear blast; thus, all the quests and adventures associated with it are gone. However, by blowing up Megaton, you'll open up a new area in the game that you would not otherwise have access to, Tenpenny Towers. But if you decide to save Megaton, you won't experience the quests and adventures associated with Tenpenny Towers. Talk about a tough call.
Back in February, we had our very first look at Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the highly anticipated sequel to Naughty Dog’s 2007 action adventure title about a treasure hunter named Nathan Drake. The first game earned acclaim for its excellent cinematics, well-developed characters, and harmonious blend of cover-based shooting and acrobatic platforming. Uncharted 2 appears ready to improve upon its predecessor in just about every way. But until now, everything we’ve seen--with the exception of a public multiplayer beta some months back--has been strictly hands off. That changed this week when we got a chance to return to the same demo we saw this past January and play it ourselves.
The demo takes place in a ravaged Tibetan warzone that looks as though it’s just been struck by some terrible natural disaster. Buildings are in ruin and cars are turned over--it’s a bad scene. But it hasn’t been entirely evacuated yet. Case in point: The opening cinematic begins with Drake cruising through the city in a beat-up military jeep before a giant truck arrives on his tail. A bit of a scuffle takes place and Drake is run off the road in a nasty accident. He comes to in a narrow alley only to find that the truck is still after him. Thus begins a chase scene where we had to outrun the truck as the camera remained in front of Drake and let us shoot at the truck behind us. It was a neat little scene that provided a glimpse at some of the ways Uncharted 2 will mess with the usual, behind-the-back third-person shooter perspective in favor of something more cinematic.
After safely escaping the truck, we found ourselves in the middle of a firefight in the middle of a large street against a number of heavily armed enemies. This gave us a good chance to test some of the game’s additions to the combat system. Like the original, it’s still heavily based on taking cover and awaiting a good opportunity to pop up and take out exposed bad guys. But one of the big enhancements is the expanded melee combat system, which relies a lot more on timing your attacks and dodging those from your opponent. As a result, we had a lot more fun being aggressive and charging toward enemies rather than shooting from afar. The fighting animations are quite well done, too.
After clearing out this area, we took to climbing a light pole that led us to a long sequence of scurrying along ledges over signs hanging in front of buildings and into and out of various windows. We managed to pull off this bit of climbing with ease because we’d seen the demo before, so we’re not sure how much a player who’s new to this area would need to struggle with inspecting the environment for the right objects to climb. That was never much of a problem in the first game, but the chaos and debris of this destroyed urban center made for a much more scattered environment when it came to climbable objects.
Next, we came upon another group of enemies waiting for a firefight. This particular sequence gave us the chance to sneak up on the first few and handle them with a silent takedown. As a reward for taking the time to play in a slightly stealthier manner, Naughty Dog has made it so enemies will drop better items when you issue a silent takedown instead of going in guns blazing. We managed to get grenades from the guys we chocked to death (or sleep--we’re not sure) instead of measly ammo clips.
The urban levels are also designed in such a way that you can use your climbing skills a bit more often in combat settings. As an example, we lost a few lives by fighting on the ground, going after an enemy with a riot shield, and picking up the shield to pummel anyone in our way. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wound up being a pretty quick recipe for death. What wound up working in the end was climbing up onto a small building to strategically toss grenades down below, shoot explosive propane tanks, and fire at unexploded cars until they became exploded cars. The combat seems a lot more diverse, and unlike the first game, it seems like enemies react a lot more realistically to headshots now.
Overall, Uncharted 2 impressed us quite a lot. We knew the game looked good from previous encounters with it during hands-off demos, but now, we can confidently say that the game plays well, too. PlayStation 3 owners will want to keep an eye ou
A couple of weeks back we brought you our hands-on impressions of Lost in Nightmares, one of two new downloadable episodes due out for Resident Evil 5. Lost in Nightmares tells the story of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine traversing through the Spencer Mansion en route to a pivotal encounter with archvillain (and sunglasses-wearing world record holder) Albert Wesker. More recently, however, we've been spending some time with the other new DLC episode, Desperate Escape. Just as Lost in Nightmares seeks to flesh out some of the events hinted at in Resident Evil 5, so does Desperate Escape. This episode shows Jill Valentine and BSAA agent Josh Stone on a frantic mission to get the hell out of Dodge, which in this case is the utterly zombie-infested Tricell facility.
Desperate Escape is a return to the explosive (get it?) action of RE5.
