Battlefield This Friday

PC | 18/09/2002

You haven’t heard about Battlefield 1942? And you call yourself a
gamire (Irish Gamer, sorry about that). Well Battlefield is EA’s latest
World War Two FPS game, but it’s not a part of the Medal of Honor
brand and its developed by Digital Illusions.

One of the main things that separates Battlefield from other EA WW2
titles is that it is “multiplayer-focused”. With the ability of up
to 64 players, multiplayer-focused is a bit of an understatement. Maybe
it would be hard to only call this a FPS, as it’s a bit of a
simulator with over 35 WW2 vehicles.

And when I say vehicles I don’t mean just a few tanks, how does
this sound: jeeps, submarines, aircraft, aircraft carriers,
battleships, landing craft and all this in a FPS. With bomber aircraft,
you can even be a pilot, gunner or bombardier. An integral part of
Battlefield is teamwork, for example, you won’t be able to be a
gunner on an aircraft without a pilot. Maps, which there are 16 of,
will vary from Europe to the Pacific to North Africa.

Its not all multiplayer though, as Battlefield also features a
single player mode, which allows you to play the computer. Battlefield
1942 is also being released on the Xbox early next year. But PC gamers
just have to wait until this Friday.

The Great Escape

General | 20/09/2002

We haven’t heard much since way back in 2000 when developer and
publisher SCi acquired the rights to make a game based on the classic
film The Great Escape.

We still haven’t heard much but we have got some new screen shots
for you. The Great Escape is set for release on the PC, PS2 and XBox
early next year.

Cleric Exclusive Interview

The dead walk again and innocent women are disappearing. What is
going on? No one knows but it is your job to find out and put a stop to
it. This is the premise of Cleric a new puzzle based FPS which uses the
Serious Sam engine. All of the info you ever wanted on Cleric is
contained in the following interview with Matthew Doyle CEO and Lead
Designer with Plutonium Games. Enjoy reading it.

Q. Describe Cleric in a hundred words?

Cleric puts you in the role of Reverend Father Aronos Schuler in
16th century Russia. Something is terribly wrong in the ice locked port
town of Novo-Kholmogory. The dead walk the streets at night and all the
young girls have been taken into the wilderness. The town calls upon
Aronos as a man of god to find the missing girls and put an end to the
undead plight. As he begins to unravel the mystery, Aronos must
overcome his own internal struggle. He is not a man of faith, despite
his position. You decide the path he takes as he learns who he really
is and what or who he really believes in. How you play the game
dictates how the story ends.

Q. What has influenced Cleric?

Lots of things: 1970s zombie movies, The Exorcist, Russian history
and folk lore, the Resident Evil games, the Thief series for PC, and
the Bible to name a few. Cleric grew form an initial idea of playing
the role of the ultimate good guy against zombies: a priest. It has
become far greater in scope than that now while still retaining the
same basic idea.

Q. Has the limited success of other horror based FPS put you off at all?

Not really. Partly because most horror based FPS games are just
that: FPS games. Cleric is not really a FPS. We are using a first
person shooter engine, but the style of game play will not be like your
typical FPS. The problem I think with most horror based FPS games is
that they emphasis the whole run, shoot, kill theme over what makes for
good horror: story, and atmosphere. Cleric will have these in abundance.

Q. Can you tell us something about Cleric that no one else knows?

Cleric will have 4 endings. How’s that for a scoop!

Q. Was it hard getting people to back Cleric?

It is hard. We still don’t have a publisher at this stage, but our
currently paying our bills with private investment funds. That is not
hard to get. Our investors believe in this project as strongly as we
do. Our only hurdle towards getting a publisher right now is finishing
our demo. We are currently hard at work on this and plan to have it
done before the close of the year.

Q. What will Cleric offer that other FPS don’t?

An interactive story that doesn’t feel like it was thrown in as an
afterthought. Conversation trees much like an RPG. Multiple endings
that are influenced by the way you play the entire game, not just by a
definite path you choose toward the end. A massive game world that is
largely exterior. A truly “human” player character with flaws and
limits that will affect game play. On the technical side, we are
considering adding stenciled shadows and per pixel shading. Per pixel
shading will only be implemented if we have the time and resources, but
stenciled shadows is fast becoming a must have. It is difficult to have
a truly scary game without good lighting and shadows. We also intend to
implement multiple hit locations and dismemberment in combat.

Q. Will it be a more puzzled-based FPS than say Serious Sam?

Yes. The only thing that really ties Cleric to Serious Sam is the
fact that we are using their engine. Beyond that, it is an entirely
different style of game. Emphasis is not on killing everything you see.
Sometimes running will be your only option. There will be a great deal
of appropriate and innovative puzzles. We call them appropriate because
all of our puzzles makes sense in the game world. No puzzles for the
sake of puzzles.

Q. What about the multiplayer aspect of the game?

It is more of a “Thief” type game, where story, immersion, and
unique gameplay are its primary selling points. However! After much
thought, I have decided that there will be multiplayer. In fact, the
players will be able to raise undead creatures to fight for them in
multiplayer. They will only have access to the miracles that they have
learned in the single player game. So, if you finish the game, you will
have every possible miracle at your disposal in multiplayer, making you
a formidable opponent. This is primarily done to keep players from
seeing all the miracles before the single-player story has been
completed.

Q. Why should we rush out and buy Cleric?

To support first time independent developers! Seriously though,
we’re making Cleric as game lovers ourselves. We’re making a game that
we would want to play. It has a very original story of which many have
said would make a great book or movie. It has unique game play elements
that haven’t been done before. The environment is rich in Russian
history and culture. Lastly, Cleric will have very strong replayability.

Q. When can we hope to see Cleric in the shops?

Our original plans were for December 2003, with a public playable
demo being released in October. However, this may change once we pick
up a publisher.

Craig Gallagher