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...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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