If Lost in Nightmares is a vintage-inspired return to the narrow hallways and atmospheric tension of early Resident Evil, Desperate Escape is a swift turn in the opposite direction. Here you'll find zombies galore and wide-open outdoor areas. And while it's set at nighttime rather than in broad daylight, there's a certain similarity to the main RE5 campaign in terms of how bombastic and over-the-top the action can get. The enemies themselves aren't the main threat--the burlap-masked chainsaw types are the worst ones we encountered--but the sheer number of them at once can be pretty intimidating.
The chunk of Desperate Escape we played took us through the first couple of environments of the game. The first area was an outdoor complex of metal walkways, ladders, and tanks--a very industrial sort of level that offered a lot of hiding spots for our shambling foes. After successfully navigating this area, it was on to another environment that brought us to a narrow alleyway with a wrecked truck and a whole lot of explosive red barrels. This area acted as a sort of standoff point where we were holed in at a dead-end alley while zombies--regular ones, superstrong obese ones, and chainsaw ones--came at us from every surrounding direction. There wasn't a ton of room to maneuver, but the bunched-together nature of the enemies and the abundance of explosive barrels allowed for some efficient uses of ammunition during those rare instances when we weren't getting our head chainsawed off.
Meet the new Jill: a lot more blonde and a lot less wearing of a beret.
Altogether, Desperate Escape looks like a nice complement to Lost in Nightmares. There's sort of a yin and yang relationship between the two downloadable episodes, with one being the slow, tense return to the Resident Evil of Old and the other playing like Resident Evil 5. Both episodes will be available on Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition when it arrives on March 9, while Lost in Nightmares can be downloaded on February 17 and Desperate Escape on March 3. The latter two dates are for Xbox 360. PlayStation 3 downloads are a day later, respectively. There's no word yet on dates for a PC version.
When we first saw Assassin's Creed II back at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, it wowed us with its sumptuous graphics and slick Renaissance-inspired storyline. We finally got a chance to return to the world of Italian assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany, and checked out the brand-new city of Florence.
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Assassin's Creed II creative director Patrice Desilets was again on hand to guide us through 15th-century Italy, and our demo began on the Florentine rooftops. The environment looked stunning in the late afternoon, with a soft haze obscuring the nearby hillside. The skyline was filled with orange terracotta roof tiles and soft pastel and cream colours. Gazing around, we could see numerous towers, domed churches, villas, and plenty of other buildings with rustic charm. Ezio walked up to a nearby guard and used his concealed pistol--first seen in the E3 announcement trailer to dramatic effect--to execute him. When you aim the pistol, a grey line will show where you're pointing, and this should improve aiming with the third-person camera. After a few moments, Desilets jumped off the rooftop into a hay bale on the street below. He then approached a street merchant who sold him a bottle of poison to use for an assassination mission. These missions are delivered to Ezio through carrier pigeons, which you can find scattered around Florence's rooftops. The heads-up displays have been slightly updated, while the controls look the same as before and are again contextually mapped to your head and limbs. The Y button is assigned to eagle vision, B is for tackles or gentle pushes, and A is used to sprint, free-run, jump, or steal.
While you could blend only with scholars in the original game, you can now do so with pretty much any group of people, and this is illustrated by an abstract pattern of criss-crossing lines on the ground when you approach them. Desilets used eagle vision--the ability to single out friends, foes, and targets in a crowd--to locate his target and then blended into a crowd to get a bit closer. Rather than going in for a bold kill, you can use other characters to do your dirty work. In this case, he infected the target's guard with poison, and within a few moments the guard started having a fit. Slashing his lance around from the pain, the guard was able to pierce the man he was meant to protect, thereby fulfilling Ezio's mission. This looks like just one example of some of the new ways to carry out such missions, and we look forward to seeing more examples at a later date.
Following this mission, the day began to disappear and night fell upon the city. Dark, grey clouds covered the sky, and the Florentine skyline was bathed in the dying moments of twilight. Desilets led us on to a nearby alley, which was blocked by some guards. He enlisted the help of some nearby mercenaries, and after exchanging some money, they agreed to kill the guards. Being able to get others to do your dirty work seems like an interesting idea, but because you have to pay them, you will probably need to save their resources for special occasions. The alley revealed a hidden trapdoor, indicated by the assassin's symbol, which surrounded a skull set into a fountain. Ezio pushed his fingers into the eye sockets, activating the hidden door, and jumped down into a new area below: the catacombs beneath Florence.
We're told by Desilets that there will be numerous underground areas to expose in the game. However, they're all optional besides this particular one. The reason this one is mandatory is that it involves the discovery of a secret meeting of the Assassins' sworn enemies, the Templars. The catacombs offered a fresh landscape to what we'd already seen, and the chipped, worn brickwork was bathed in a soft candlelight, accented by painted artwork, ornate, classical architecture, scattered debris, and even human bones. Desilets used Ezio's acrobatic skills to make his way down to the bottom of a central shaft just after the Templars moved into a huge hall, sealing off the entrance with a heavy stone door. Using some acrobatics, he was able to climb up to an area above the sealed room and found a secret level that opened the door, triggering a cutscene featuring the Templars.
