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| Pacific Storm Interview with Aleksey Pshekhonov by Jonathan Trevisani,Computer Games Online  Jonathan Trevisani: How will Pacific Storm incorporate elements of RTS titles and arcade games? What was the challenge of implementing both qualities into the game?" title="Pacific Storm Interview with Aleksey Pshekhonov">Jonathan Trevisani presents an interview with Aleksey Pshekhonov, Producer at Buka Entertainment, about the upcoming World War II real-time strategy title; Pacific Storm. Players take command of naval assets as they battle war fleets in several combat campaigns.Jonathan Trevisani: How will Pacific Storm incorporate elements of RTS titles and arcade games? What was the challenge of implementing both qualities into the game? Aleksey Pshekhonov: Pacific Storm is a mixture of gaming genres. It includes global strategy, real-time tactics, as well as naval and air simulation, all-in-one, which offer a unique experience to the player. In Pacific Storm you may become everyone from Commander-in-Chief, leading his nation to victory, an admiral, ordering his naval and air formations directly in battle, a diplomat negotiating with other nations, a skipper, commanding his ship, a pilot flying in a dogfight, or an ordinary gunner, defending his ship from enemy attack. The player may take control and manage almost everything that is happening around him and feel each dimension of the Pacific war from the inside. The most challenging part of the game was trying to balance it in a way that it would be attractive both for hardcore strategy players and casual players. We had to do a lot of work to make this game both historically accurate while at the same time trying to make it fun for players. And I believe that we've done this. Jonathan Trevisani: What about players that just want to dogfight in planes, will they be forced to research technologies and build units? Will strategy fans need to go into the cockpit during battles? Aleksey Pshekhonov: For those who don't want to play a campaign, we offer historical missions presenting the most significant events of the Pacific War, as well as other naval battles of WWII, such as Pearl-harbor attack or sinking of the Yamato battleship. These missions are available both in single- and multiplayer modes. Also, Pacific Storm features a battle planner, a simplified mission editor or "deployment mode", which contains ready maps for battles, where the player may easily create and play his own custom missions. Jonathan Trevisani: Once players enter the cockpit, what will happen in the rest of strategic battles? Will the player's army be destroyed while they are busy flying? Aleksey Pshekhonov: Once the player decides to enter the battle, the rest of the units will be commanded by AI. The player is free to switch between simulation and real-time strategy at anytime he likes. He may set the behavior of his units, their aggressiveness, and distance to maintain to enemy units, direction, speed, altitude, depth, attack preference and other parameters. On the global map the player will receive a notification about the beginning of new battle, offering him the option to play it or ignore it. If he ignores it, the game switches to an automatic mode to resolve the battle. Two or more battles will not happen at the same time - one will be waiting until the player will finish the previous one. So, you won't lose the war while taking part in a single battle. Jonathan Trevisani: What battles of World War II will be in the game? Will players be able to choose to fight as both the Japanese and Americans in the conflict? Aleksey Pshekhonov: The main battles of the Pacific war are represented in the campaigns. Players can witness the Pearl-harbor attack and the battle for Midway, but the AI may prefer to hit weaker points in the player's defense, which may change some of the historical battles. In Pacific Storm you can play both the Japanese and American sides. Jonathan Trevisani: What are the advantages of the strategic map and the tactical battleground mode? How will the different perspectives influence game play? Aleksey Pshekhonov: On the global strategy map, the player can manage resources, research technologies, build bases and units, and command formations without taking part in certain battles. Once in the battleground mode, the player gains direct control over his units. Battleground is the place were the events seen as markers on global map come to life. Jonathan Trevisani: How is the enemy A.I. in the game? Will hardcore gamers have a challenge and new players still have fun? Aleksey Pshekhonov: In Pacific Storm the AI is very good at managing the economy and fighting against the player. The AI is very smart, and can spot players' weak points, attack unprotected bases and target transport convoys. The more aggressive the player gets, the more aggressively the AI will respond in kind. Jonathan Trevisani: What units will be at the player's command? What type of fighters and naval ships are available in the game? Aleksey Pshekhonov: There are 24 ship types, 36 aircraft types, 20 guided rockets and bombs, and many other units in Pacific Storm. The player may operate each plane from prewar fighters to the P-80 jet created later in the war. At sea, the player can control ships from small Fletcher class ships to the giant Yamato with its monstrous guns, which can be directly controlled and aimed by the player. Jonathan Trevisani: How many missions and campaigns are included in the game? What are some of the unique objectives in missions? Aleksey Pshekhonov: In Pacific Storm the player may choose either the historic or free campaigns. The difference between them is in complexity of the composition of forces. Also, Pacific Storm offers has the battle planner, which offers to the player the ability to generate almost unlimited number of his own missions. Jonathan Trevisani: What multiplayer options are available in the game? How many players can participate in a single battle? Aleksey Pshekhonov: There are three multiplayer modes in the game and the game supports up to eight players who may start a co-operative game or a dogfight fight or a battle planner mission. You may play via LAN or the Internet. Jonathan Trevisani: What is your favorite feature of the game? What impression do you want to make on players? Aleksey Pshekhonov: I think my favorite feature is the scale of the game. In Pacific Storm you can become the Commander-in-Chief responsible for the lives of thousands of servicemen and the destiny of his country; or the commanding officer of a small squadron; or even an ordinary military pilot fighting in the sky over the Pacific. We really want to impress upon the player the depth of the game, and the scale of the war in the Pacific, along with making it fun by allowing players to jump into the cockpit and fly fighters and other aircraft. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Game News :: home page |