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Interstate '82
...continued

In both cases, the Karpoon can be quite potent for the solo vigilante. Still, imagine how cool it can be for an organized team of attackers, working together to crush an opponent. "Jordan! Hit him with the MaGMA. Me 'n Emil'll toss up a bunch of missiles!" Ahhh, the precious, euphonious spectacle of group destruction. [Co-opers take note: I am hinting at something I will add to later.]

Some of the classics are being taken a step further. For instance, gamers can still light 'em up with the popular Flamethrower, but also kick it up a notch with the more lethal Acid-Thrower. Talk about Weekend at Burnies [insert rimshot here]! Then there is the Structo Bumper, a nice bit, but for hard-core soldiers, it fails to do enough damage on the front end. The antidote? The Caribe Cutters, a pair of large blades that jut out from the front of the car, a la Speed Racer, and tear into all things and all people that stand in the path of annihilation. Of course, what game set in the '80s would be complete without a tip of the hat to SDI? Mounting a small satellite dish on the car grants access to L.A.R.S., a light amplification and reflection setup that rains flaming death on soon-to-be-crisping opponents. If I am failing to express the profound coolness of these weapons, let me sum it up in a single phrase: Kick-ass!

The last tidbit I want to touch on with regard to the cars is the independent wheel suspension model, which offers more than 30 gamer-definable parameters. This means road warriors will have bumper-to-bumper, gear-to-clutch control of their configuration, with the result being perfect integration with the game. Thus, cars perform as expected, according to the intricate precepts of science. Take a turn too fast, the wheels lose traction, and the car spins out. Hit a bump at high speed, and the car takes flight.

This is all good and fine, but alone, means little to gamers. Blend the science with discriminating, well-designed maps, though, and the outcome is spectacular stunts and sensational combat. The developers cherish jumps as much as blasting chumps, so there will be an abundance of cool jumping opportunities, such as launching across missing spans of interstate overpass, and soaring off a ledge in a shopping mall, guns bearing in on some poor sap on the other side. Hit a ramp wrong, and roll the car, or pull it off right, and do a barrel roll! Marshall Robin, the lead programmer, coded the game with this in mind, and claims powerslides, bootlegger turns, and all those other slick Hollywood car chase maneuvers are in the game.

The original game took place in the hot, dust-ridden badlands of the great Southwest. The sequel will return gamers to that classic locale, and stir things up with an abundance of fresh surroundings, including Carlsbad-like caverns, mine shafts, sewers, a super-secret armed forces installation, and that hotbed of American culture, Las Vegas. The desert terrain will function much the same -- furnish large, open battlefields and missions where the action takes place along a specific route, and combine both race and combat elements. In fact, the approach for each mission is simple: create something fun and fast, with lots of hidden paths and cool graphics.

The thing to do when creating a mission is to forget about limitations - Jennings explains. "Forget about framerate, or how difficult it will be to implement. Just go nuts, and start out with what the game is about. Our game is about car combat, so I ask what kind of place would be best to fight friends in, or what situations do I want to experience in the single player game? In other words, what would be an absolute blast?"

His abandoned mine is a good example of this approach. It starts out with an enormous, winding shaft bore straight into limestone. The shaft then opens into large, natural caverns and an underground river. Perils lurk all about, just waiting to happen, such as a mine shaft that drops through three rooms, supports holding up large boulders that fall and roll when demolished, slick surfaces, natural formations to soar off of, and eerie darkness to boot. Is there a better place to engage in auto combat than large, open caverns, or is there action more heart-rending than racing against the clock on winding, splitting shaft tunnels? The question that begs to be asked is, "What about speed?" Huge settings are cool, but can choke the fastest rig. According to Jennings, the game can handle these tough assignments due to the stamina of the game's 3D engine, called Darkside, and the functional nature of the large 3D meshes that make up the game world.

Once the map has made the cut, the art team beings the creation of the mesh and other objects to be placed, and the programmers work on the support needed to bring the whole thing together, such as the code for careening headlong into a bottomless mine shaft, and the special AI for avoiding pitfalls. In fact, significant enhancements are being made to the AI, which must make intelligent, tactical decisions during combat, including the classic "Flee or fight?" and the more difficult "Keep the car, or ditch it, and jack a motorbike?" The AI must also be able to handle the complicated large meshes the game is built out of. Yishai Lerner, one of the programmers, claims the team has created an efficient path finding scheme that enables enemies to find the best route to opponents, even if the gamer is on top of a multi-tier parking garage, and the computer-controlled road warrior is cruising up the Vegas strip.

Norman maintains the graphics are "unreal," but cautions against trusting his word, preferring to let the game do the talking. Rest assured the team is using the latest, and most fashionable, optic goodies to ensure their game lights up real nice. Most important, it uses a hardware-dedicated engine, meaning people must possess a 3D card. Support will include Direct 3D, Glide, PowerVR's SGL, and Rendition's RRedline; the result is a game that shines like the sun on a bright red Benz. The polish is there in the photo-realistic skies, the brilliant, rendered explosions, the particle effects that grant life to rolling fire and missile trails, and in the detailed indoor and outdoor settings. Imagine cruising the Vegas strip, and soaking up the lights, casinos, and hotels while performing chassis-crunching stunts.

The super-structure of the solo game is mission-based and linear, and Jennings promises an intense scenario that leads gamers on a "twisted and humorous romp through chaotic battles." There will be 25 Trip missions, and 30 online arenas, meaning deathmatch is not an afterthought. Nor is it the one option online participants are being granted.

Online games can be run on the Internet or a LAN, and will feature an AI intelligent enough to determine the kind of battle it is in, including things like deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and races. Since computer-controlled opponents are in the game as characters, people can form teams, and the host can set up a game with humans going up against the AI. This is not co-op in the traditional, scripted sense, but the game does enable multiple gamers to duel the computer in the melee arenas. Though not the ultimate co-op encounter -- that would require a categorical retooling of the solo missions and plot -- this is a commendable step in the right direction.

Last, but not least, I must touch on the tunes. One of the tenants of the series is that it benefit from the pop-culture of its time. For the '80s, the designers are digging into the annals of melodic cheese, and pulling out New Wave. Although people might cringe from the thought of battling enemies to the techno-pop beats of Depeche Mode or Spandau Ballet, remember the designers made funk, not a popular genre of music among gamers, into a stimulating part of the original game. Perhaps the game could come with one of those strange hats...

In the final critique, the series transcends its chic elegance with a deeper importance. True, these games are about car combat, but also the characters, their stories, and the incredible surroundings. When the game and graphics are extensions of these goods, the result is a more encompassing and engaging experience. The strength of the series is manifold: it features a well-designed and consistent game world; it is unique, and has attitude to spare; and it is the protege of a talented group of game artisans. As seasoned gamers can attest, the result is a coherence and logic that appeals to both action-oriented people and those who prefer a hard-core simulation with their digital caffeine.

In closing, Stein remarks, "The benefit of working on such a well-received and respected brand is that the talent on the team is high. For instance, on the art team, we look not just for the most talented artists, but also those who share an enthusiasm for the games, and will inspire the designers and programmers to attempt bigger and better things. This is one of the most professional and fun teams I have had the pleasure of being a part of, and I think the game will reflect that."

Years from now, aged gamers will gather in the open desert, and sit around a campfire telling stories of burning tires, hot lead, and crumbled steel. Their reflections will be interrupted at the hand of a distant sound, a deep rumbling, like approaching thunder. Hell on Wheels.

 

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