Despite their lavishly decorated armour, the Templars seemed as deadly as ever and quickly set out to find Ezio. Desilets demonstrated a cool new "death from above" move that lets you execute an enemy by jumping from above and stabbing him with your knife. After taking care of one soldier, he used a smoke bomb to distract two more and chase after a final one, who made a hasty retreat. The Templar was intent on warning his cohorts, and this section features the new chase gameplay. Your aim is to stop him before he can call for reinforcements, by any means possible. These areas don't appear to be linear, and you can use alternative paths when an enemy creates an obstacle, in this case blocking our way to a terraced balcony by locking a gate. Desilets used a chandelier to swing around the outside of the balcony and through a gap in the wall to kill the Templar, which resulted in another cutscene where Ezio eavesdrops on the meeting. Inspired by real events, the cutscene shows the Pazzi conspirators who planned an assassination on the brothers Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, co-rulers of the Florentine Republic. There were a number of conspirators named, including the pope, who apparently approved of the Templars' plot.
At EA's recent showcase in London, role-playing game veterans BioWare trotted out the latest build of its much-anticipated Dragon Age: Origins, giving journalists even more hands-on time with the combat mechanics of the game. Although we've previously played around with some early-level battles, BioWare ramped things up this session by showing something from the midpoint of the game. Specifically, we engaged in a magic-heavy fight between some powerful abominations and some seriously kitted-out level 12 characters.
But before we dived in, BioWare lead gameplay designer Mike Laidlaw set the scene for the action in which we were about to partake. The battle takes place roughly halfway through the game, although Laidlaw said that it could come earlier or later depending on the order in which you tackle the game's missions. In this mission, you're charged with taking on the evil mage Uldred, who has taken over the Circle Tower (a sort of mage training academy/stronghold). In Dragon Age's high-fantasy world, mages aren't usually evil types. In fact, they're long-time allies of the Grey Wardens, a special force dedicated to taking on the Blight, a corrupting and dangerous force that is threatening to take over the world of Ferelden with darkspawn. Uldred, seeking to take advantage of the spreading chaos, apparently tried to control a demon to do his bidding, but as is the way with these pesky netherworld inhabitants, his plan backfired and the demon ended up possessing him. Having been turned into a creature known as an abomination, Uldred set about capturing and torturing his fellow mages before turning them into abominations as well.
This battle will take place in a large, open hall in the Circle Tower, and after a brief section of dialogue in which the clearly mad Uldred tried to justify his actions, Laidlaw and a fellow BioWare rep proceeded to demo the battle for us. On the side of the Grey Wardens were four Level 12 characters: three mages and a warrior named Alistair who, according to Laidlaw, was kitted out to act as a typical tank-type class. Once the battle started, Uldred immediately transformed into a large pride demon, a towering monstrosity that had a roughly humanoid shape but with a dragonlike head. As you would expect, this creature packed a mean melee punch, and it was aided by several of Uldred's mage-turned-abomination buddies, who acted as vicious foot soldiers. The action onscreen as guided by the BioWare rep looked quite frenetic, with plenty of spells being thrown around, as well as some fast switching between characters to best take advantage of the situation. After a few minutes, the BioWare rep managed to unleash an ultrapowerful spell--called Storm of the Century--that filled the entire battle arena with a powerful-looking whirlwind that dealt serious damage to the pride demon, eventually putting him down and leaving the Grey Wardens triumphant.
As of last month, the long-running beta for MAG has gone from private to public. What was once a restricted sneak peek at this ambitious 256-player shooter is now open to anyone who's met the appropriate preorder criteria. Naturally, that means a sudden influx of new players setting up show on the MAG servers. With all the ins and outs that go along with a game of this scope, it can be pretty intimidating for newcomers. For that reason, Sony recently invited us over for a thorough rundown of some of those parts of the game that won't be immediately apparent when you first spawn into a match.
Like most online shooters released in the post-Call of Duty 4 era, MAG will offer a robust leveling and upgrade system. Every positive feat you pull off on the battlefield accrues some experience points, from winning a match right on down to the simplest knife kill. Beginning at level one, you'll create a character by choosing a faction to join, customizing his look with a number of outfits and preset facial configurations, and then deciding whether you want to roll with the default weapons loadouts or create your own. Want to be a clean-cut sniper dressed head to toe in camouflage? Maybe a reckless machine gunner with a tattoo on the side of your head and sweet wraparound sunglasses? The choice is up to you.
