|
contents | pc | |||||||
| CellFactor: Revolution Interview Part 2 by Jonathan Trevisani  Jonathan Trevisani presents the second part of an interview with Jeremy Stieglitz, President and Lead Developer of Artificial Studios, about the upcoming first-person shooter CellFactor: Revolution. In this part of the interview, Mr. Stieglitz talks about the new vehicles and weapons in the game.Jonathan Trevisani: How will the fully destructible architecture influence game play? What tactics work with the new destruction? Jeremy Stieglitz: Adding destructible architecture to Revolution opens up a bunch of new scenarios and mechanics that weren't in the Combat Training tech demo. In essence, the environment now changes quite significantly over the course of a game with bridges being torn down, hallways collapsed, and pillars blasted to pieces. Pathways change unpredictably and it's nearly impossible to find a safe zone. You may think no one can touch you, but then the catwalk on which you're standing is ripped apart, and you plummet to your death. Or maybe a 2-ton support beam overhead is just blasted apart, causing massive chunks of concrete to crush you. This kind of dynamic forces players to be a lot more aware of the dynamic circumstances of the environment ? where they're standing in relation to other architecture, what they're standing on, and what kind of enemy they're facing. Combine this capacity for destruction with the Bishop's abilities (or lots of explosions), and you have a recipe for some dynamic fun. Jonathan Trevisani: What new vehicles are in the game? Which vehicle is your favorite? Jeremy Stieglitz: There are a couple new vehicles in the works for the game, and the one that we're focused on right now is the "Goliath" battle-suit. The Black Ops soldier can enter this suit like a vehicle, and effectively, it is a temporary equalizer against the other characters. For example, the Goliath is extremely durable, able to take a lot of punishment before it malfunctions or is destroyed. Meanwhile it's equipped with limited jet boosters to help counter the Bishop's flight capability (and pull away from her psychic grip), while having dual rail guns and rocket pods to unleash hell upon the Guardian, more than a match for his own firepower. The "Black Ops" soldier is the only character class who can use the game's vehicles, while combining his limited psychic power with gunplay, and for this reason he is the most adaptable. That said, vehicles make you an extremely obvious target, and they are also targetable by the Rocket Launchers' lock-on mechanism, so players need to be prepared to "deal" with a lot of attention while using them. Also in the works is a very large tank with some unique physical abilities, but we'll get into that a bit later. Jonathan Trevisani: How does the new grappling gun work with the physics engine? Can it be used on opponents? Jeremy Stieglitz: It gives your player character the ability to latch onto any surface, pulling him to that surface (or in the case of a freely moving object of reasonable mass, pull it to you). This is particularly useful for the Black Ops unit, who can't fly (saving him from a nasty fall in the case of a missed Psi Jump), and the Guardian who can't use psychic abilities at all. With the grappling hook attached to an object, you can toss it all around similar to throwing it with psychic power. Yep, you can also attach it to other players and pull yourself along with them as the Black Ops soldier, or as the Guardian (who has increased physical strength), whip the attached player around and then release the grip to throw him off (preferably into an abyss). Jonathan Trevisani: What other game play modes are being introduced in the game? How will they be different from other FPS game modes? Jeremy Stieglitz: We've added an "Assault" mode, which consists of one team defending a base while the other team attacks, except the twist is that the Attackers need to place a certain bomb in the base which is extremely dangerous to everyone as it's being carried. Most unique, however, are the "PhysX Sports" multiplayer mini-games, which present objectives that involve various creative uses of physics. One of these mini-games involves shooting tons of objects into an enemy goal area, while another involves finding a ticking time-bomb in a gigantic stack of objects, and yet another involves psychic jousting with gigantic physical lances. Players will have access to at least six PhysX sport modes, along with providing the mod tools necessary for end-users to add their own. We believe strongly that PhysX can provide a lot of fun in an FPS beyond core shooter gameplay, given its emergent behavior (you can never predict exactly what will happen). We're still just scratching the surface of what's do-able here. Jonathan Trevisani: What does the future hold for CellFactor? Will you work on more games in the future? Jeremy Stieglitz: There's certainly room to extend the series with a single-player campaign on PC and beyond. Hence the vagueness of the story in Revolution - it takes place after some dark surprises planned for a story-oriented game. Of course, the real beauty of doing a CellFactor campaign would be to unleash god-like powers against armies of weaker opponents. We're excited to see what the future holds for this series. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Game News :: home page |