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Armed and Dangerous: Exclusive Interview Feature
Chris Leyton
07/10/2003
LucasArts rediscover their funny side in this exciting action title...
Lucas Arts continues its tradition in creating and fusing intelligently crafted gameplay, wry humour, with stylish, polished graphics. Billed as a game based on a true story (just one of the many tongue in cheek quotes), Armed & Dangerous can best be described as an overthetop action blast, bullet spewing, gun toting, explosive, bone shattering, concoction of weird, wonderful and pleasantly outrageous.
When you think Lucas Arts your first thoughts are of quality and originality and Armed & Dangerous is no exception. TVG caught up with a representative from the developer Planet Moon Studios that is made up of the team that produced MDK and Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Members of the team have also worked on classics like Earthworm Jim and Aladdin and with such an impressive record, this their third title is eagerly anticipated. It must also be pointed out that seeing the game live, can you really appreciate fully what Armed & Dangerous is all about.
Players take on the role of Roman, a cockney criminal mastermind and leader of a gang of accidental heroes known as the Lionhearts who traverse 21 missions through the five regions of the Milola Kingdom where their objective gradually shifts from looting to liberation.
Roman's sidekicks include Jonesy, a Scottish Mole Miner and demolition expert. He's acerbic, bitter, sarcastic, and loyal only to the Lionhearts. Q is an upper class, debonair, eliminator droid and the group's muscle, who attained self-awareness through his deep and abiding love of tea. Rounding out the gang is Rexus, a seer and great sage who suffered a tragic head trauma that reduced him to the stinky, unpleasant wreck of the man he is today. Still possessed of incredible powers, when he chooses to use them, Rexus is an important key to the Lionhearts' success. Led by a devil-may-care attitude, the Lionhearts rely on ingenuity, their unique personalities, and each other to make their way through one disaster after another.
Outrageous weapons, with equally insane quests, offer fun, mayhem and total immersion and no let up throughout the massive romp.
As Roman, you will order your teammates about the place, getting them to support you or take out distant enemies while you take care of others and as you would expect, variety and diversity in both the locales and cast make every scene, screen, a real treat.
The focus for Planet Moon Studios has been on pure, imaginative, action where you can do almost anything or at least something at any time â“ where nearly every event will leave you with a permanent smirk on your face.
Every weapon is a creative masterpiece, such as the Cyclops Sniper Rifle - an ultra powerful shooter capable of taking out multiple enemies in a single shot, and a Vindaloo Rocket Launcher - which fires four missiles simultaneously resulting in humongous, world-shattering conflagrations. This unique collection of weaponry is complemented by various uber-weapons, like the Sticky and Topsy-Turvy bombs. While the Sticky Bomb adheres to enemies, walls, and any other surface (resulting in great fun), the Topsy-Turvy Bomb momentarily turns the world upside down, sending enemies hurtling into space only to land moments later with a satisfying crunch and bounce.
With a game so full of imaginative ideas you could easily be fooled into believing that this humorous approach could result in a soft and overly zany game with no real direction and approach. Armed & Dangerous is structured, positively compelling and 'ard'. We spoke to the team about the game, and they went from whimsical to serious after the first question.
TVG: Armed & Dangerous appears to be a 'tongue in cheek' offering. How important is humour to the game?
I'm not sure what you mean. Armed & Dangerous is a deadly serious action game based on the true story of a cockney criminal mastermind, a mole and a robot. Why would you say it's tongue in cheek?
Honestly, our primary focus in the game has been on fun and insanely over-the-top action. The humour is an aspect of all our games, but is not the âpointâ. Certainly, we're not a developer that would be likely to make a deadly serious, gritty game, which attracted LucasArts in the first place.
TVG: There are 21 missions in the game; so how diverse are they in terms of looks, action and even locations?
Diversity is a key for us - both in look and in gameplay. Every mission has a different set of sub-missions, so there are dozens and dozens of missions to perform in the course of the game.
The five environments are: the Bergog Wasteland, which is a frozen plain of snow and ice; the Midden Mountains, which are dangerous peaks high above the world; the Plains of Midden, which is a war torn region covered in trenches and smoke-belching factories; the lush Wild Wood and the rain-drenched stormy cliffs of Forge. In the course of the game, you'll fight battles in the middle of castles, across devastated valleys, and atop beautiful sun-soaked vistas.
Gameplay types range from saving peasants that have been captured by the tyrant King and returning them home to blowing up enemy installations and equipment. From subterfuge and sabotage to wiping out everything you see.
TVG: Please briefly give the readers your basic overview to the game and what has inspired you to create this concept/game?
The game is set in the downtrodden land of Milola, currently controlled by the tyrant King Forge. You play a band of Robin Hood-esque thieves who are trying to pull off the ultimate heist and, in the process, end up getting drawn into a rebellion to topple the King.