As you gain levels, you'll earn skill points to spend on increasing your proficiency with certain weapons and equipment. With no set class system in the game, you're given a good amount of room to climb these skill trees however you see fit. You can upgrade weapons with better attachments like higher-zoom scopes and grenade launchers, unlock new weapons like the submachine gun that you can use to replace your sidearm pistol, or focus on improving your skills with better close-quarters fighting and higher electronics skills. But one thing to keep in mind is that despite all these potential boosts to your soldierly abilities, developer Zipper Interactive is taking pains to make sure that the gap between a level-one grunt and a grizzled level-50 veteran isn't so great that the new guy doesn't stand a chance; it's aiming to hit that sweet spot between a sense of progression and a sense of balance.
One aspect of MAG's leveling system that sets it apart from other shooters is the officer hierarchy. With matches capable of supporting two teams of 128 players, things would get pretty chaotic without a leadership system in place, so that's what MAG offers. Once you hit the level-15 threshold, you'll be capable of applying for an officer position in each match, starting with a squad leader (controlling eight players at a time) and going on up to the OIC of an entire 128-player team. If you choose to pursue membership in this exclusive club, you'll get your own special leveling rewards called leadership bonuses. The best officers are the ones who have leadership bonuses that let them increase the armor rating of everyone in their squad, improve their weapons abilities, and so on.
In a battle this big, you'd better stay frosty at all times.
These leaders are capable of chatting with each other over a special voice channel to develop a strategy during a match and then issue out orders to their underlings via optional secondary objectives. These include non-mission-critical tasks, such as destroy that turret or demolish that barricade. There's no penalty for ignoring these directives, but the incentive for soldiers to follow them lies in the fact that they'll earn double the experience points for each action requested by the squad leader. Sony describes this as taking the stick out of the carrot-and-stick approach to encourage players to follow orders.
Right now, Sony and Zipper are cycling various maps and game modes to focus beta testing. They're focusing on specific areas of the game so they can pull data and see what they want to change. A lot is being accounted for, from bird's-eye-view heat maps telling them where choke points are too constricted to weapon stats telling them which guns need to be balanced. Will all that work pay off come MAG's January 26 release? As a game with few rivals in terms of size and scope, it's certainly going to be interesting as we begin to find out.
Sony showed off God of War III during its press conference yesterday, but when the screen faded to black just before Kratos was set to fire a catapult toward a flaming red titan, we were left wanting more. We were lucky enough to get a more in-depth look at Kratos’ latest adventure today, which started at the same place as the trailer, but it continued on much further, showcasing even more gruesome finishing moves and fantastic new abilities. We still haven’t had a chance to get our hands on the game, but it looks to be just as fun and horrific as the previous games in the series.
The stage we saw takes place in Olympia as Kratos continues his climb toward the summit of Mount Olympus to finish off Zeus once and for all. Deicide isn’t often explored in video games, and it’s quite satisfying to see Kratos finish off one supposed immortal after another. Although Sony Santa Monica has no idea what will become of this franchise in the future, we were told that the third God of War wraps up the story nicely, giving a rewarding conclusion to Kratos’ quest for vengeance.
Zeus has no interest in being killed by a mere man, so he sends wave after wave of his soldiers to halt your progress. At one point, Kratos has to square off against a centaur that comes with his own army of skeletal warriors. Although he can only give an order to attack in the demo, we were told that he will have a more developed military mind in the finished game, directing his minions to counter your offensive assault. When his drones are quickly disposed of, you get to fight the centaur, and it’s a battle that ends in a bloody mess. When his health is low, you can activate your finishing move, which sees Kratos tearing the entrails from his writhing body. Disgusting but so cool.
While Kratos is busy killing the nasty creatures from Greek mythology, Helios is flying overhead dropping balls of fire. You can’t just go after Zeus immediately; you have to kill the lesser gods first. The demo ended right before Kratos fired a ballista, but we got a chance to see where the shell landed. When Helios and his flaming chariot cross your path, you can shoot him down, causing him to crash into the angry titan in the background. You continue to hunt down the fire god throughout the level, but we won’t spoil anything else.
There are a number of cool touches in the game as well. After a particularly brutal fight, Kratos' feet will be covered in blood, and he’ll leave bloody footprints for the next few steps he takes. His body can also become covered in blood, although the developers had to limit this feature to make sure you could still see Kratos’ details. If this had been an accurate blood-splatter simulator, Kratos would surely be covered in blood the entire time.
