100 Bullets - First Look Preview

Acclaim has a number of diverse and interesting titles coming up for release in 2004 starting with 100 Bullets, an espionage come spy thriller, where gamers will find out about a mysterious Government operative, Agent Graces, who offers mere mortals an opportunity to exact revenge on a person who has made their life intolerable.

A storyline and universe created by Brian Azzarello (DC Comics' lead writer for both Batman and Superman) fuse together a game of twists, turns and intrigues. The question asked is, who is Agent Graces? Youâ??ll find out about this inexplicable character through the twin roles of Cole Burns and Snow Falls (undercover secret police) who you assume through the game as intermittently switching characters.

Derek dela Fuente, our own operative, spoke with Berenger Fish, Lead Designer, Acclaim Studios, in Austin USA.

As well as DCâ??s Brain Azzarello, Acclaim also brought in the expertise of Eduardo Risso who will give the game a strong image and real focus, as Berenger explained. â??As soon as we obtained a license to work on the a 100 Bullets game the first thing we did was have everyone on the team read all the books. We wanted to make sure everyone on the team had a clear vision of this world created by Brian and visualized by Eduardo.â?

â??The comic has won several awards for itâ??s story and writing so we had to make sure that Brian was involved. He has written the entire story and script for the game and itâ??s fantastic. Even if youâ??re not familiar with the series, the story draws you in very quickly. Brian has been really great to work with. He even sat in on our recording session so that he could work with the actors to sound just how he envisioned. We have also had some art direction from Eduardo and used the same palette as the comic.â?

The gamesâ?? strong story and imagery is one of the many focused for 100 Bullets and setting the scene and immersing gamers as quickly as possible is a priority. With the game already looking pretty amazing with its great detail and exquisite 3D, the explosive nature of the game will pull in action gamers instantly!

â??The story takes place in the same universe as the comic and is told as a side story. In the universe of 100 Bullets, the United States is secretly run behind the scenes by a crime organization called â??The Trustâ??. Itâ??s a group of 13 crime families that formed an alliance many years ago. Because there is no honour among thieves, The Trust created an internal police force called The Minutemen to keep the peace. If one house made a move against another, the Minutemen acted as judge, jury and executioner to set things right.â?

â??Agent Graves is the leader of the Minutemen. He has a habit of meeting people and handing them a silver attaché case full of evidence of some wrong done to them. Also inside the case is a gun and 100 rounds of ammunition, all untraceable. If any of these bullets were found at a crime scene, the investigation would stop immediately. Itâ??s up to the person who receives the case how they will use the gun and information (if at all). Graves usually has an ulterior motive behind his actions.â?

â??After years of peace the Trust decided that they didnâ??t need the Minutemen anymore and had Agent Graves kill them all, or so they thought. Graves actually hid them all by wiping their memories and slipping them into â??normalâ?? life. Only the magic word 'Croatoa' can wake them up to their true selves.â?

To reiterate, you get to play as two characters, Cole Burns and Snow Falls. Cole is one of the former Minutemen and is straight out of the comic. When the game starts, he thinks heâ??s an Ice Cream man. Snow Falls is a new character created specially for the game by Brian Azzarello. Sheâ??s a tough girl raised on the streets of New York. She lives in a gym where she takes up kickboxing. Her life changes the moment she meets Graves and his silver briefcaseâ?¦

Each of the characters has their own goals based on whatâ??s happening in the story. Coleâ??s main objective is to follow the directions from Graves. Carter Salk, a former lieutenant in the House of Dietrich, is causing trouble with the Trust. Graves has his own agenda and he doesnâ??t want Carter to get in the way of it. Cole is well suited to do the job. Snowâ??s quest is to investigate and retaliate against those responsible for her motherâ??s death. Every level also has secondary objectives that are optional for the player to complete, like using the environment to kill 4 enemies or planting bombs in special places. When you complete secondary objectives, you earn rewards of various kinds.

