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Exclusive: World War Zero: IronStorm Q&A Feature
Chris Leyton
17/02/2004
TVG chats to Aeron Guy, Project Leader at Rebellion, to get the lowdown on World War Zero Ironstorm on the PS2...
Rebellion, it has to be admitted, is one of our favourite Britsoft teams. They have been around a long time, have a wealth of experience and have created some truly great games. Their perfectly balanced amalgam of technology, story and gameplay focus is possibly the expertise of the team. Although Ironstorm may be familiar to PC gamers this is no quick, money in the pocket, port, but one with new ideas and plenty of craft!
Derek hooked up with Aeron Guy, Project Leader at Rebellion, to get the lowdown on World War Zero Ironstorm on the PS2.
TVG: Is World War Zero: Ironstorm (WWZ) in effect the same game as the PC version but placed onto the PS2 and brought bang up to date? If so, what have been any major or minor changes and do you see this as more than a mere port?
No we definitely consider this to be more than a port of the PC version. The underlying story and environments are the same but the gameplay, characters, weapons, game structure and interface are completely new. The biggest difference is the way the game plays. We have transformed the game into a fast and furious, console friendly, arcade shooter. The levels flow more coherently removing many of the areas where the player was required to back-track. Many new gameplay mechanisms have been added, from sub-missions and secret areas to a whole new arsenal of weapons, both carried and mounted. All the characters have been remodelled and many new enemies have been added to make the game feel less WW1 and more WWZero.
TVG: Rebellion has a great reputation in creating action games. When working on the PS2 do you try to create new and innovative effects and routines in terms of movements, etc., and what would you say is one of the nicest touches in WWZ in terms of presentation?
Yes, always, with every title we do on the PS2 the engine improves. We now have a solid engine with which to get environments up and running very quickly. This allows us to focus much more on the finer details. The effects I am most proud of are the sun glare and the burning flags, also the particle effects which I feel are some of the best in any game of this genre.
TVG: Of late there has been a number of action games that have a number of so called new â actionâ moves. What kind of physical actions and skills does the player you control have, and is there a learning thread to the game?
There are no special âphysical movesâ in WWZero itâs not really that sort of game, the player is able to run, crouch, crawl, etc., but the real leaning curve is more weapon and enemy AI based, as well as some puzzle solving. There is more than one weapon for each level in the game and the player is able to carry them all. Choosing the correct weapon and secondary weapon for a situation is key to success. We didnât want to create a game you could complete without swapping from your machine gun.
TVG: What kind of research have you done in terms of locations or even weapons and have you kept the action pretty realistic considering the storyline? To continue, do you see the storyline as being very important to the game?
The locations flow in a realistic manner dictated by the story. One of the strongest plus points for me is that the story is not convoluted, the progression through the game always has a purpose without the player feeling cheated by moving goal posts. I wouldnât say the game was intensively researched as the setting is fictional, we have left the super-realism to Sniper Elite, our Sister product. However, much discussion went into character design and how to make the environments feel like war had been raging for fifty years.
One of the longest areas of discussion went into the game save interface - the DRT. This interface had to fulfil many roles; save/load, mission briefings, score and streamed news movies. We went through many incarnations of the DRT interface from Celebdaq style charts and graphs to very formal army de-briefing style graphical layout. With so much information to display in a very user friendly manner this was quite a challenge.
TVG: What kind of combat skills will you undertake and can you give us a little detail on one incident in the game that you feel shows off the game to its best affect?
There are many areas in the game that require strategic planning, and objectives can be completed in a variety of ways. In level 5 for example the player is offered the assistance of a group partisans, the player can chose to fight alongside them, use a nearby mounted weapon or opt out of the fire fight entirely. Shortly after this the player enters the town square guarded by tanks, snipers and a mounted high-calibre machine gunner. Again there are many ways of completing this section and many vantage points to choose from. For example, by staying close to the tank, approaching from the blind side, the player can use the tank as mobile cover while taking out the other obstacles, or chose to use stealth, taking out the snipers and mounted gunner from various vantage points before tackling the tank.
TVG: How big and diverse are the locations and is there a linear route to the game or is it pretty open?
The game consists or sixteen very diverse levels taking the player through trench warfare, urban environments, secret underground weapons facilities, vast steam-punk moving train carriages, and close quarters corridor battles in the Reichstag in Berlin.
TVG: How complex will game interaction between characters be and does the AI in the game ensure it is more than just mindless shooting â“ is there plenty of subtly on offer? How does your complex AI work?
There are many subtle decisions made by the AI in WWZero. Enemies will intelligently select weapons in their inventory depending on the situation, swapping for a grenade to flush the player out if they are trying to make use of a cover point, or swapping to a short range weapon if using an RPG when the player closes in. We also have very competent buddies which will fight alongside the player in a completely unscripted manner, making it possible to keep them alive to help you throughout the whole level. All groups of enemies have commanders, which if killed will effect the morale of the group as a whole, making them easier to kill. The cover finding and emerging code works extremely well too. My personal favourite however is the wounded, kamikaze AI state whereby wounded enemies will chose whether to surrender or drop a grenade at their feet with the aim of taking you with them!
TVG: What do you believe makes a good action game, is creating the atmosphere and ambiance one of the important factors and how do you go about this?
Fun. Simply put, fun is absolutely the most important thing. The player should never feel frustrated by the game and should always be faced with fresh challenges and graphical diversity. Atmosphere and ambience are pivotal to increasing the playing experience, in WWZero we have explosions going off all around the player, buddies screaming and dust and fire fogging the players view. In other areas, by contrast, we have gone for a very soft, visual beauty and quiet sound track to lull the player into a false sense of security. One of the toughest challenges was getting the atmosphere right for the train levels. We added barrels which roll with the turning of the train and a rock and shove modifier to the player camera to increase the feeling of moving on a train.
TVG: What kind of weapons are on offer and do they all offer their own unique qualities? Highlight one please.
All the weapons are unique; fire-rates, accuracy ranges, scopes, clip sizes and re-load times all effect the weapons making choosing the correct one very important. We spent a great deal of time making the guns feel right, from the recoil, controller rumble to the animations and sound, one of our pet hates is shooters where the weapons feel weak. My favourite weapon has to be the mini-gun which fires 1800 rounds a minute but has a long warm up time so you have to walk around pumping the gas like a chainsaw to keep it spinning⦠this creates a very satisfying sound making you feel untouchable.
TVG: Sum up the game in one sentence!
A great fun, highly original shooter for players that are bored with the current batch of soul-destroying linear FPS titles.
TVG: Thanks
We look forward to a FPS, with many extra touches that give Rebellion such a great and well-revered name!
Anonymous
Date Added:Sun 9th Mar 2008 20:44