At one point in the level, Kratos encountered a number of soldiers with shields. It’s impossible to bash through them, though, so you’ll need to think of a clever way to get around this problem. Luckily, a cyclops wonders onto the screen, and after you take down his health far enough, you can ride him around. He drunkenly sways and smashes with his powerful arms, quickly killing the meager soldiers who so stubbornly blocked your path. When you tire of riding this one-eyed monster, you can finish him off in spectacular fashion. Just reach into his eye socket and rip the ball right from his head. This same finisher was in God of War II, but it’s so much more sadistic and disturbing in high definition.
In addition to the copious amounts of blood flooding the screen, we were able to see one of Kratos' new abilities. He gets something called Eyes of a God, which lets him see paths mere mortals normally can't see. When a hidden area is nearby, your controller will vibrate and gold flakes will litter the screen to let you know when to make use of this ability. It isn't used just for finding secret areas, though. It also serves as a flashlight, and the lighting effects look really cool as Kratos walks through the dimly lit mountain pass. When you use this ability on enemies, it briefly blinds them, and if you hold it on them long enough, they will be imbued with light, which gives you a momentary torch so you can see your enemies while you tear them to shreds.
The last new section we got to see made use of Icarus’ wings. If you find a draft of air, you can glide straight up, which gives you a quick passage through the mountain. Kratos shot up a narrow tunnel and had to twist and turn to dodge the obstacles blocking his path. It’s reminiscent of the Pegasus section in God of War II, but it’s much faster now. God of War III is shaping up to be another awesome adventure; it's just as gruesome and over the top as before with a number of new moves to keep things interesting. We’ll have to wait until next year to see if it can live up to its predecessors, though. God of War III is scheduled for release in March 2010, though we were told to expect a home demo before then.
Last Rebellion is the latest Japanese role-playing game from Nippon Ichi Software, which was released in Japan earlier this year and is set to be released in North America at the end of this month. It's a unique turn-based RPG where you have interchangeable main characters, as well as an interesting tactical battle system that involves stamping and spellcasting. However, the watercolor visuals stand out the most because several well-known manga artists have contributed to the game's design. We had an opportunity to play some of Last Rebellion and were intrigued by the strategic elements in the gameplay.
The story is set in a world where two gods are at odds with each other and select humans have been recruited to try to bring back the balance. It's difficult to go into more detail without giving away too much, but you'll get the idea early on in the game. You play as a smart-mouthed young man named Nine, who is a master swordsman and the adopted son of the current king of Lorvin. He's also known as a blade who hunts the undead. The other main character in the story is Aisha, a gifted sealer whose power is used to ensure that the undead defeated by a blade remain dead. Due to an incident very early on in the game--which we won't spoil for you--Nine and Aisha are joined as one. This means they share the same hit points, magic points, and chain points. They still have their own individual talents, and you can swap them around in battle, but you can only play as one character at a time.
This isn't like any other strategy turn-based RPG where you take turns attacking until the creatures die. Enemies are seen onscreen, and in Last Rebellion, you need to stamp the body parts of your opponents with your blade before you can cast stamp magic on them to dispose of them. Each individual monster that you face will come with a list of body parts that you can assign Nine or Aisha to attack in any order. Nine is a better swordsman and will deal more damage, so it makes sense to have him stamp the body part, then Aisha to cast the stamp magic. There is a correct order to attack, which will yield bonus experience points at the end of the battle and determine how many turns the stamp will last on the enemy before you have to stamp again. As you're attacking, you'll see numbers and the words "bingo" and "combo" appear. The numbers indicate how many turns the stamp will last; bingo lets you know that you got the right order, therefore, the stamp will last longer; and combo appears when you get three or more bingos. Chain points, which are limited, are used each time you attack a body part, so plan accordingly. Casting magic only costs one CP, and magic will hit all the areas that have been stamped by the sword. It's a careful balance between guessing the order of attack and then casting magic to deal the rest of the damage. Once enemies die, you'll need Aisha to seal them to finish them off completely, otherwise after a few turns, they will get up again and with more power.
This may seem confusing at first and possibly a little tedious, but it's relatively easy to figure out. Then, it's about conserving and spending your CPs wisely. Aisha and Nine can be swapped at will, and each will regenerate points when wandering around on the map. For example, you'll regenerate HPs while Aisha's out and MP if Nine is out. There don't seem to be any inns or places to rest, so you'll just have to swap back and forth in a safe area to wait to heal, which can be a bit of a chore. CPs are a little harder to replenish because you only get a few of them after each turn, but there are CPs stations out in the field that you can draw from by striking with your sword.