With two lead characters, double the action and ideas could be the reason for picking two strong personnel but constant switching of charcters could, in some cases, disturb the flow of the game. Berenger explained some of the nuances behind this choice.

â??The stories of Cole and Snow start off separate but are often intertwined throughout the game. The character used for a particular level is dependent on whatâ??s going on in the story. There are a few levels however where Snow and Cole will have to work together. During those scenes, gamers will be able to switch between the two of them with the press of a button. There are some subtle differences, but the characters do share most of the same skills. Obviously as a kick boxer, Snow will have a chance to use her melee skills. Cole is familiar with explosives, so when given a chance, heâ??s going to enjoy putting them to use.â? â??Snow Falls was added to the game by Brian because we didnâ??t want to simply retell one of the stories from the books. We wanted to do something new. New stories need new characters and she fits in perfectly.â?

It was explained that the majority of the game is run-and-gun so being able to aim at your target is an important skill. To survive though, you need to be able to learn to use the environment for cover. We have a really nice cover system where you can use walls or low objects as cover. You can shoot blindly around corners, over desks or around any other object youâ??re using to save your skin. There are a few levels were you simply wonâ??t be able to survive without using something (or somebody) as a shield. There are also a few levels were stealth is key.

â??Targeting is done by pointing and aiming like most first or third person shooters. Quickshot allows you to shoot enemies without having to aim but it costs you some of your R.A.G.E. power. We have a large variety of different weapons in the game. Some of them are your â??standardâ?? fare, like shotguns and rocket launchers, but we have some others that are really nice. My personal favourite are the automatic pistols. They eat through bullets but they mow down anything in their path.â?

â??The story really drives the actions of the characters at all times. For example, at one point Snow has to dress up as a maid so that she can sneak through a mansion. She canâ??t use any weapons so she has to sneak around enemies instead.â?

Technical proficiency, the big wow factor, is just as important as an engrossing storyline and the already slick looking game is supported with some top notch technology, which was commented on and supported by an example to watch out for.

â??Our engine is fairly advanced and allows us to take advantage of the strengths of both the PS2 and Xbox without making life too difficult while developing for both platforms. Itâ??s the same engine that we used for Turok Evolutions and Vexx. Weâ??re also using the same engine for The Red Star. One of the most impressive visual features of the game is the detail that weâ??re able to squeeze into each of the levels. Weâ??re able to add a lot of destructible objects and fancy particle effects. For example, if one of your stray bullets hits a concrete wall, little bits of plaster fall convincingly out of the hole. Shoot a barrel full of oil and it streams out, etc. Our engine lets our artists get as creative as they want to be.â?

Without wanting to reveal too much of the story, all that was commented on was that the game takes place in many different locations although the cast set is extensive. From the gritty streets of New York to a multi-million dollar mansion near L.A., youâ??ll run the gamut. The New York city streets level sums up the game pretty well. Itâ??s a little dark, gritty and has a lot of twists and turns.

â??We have roughly around 45 different characters including main characters, enemies, bystanders and more. We have multiple people dedicated to making the AI fun. We want each character to behave in different ways. As the player, you have to recognise the strengths of each enemy and figure out their weaknesses. For example, some enemies like it when the player takes cover. Theyâ??ll fire a rocket or toss a grenade to flush you out. Others are more vulnerable when they reload, etc. Of course we have plenty of easier enemies to sharpen your teeth on too.â?

Talking about innovations and selling points of the game brought some nice bullish comments,

â??100 Bullets has probably one of the strongest stories of any game in the genre. We have a brand new R.A.G.E. system that has a very cool and stylised way to empty a room in a hurry. The 'Quickshot' feature is also a very slick way to take out an enemy who gets behind you. Thereâ??s also our advanced â??T-Junctionâ?? cover system, which allows the player to move smoothly between cover points. Weâ??re also toying with an upgrade system that you donâ??t normally see in these types of games.â?