 |
|
72 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ADEL CHAVELEH - PRESIDENT AND BRETT NORTON - DESIGN DIRECTOR - SECTION 8 PREJUDICE Posted by PlayDevil.com Staff on Feb 1, 2011 09:24 (Feb 1, 2011 09:24) |
A few days ago PlayDevil reviewer Joseph was invited for a hands on with TimeGate Studio's upcoming action game, "Section 8: Prejudice" and an interview with the studio's President & Design Director. In a landscape awash with first person shooters, 2009’s Section 8 jet-packed under the radar. Its unique blend of control points and multiplayer missions gave it flair that a select few grew to love. Sadly, the game was blighted by a lacklustre campaign and tepid sales.
Not to be deterred, TimeGate Studios are roaring back into view with a downloadable sequel, Section 8: Prejudice, boasting swathes of new content at half the price. For a more in depth look at the game, check out our full preview here.
On a hotel rooftop in the blustery London winter, I chatted with TimeGate’s President, Adel Chaveleh and Design Director, Brett Norton, to delve deeper into their latest creation.
1. Players returning to Section 8 for this second instalment will be on the lookout for new features. What are the key hooks you expect people to pick up on? Chaveleh: The first is the visuals. If you played Section 8, you’ll know it was very static. It didn't start out that way, but we overshot the size and scope of the levels. The end result being that it was difficult to densely populate the world and keep a high the performance rate.
The campaign is another. If you've played the original then you’ll know it was more of a tutorial than a campaign.I think you'll really appreciate the difference in some of the things we’ve added. There was a lot of effort put into that for this product.
The third thing is the accessibility of the game. The UI was completely redone. A lot of the controls are tweaked and the content metered. For example, the unlock system.
2. Touching on the unlocks, are they managed by a persistent level? Norton: Yes, a character or profile has a level that you rank up through experience. By completing achievements you unlock different equipment, weapons and new upgrades. You can use all of these to customize your loadouts.
Even though we have a lot of new unlockable content in Prejudice, the pool is so much bigger compared to the original Section 8. What you start with in Prejudice is actually the exact same size as what you started with in Section 8, but now we have an immense amount of additional content that you gain access to access to as you play.
3. I noticed some unique options available as part of your customizable loadout. For example, the Automation Mod. Norton: That’s the Assault Rifle Automation Mod. Weapons in Prejudice can often fire different types of ammo and the default for the assault rifle is Rail. As you progress, you'll unlock slug rounds. These are slightly more effective against armour, slightly less against shields. The automation module, based on your distance to the target, will switch between rail and slug rounds. It uses rail at long range and slug at close range.
It's one of the more advanced modifications for the weapon and players who learn that sweet spot in the distance can actually use the rail rounds to chew away at a target’s shields and then move closer to use the slugs and take our their armour even quicker.
4. A returning hallmark from Section 8 is the jet-pack movement. What motivated the inclusion of this mechanic? Norton: We wanted to give players a lot of mobility, because we feel that makes the game really dynamic. You can attack from below, above, around. You're not stuck going down the same corridor banging your head against the wall, thinking, “Well, they're gonna camp here and we're gonna run down here and eventually we'll either get through or we won't.”
In our game you can say, “Hey, I don't like where I'm at right now, I'm going to sprint over there, fly through the ravine, up to the rear entrance, and see if i can sneak in and hack their control point.”
5. Dynamic Combat Missions make a return in Prejudice, how have these multiplayer mini-games been improved? Norton: Originally section 8 had a roster of six Dynamic Combat Missions. In Prejudice we've expanded to 9 and replaced or modified several that weren't as popular in Section 8.
One of the new ones we've added, which is relatively simple, but really enjoyable, is the Team Elimination DCM. One team has to kill every member of the opposing team at least once. Half of the players on the each team will usually die pretty quickly, then you get down to the last 3 or 4 and they'll be holed up in bases with guys defending them. Or sometimes they'll be in vehicles and you'll have to chase them down and destroy them.
|
 |
Comments |  |