Inside the realm of Japanese role-playing games, the pressure to create something innovative and ultimately successful is ever present. While Tri-Ace Studio’s upcoming title Resonance of Fate for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 has yet to tick the successful box, the mix of real-time and turn-based gameplay and the absence of magic and swords in this JRPG is helping to keep things interesting. We sat down with a hands-off demo from Tri-Ace director Takayuki Suguro and Sega producer Mitsuhiro Shimano to get a better insight into what makes Resonance of Fate stand out from the rest.
Resonance of Fate’s story is about a futuristic Earth, where poisonous gases have permeated the atmosphere, forcing people to build a giant air purifier tower known as Basel. A city develops around the Basel tower, with a strong class hierarchy taking charge of society--the upper classes live in luxury apartments at the top of Basel while the lower classes reside in camps and districts built around the base of the tower. Unbeknownst to its residents, Basel has a mind of its own, and soon enough the giant machine begins to rule lives and control destinies.
The game’s three main characters are part of the middle class, working as mercenaries and completing missions and tasks for the ruling class. You will take control of the three characters in mission-based gameplay that will involve unlocking more areas of the Basel tower to reach the top, and you'll battle a mix of enemies and bosses along the way.
According to Suguro and Shimano, Resonance of Fate stands out from other JRPGs because of the decision to use guns rather than traditional magic and swords, something that the developers were unsure of at first.
“We wanted to step away from traditional RPGs and go with something that will make sense given the game’s gritty context and setting in a world ruled by machines,” Suguro said. “Traditional swords and magic in RPGs is becoming very banal. We wanted something different with acrobatic actions and camera angles.
“The other main difference between our game and other RPGs is the tempo. We know that Western gamers don’t really like the slow nature of the command and turn-based battle systems, so we tried to create something different with the incorporation of real-time elements. We wanted to make a hybrid between an RPG and an action game.”
The real-time elements are so prominent that Resonance of Fate is in fact being marketed as a real-time game. The tri-attack battle system in the game incorporates a mixture of real-time and turn-based elements in the gameplay--you will control each of the three characters in turn in order to defeat an enemy. Each character must traverse a fixed course (denoted by a blue line onscreen), which is set by you. The objective is to make this trajectory as long as possible within the limitations of the screen in order to give the character enough time to hit the enemy as many times as possible before reaching the end of the trajectory. It is also necessary to interject character trajectories to build up something called “Resonance attacks,” which will see all three characters attacking the enemy at the same time. Once a character’s turn is over, the enemy will make its move, followed by your second character, and so on.
During attacks, characters can continually switch weapons and use a charging system by pressing the attack button at the right time in correspondence to an onscreen meter, which will increase damage. Once an enemy is defeated, new areas of the map will be unlocked, and you will gain access to in-game currency and new parts to be used in the game’s extensive weapon customization menu.
“We think the battle system in Resonance of Fate is a lot easier than traditional RPGs,“ Suguro said. “We wanted to give players more room for exploration and strategic thinking in battles by giving them an easy system to master, which will allow for more creativity if the game is played through a second or third time.”
To keep the tempo of the battles quick, the developers severely reduced the length of the battle animations, which means you will not have to wait a long time before jumping back into it.
The game’s real-time element also comes through in the animated cutscenes, which all play out in real time. This means that things like the time of day and the characters’ clothes and appearance (which can all be customized) are reflected in the visually stunning mini movies.
The game also includes three features designed to heighten its replay value: a battle retry option that lets you restart any battle if you are defeated, a quick-save feature that lets you save the game at any point, and a new game plus feature that allows you to replay the game from start to finish using the same items you did in the last play-through.
“These features are there because we wanted players to think about the combat strategy they employ in battles and try out different things,” Suguro said. “We also wanted to give hardcore gamers the option of replaying through the game without the need to go back and acquire everything they need all over again. That way it’s more fun and challenging and gives players more time for exploration.”
While the game is still in its final stages of development, Suguro and Shimano are confident that Resonance of Fate will appeal to the Western market as much as it does to the Japanese market.
“We were careful to remove some of the things in the game that we know Western players don’t like, like the lack of tempo during battles. We hope and believe that everyone will like it. It’s very different, from its battle system down to the visuals. It was a leap of faith for us and we hope it pays off.”
Last year at the Tokyo Game Show, we were able to try out Star Ocean 4 for the first time. Now, just a year later, the futuristic space opera will be appearing on the PlayStation 3 with some additions that are sure to please the fans. The Last Hope International is virtually the same as the Xbox 360 version, but the Japanese language track is now included so you can choose to play the game in Japanese with subtitles if you wish. Also, as a bonus, you can switch back and forth between 2D and 3D character art, depending on your preference. The avatars that are shown at the bottom of the screen during combat can be 2D anime-style portraits or the 3D character models that you're used to seeing onscreen.