We were inspired by our own experiences. Over half the team grew up in Boritovia, which, as you will recall, was controlled by General Stanislav Ludvikz until 1999. General Ludvikz unlawfully seized control of our parliament in 1983 on St. Visene's day. I won't bore you with political details, but most of us were actually fighting in the resistance while we were developing MDK. We chose to make Armed & Dangerous as a tribute to the brave men and women who died in the Battle of Broken Shoes, bringing liberty back to our homeland.
TVG: The game offers up many original ideas, one being when the screen flips upside down. Can you tell us a bit more about this event/action in the game and what other special effects, innovative ideas, are on offer?
The weapon you're referring to is called the Topsy Turvy Bomb. It's a massive corkscrew that you drill into the ground and then use to flip the world upside down. This causes your enemies to go hurtling off into the sky. You then flip the world right-side up and they come crashing back down.
We wanted all of our weapons to be intense and fun to use. In addition to the Topsy Turvy there are over a dozen others, there's the Land Shark Gun, which has been raising a few eyebrows. It fires a baby shark into the ground that expands once it's underground into a full-sized shark. You see it shoot a fin up from the ground and 'swim' through the earth toward your enemy. The shark then comes bursting up out of the ground and chews up your opponent, pulling him under.
My favorite weapon right now is called the Home Wrecker Bomb. When you hit the right combination of buttons, it causes a group of large, sweaty men to show up at the player's house, eat his food, drink his beer and insult his family. They then tear up the furniture and pass out drunk on the floor. It's not really so much a âpracticalâ weapon, but it sure makes us laugh.
TVG: Expand a little on your graphics/games engine - what it offers and how different the XBOX and PC versions will be and what problems and tweaks you have had to make for each version?
We use our internal Amityville 2 engine, which was developed specifically for this game. Our engine was built to allow us to render a huge number of enemies at a time. This allows us to have, in some missions, hundreds of guys on screen at once.
The PC version will allow for higher resolutions than the Xbox, simply because the PC has more RAM and has higher quality monitors than your TV. However, the main difference between the two is control and that comes down to player preference. We've worked with the control of both versions to make the game feel platform native. By that I mean that the game feels like a mouse and keyboard shooter on the PC and feels like it was made for an Xbox controller on the Xbox.
TVG: There are many interesting characters in the game. In total how many are on offer, including baddies, etc. and can you tell us a little about the main character (his qualities) and footnotes on his sidekicks?
There are over 40 characters in Armed & Dangerous, many of whom are integral to the storyline that is played out in the cut scenes. On offer as enemies, there are the King's grunts - mean tempered armoured man-beasts who shoot at you with rifles and bows, the King's captains, who are much more dangerous shock-troopers, and then a lot of special enemies. Among the special enemies are the Weaving Monks of the Wild Wood, who cast deadly spells at you and also throw out a bit of a Gregorian chant. In total there are over a dozen types of enemies to destroy utterly in A&D.
Our main character, Roman, grew up on the mean streets of Midden as a pickpocket and street urchin. He's now the leader of the land's most famous band of thieves. Roman is an expert marksman and expert tactician. Among his companions are Jonesy, his best friend (who's also a demolition expert and mole) and Q, a reformed killer robot with an abiding love of tea. Q and Jonesy are your wingmen, fanning out and helping you take out your enemies. Jonesy also blows up enemies with dynamite and Q uses his medical kit to give you a boost when you're badly hurt.
TVG: How does the game and storyline evolve?
The 21 missions are designed to be played in succession. After most missions, the story further unfolds through cut scenes, and most of the missions are completing important tasks relating to the story.
There are also several bonus missions that the player can unlock by finding hidden treasures in the levels. These missions are infinitely replayable. Well, not really infinitely; the player will die eventually. We all do.
TVG: What external help have you brought in for the making of the game (We were told you brought in actors)?
We have some top voice talent from Hollywood in the game, including Jeff Bennett, Kath Soucie and Pat Fraley, all of whom have performed in every animated movie or TV show you've ever seen or thought of seeing. For the main characters, we actually got all four of the actors into the studio together (which is unusual in videogame voice acting) to play their parts opposite one another. That way they were working off each other's timing and performances. We're very happy with how it worked out, and hope gamers will be too!
TVG: What is your fav action event in the game that you feel sums up the ethos of this title!
My favorite set of missions is the Base Defends, in which it's you, alone, atop a base wall with a single turret, holding off an entire army. It sums up the ethos of the game because it's big guns, big action and huge explosions. That said, I do still giggle every time I send fifteen guys screaming off into the heavens by flipping the world upside down.
Anonymous
Date Added:Fri 15th Dec 2006 18:48