Exclusive MoH: Pacific Assault Interview Feature

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault puts you in the boots of a WWII soldier who must survive the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and then join the Allied crusade to defeat Imperial Japan's bloody conquest of the Pacific. Scheduled for release in Q1 2004, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault will give PC gamers a sense of the courage it took to endure the Pacific Theatre of Operations in WWII. 

The Medal of Honor brand, already exceedingly popular, is continuing to build on an already massive fan base. With a new title comes a very interesting setting, complete with a new graphical engine which in turn presents highly detailed environments with an enormous amount of features and some new and well thought out ideas in both technology and gameplay. Stunning facial expressions, major technological improvement for the AI and behaviour facets of soldiers are a just few of what look and sound like the best MOH title to date. 

The Pacific Assault outdoor environments have a strong organic focus - dense forests, waterfalls and water effects - that will present the kind of ambience, alongside believable actions, that will gratify gamers. 

We spoke with Dave Nash, Lead Game Designer, about the game in a Question and Answer session to find out more about what is going on behind the scenes in this early look.

The Interview... 

TVG: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assaultâs release is a little way off so how many people are at present working on the game and have you created the full game design and in terms of time and PC technology are you aiming for a certain PC spec? 

Dave Nash: Well the team is hovering somewhere around 40 people at the present time, but is gradually growing. In the end, I wouldnât be surprised if twice as many people have a hand in its creation. The gameâs design has been mostly finalized for quite some time now, but things continue to change and evolve as we come up with new ideas and find new/better ways of implementing features. The final minimum spec hasnât been announced yet, but Iâd imagine that it will fall somewhere in the neighbourhood of a 1ghz with a GeForce 2 or better. 

TVG: Are there a number of areas and issues you start with when creating a new MOH title? What facets from previous games will you be focusing on and, apart from differing settings, what do you hope will be the main qualities of this title?

Dave Nash: The MOH titles tend to be evolutionary, but in this case weâre making so many improvements and changes that I think we may be able to tack an ârâ to the front of that word. Many things will still feel the same â“ weâre still a first-person shooter, weâre still putting the player through someoneâs experience of WWII, weâre still going to have great gameplay interspersed with grand cinematic experiences⦠but much will change as well. One of the big things we want to do is to represent things changing over time. The shell will change over time, as your âbarracksâ become more and more worn. The player and his buddies will change over time, becoming more tanned and battle-weary. We think itâll be pretty cool when you are half way through the game and some greenie reinforcements show up to help the cause, and the player looks over at them and realizes he used to look like they did, not like the dirty, scarred, grizzled warrior he has become.

TVG: The Japanese had their own set of rules and traits when it came to war, so what are the most apparent and obvious to the player when facing them? 

Dave Nash: Weâve done tons of research and I could spend a few paragraphs talking about that, but instead let me answer the question â“ there are a couple of the Japanese traits and tactics that we are going to simulate. For one, the Japanese squad leaders and commanders were always at the front; they saw this as a sign of leadership and encouragement for the troops. Often, these leaders would be killed, and when this occurred, those that were under them would often just banzai charge and go out in a blaze of glory. This is a working AI trait that we have already implemented into the game. The Japanese were also known for being very sneaky â“ always finding hiding places, crawling around on their bellies, etc. Weâre going to show some of this behaviour by having the AI enemies know how to set up ambushes where they seemingly come out of nowhere and attack the player and his squad.

TVG: What makes the Pacific Theatre of Operations from 1941-1944 interesting and can you catalogue some events from this period that will captivate the consumer? 

Dave Nash: Well, entire books can be (and have been) written covering this topic. The battles in the Pacific were incredibly fierce. They were often more intense than in the European Theatre, in that they often happened in such confined spaces (tiny islands and atolls). For us, some of what makes the PTO so different and exciting is the terrain itself. Instead of bombed out cities; the player will mostly be traversing thick jungle terrain. Heâll have to stay alert, as attacks will come from anywhere at any time. Because of this, heâll really have to take his time moving through the levels â“ if he tries to tear through them Rambo-style, the player probably wonât make it very far.

The Marines who were at the front of the battles weâre depicting really had a heck of a task before them, and we want to honor them by doing the best job we can representing that accurately in our product.

TVG: What authentic weapons of the time are on offer?

Dave Nash:I donât believe our final weapon list has been released, but rest assured that theyâre both accurate from the time period while at the same time being different from what has been in the previous MoH PC titles.

TVG: There has been information that there will be multi paths in the game. Can you give one example or expand on this area, and will this confuse as linear structure offers a stronger focus? 

Dave Nash: Hm, not sure where this information has come from, but the game on the whole will be a linear experience. Now we will have what I call mini-branches here and there in the level, where the player will be able to make decisions as to which way to go or how he should go about accomplishing a specific task. But MoHPA isnât by any means trying to be a wide-open non-linear game, mainly for the reason you stated â“ focus. We feel we can deliver a stronger, much more impactful experience by making a mostly linear game. That said, there will be plenty of things built in that do offer the player replayability, such as tasks that you can optionally complete which affect later levels, as well as the fact that all of the enemy AI will react to encounters very differently depending on what happens in them, so two people playing the same battle will often come away with a very different experience.

TVG: What vehicles will you be able to control? 

Dave Nash: Ah, a nice short answer. Undetermined! 

TVG: How much focus will there be on in game cut scenes and sequences and how do you continually work on enhancing the tense and frightening nature of combat in a game? 

Dave Nash: a) We plan to have in-game cinematics that advance the story line, but we canât say to what extent. I can say that theyâll mainly be there to add flavour here and there, as opposed to constantly interrupting gameplay. 

b) One thing weâre doing to this end is making it a little bit harder to get healed when youâve been shot. Weâre leaning towards doing away with running through the level searching for magical health packs. Instead, if the player is shot, he will begin to bleed. Heâll have to take cover and apply a bandage to stop the bleeding. If he needs to regain health, heâll have to locate a medic or a med tent. This still obviously makes it a lot easier to stay alive than in real combat, but hey itâs a game right?

TVG: Are there any plans for a change in the controls of interface? 

Dave Nash: Weâre adding the ability to go prone, as well as aim your weapon with itâs sights, but for the most part itâs still WASD and mouse.

Thank You Dave.

There are many other new aspects to this title including the fact that every mission will have a special 'Hero Moment' and a reward in some cases will be some 'real' movie clips to add a feel good factor. A new game mode has also been mentioned which will we look at nearer to the release date. Stay tuned.