We spent some time playing through the PlayStation 3 version and found it to be identical to the Xbox 360 version in terms of gameplay. It might have been the television, but visually, it didn't seem as sharp as we expected. There was also a bit of motion blur as we played through a couple of battles. The game still looks great, though, and will likely end up being very similar to the Xbox 360 version. The Japanese version is set to come out February 4, and the rest of the world can get its PS3 copy on February 9. Check out our review of the Xbox 360 game
TOKYO--Level 5 is a developer to keep a close eye on for sure. Its upcoming role-playing game, White Knight Chronicles, is an exclusive PlayStation 3 game that is like two games in one. You have a solid single-player experience that will take you through the main storyline, and if you want, you can take the adventure online to play with up to three friends. Last year at the Tokyo Game Show, we were able to get some hands-on time, but this year, it was only a PowerPoint presentation and a couple of trailers. We met with Sony Computer Entertainment Japan to see how the game is progressing, as well as take a look at some of the characters, customization, battle mechanics, and online components.
The trailer opened up by showing some gorgeous images of a densely populated city and a giant turtle carrying an entire city in its back. We were introduced to the main characters in the game. Just by watching the trailer, we could tell that we were in for an action-packed RPG with elaborate cutscenes and a touching story. The second trailer introduced character or avatar customization, and we saw some of the online play, which felt very much like a massively multiplayer online game.
During the presentation, the producer of the game, Kentaro Motomura, went over some of the key aspects of White Knight Chronicles. He said that Level 5 wanted to create an authentic fantasy world where the most prominent features include objects and creatures that are enormous in scale. The gargantuan turtle we saw earlier was an example. Size also comes into play when your main character, Leonard, is able to transform into a towering White Knight.
The story involves rescuing a princess, and though that storyline has been used many times, it's not just about the overall goal--it's about how you get there. Leonard, who works for a wine merchant, happens to be at the castle when it is attacked by a wizard. He helps Princess Cisna escape and finds a mysterious suit of armor that is able to transform him into a powerful warrior. While he's busy fighting off the enemy, the princess ends up getting caught anyway, and in typical heroic fashion, he decides to go after her.
The active time-battle system was described as being heavily customizable because you are given a good chunk of commands to work with to create and name your own combos. You are given a palette to work with, and once you have it set up, the controls should be simple and easy. When Leonard is fighting, his gauge will fill, and once it is full, he can transform. Motomura said that there is strategy involved in the battles because you can't always count on transforming. Sometimes the monsters you face will also be very large, and it is possible to defeat them without being oversized.
The presentation also went into the avatar system where you can create your own character and adjust his or her features. There was a lot of customization that could be done so that each character is unique. Your avatar will come in later during the main story, but having an avatar means you can also play with other people's characters online. Through the PlayStation Network, you can link up and play co-operatively with three friends to go on quests. The demo that we saw had a group of adventurers take on a hulking troll. We were told that the data for your avatar is shared online and offline, so everything you earn (money, experience, items) online in quests will stay with you when you play in single-player mode. Quests can only be done with four people, but the online lobby can have up to 16 players. Like other MMOGs, you'll be able to send messages to each other and mess around with character motions.
It's too bad we didn't have a chance to play because the trailers looked amazing, and there seems to be a lot you can do with the battle system. White Knight Chronicles is scheduled for a December 25 release date in Japan only. No announcements have been made for North America, but we hope to be able to get more information on this game soon, so be sure to keep checking back.
Jumping from a brief teaser trailer to a half-hour live game demo in the space of a week is a brave way to build interest in a game, but Bethesda seems to be handling it well. Brink is the new, futuristic first-person shooter from Quake Wars studio Splash Damage, which has gone to great lengths to inject some personality into this sometimes-predictable genre. We got our first taste of Brink in a hands-off demo at Bethesda's booth during E3 2009.
Brink takes place in the year 2035 in a floating city called The Ark: humanity's last refuge after Earth's near-total destruction. Two warring factions, the Security and the Resistance, are going head to head in a bid to outdo each other and take control of The Ark. What sets Brink apart from other shooters is that players do not take on the role of a pre-assigned protagonist. Rather, they create their own using the game's character-customization tool. You can take your pick from a variety of clothes, face shapes, hairstyles, scars, weapons, tattoos, and quirky add-ons such as bloody bandages. You can even pick your race. Players are also given the choice to pick from the two factions and play the entire campaign in both.
Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgewood began the Brink demo with an abandoned airport just outside The Ark to demonstrate the game's S.M.A.R.T system (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain). The system looks set to work a lot like Mirror's Edge, whereby jumping from platform to platform is achieved simply by moving the camera in the direction in which you want your character to go. In the demo, Wedgewood reached a higher platform by holding down the sprint button and pointing the camera upward, which prompted his character to jump to the destination.
In the next part of the demo we were taken to The Ark dockyards, where Wedgewood demonstrated the different combat roles in the Security faction. Splash Damage has really tried to do something new by introducing this element of gameplay, and from what we saw it appears to work smoothly. Once you have picked a faction, players will also be able to pick a class of combat in that faction. For example, Wedgewood began the dockyards mission as an operative. However, he was soon prompted to change his class as he advanced through the mission when his team leader hinted that the team could really use an engineer to deactivate a particular switch and repair a land mine. When this happens, players will need to find one of the command posts scattered throughout the game and change classes as required. For example, Wedgewood had the option of becoming an engineer or a soldier, and chose engineer. Each class has its own benefits and preconfigured weapon layouts (which players can choose themselves). The class menu also shows players how many experience points they will receive for becoming a certain class and completing that mission.
Interstellar Marines has had an interesting development. A first-person shooter conceived by Zero Point Software in the early 2000s, it was prototyped using a well-known game engine and then shopped around to the big publishers at the Games Developers Conference. However, the developers were deterred by the amount of changes that publishers wanted to make to their game and decided to remain independent while continuing to work on the game. The result is a game that’s being driven by the community that surrounds it and who has a very real opportunity of shaping the way the final product turns out. Zero Point Software recently dropped by our London office to show us the latest technology behind Interstellar Marines, as well as its vision for the future of what they call ‘AAA Indie.’
According to game director Kim Jørgensen, the aim for Interstellar Marines is to present “first contact with an alien race in a believable and even philosophical way.” You play one of these marines, working for the galactic equivalent of NATO, and you start the game scouting out Mars before moving onto a space station. There will be three types of enemies--high-level humans, like soldiers; low-level humans, like scientists; and numerous alien life forms, all of which have their own independent AI routines. The whole game is designed to be a short co-op experience for up to four people, with dynamic AI and enemy placement encouraging multiple play-throughs.
That's what the team has planned for the game, anyway. At the moment, Zero Point has a number of demos that it uses to show proof of concept. The first is a demo built using high-end technology, but as it was created using the demo version of the tools, it can’t be shown publicly. It’s a shame because it shows a high level of skill in terms of lighting, water, and organic effects, and while it's showing its age now, the demo allows us to get a feel for the atmosphere Zero Point is trying to achieve. The inspiration from such films as Aliens is obvious, as is F.E.A.R. in terms of graphics and sound, and while Jørgensen acknowledges the influences, he promises a story that won’t just retread sci-fi shooter cliches.
Currently scheduled for release sometime in 2010, Aliens vs. Predator is a first-person shooter that will feature no fewer than three story-driven campaigns in addition to multiplayer features. Earlier today, during a behind-closed-doors meeting with developer Rebellion, we were afforded our first look at the colonial marines campaign and then, at Sega's show-floor booth, we checked out a great demo of the predator campaign.
Your mission--on this, your first drop as a rookie marine--is to rescue any surviving colonists, but based on what we saw today, we're not sure that you're going to find many of them. Xenomorphs can seemingly attack at any moment, coming out of holes in the walls, lurking on ceilings, hiding in shadows, and often almost impossible to see without the aid of your flashlight or a flare. You have a motion sensor on your pulse rifle, of course, but if you've seen Aliens you'll know that the noise it makes (which is re-created perfectly here, along with other sounds from the movies) isn't necessarily one that you want to hear.
The demo room in which we saw the marines campaign demo was equipped with an impressive surround-sound setup, which in concert with the ambient noises and the yells from other marines established a near-constant state of tension. Hearing a squadmate shout that the aliens are testing the perimeter lets you know that trouble is on the way, and when that's followed by a cry of "They cut the power!" you know that trouble has arrived.
Aliens are a single-minded species, but they're not stupid. Sure, they'll charge at you occasionally, and you might even have to fight them off with melee attacks from time to time. But for the most part the xenomorphs that we saw in the demo were quite adept at hiding in dark corners, and at remaining motionless to render the marines' sensors useless until they were ready to pounce. The marines campaign will likely be the most traditional of the three, not only because of the weapons at your disposal, but also because you can expect to be facing overwhelming odds at almost every turn. It's perhaps not the most exciting campaign of the three, but if nothing else it looks to be a great counterpoint to the predator campaign that we checked out afterward.
