Korben_Dallas
Zwame Advisor
The Aliens vs Predator movie franchises finally return to game consoles later this year but instead of a first person shooter Aliens Vs. Predator: Extinction will be a tactical strategy game for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. HomeLAN got to chat with members of the development team at Zono to get more info about the game which will be co-published by Fox Interactive and Electronic Arts.
HomeLAN - How did the idea come about for AVP Extinction and why make it a tactical strategy game?
Peter Green - In some ways, it was sort of a no-brainer - no one has done a tactical strategy game in the AvP universe before, and it's certainly the case that fans have wanted to see that kind of thing. Well, now's their chance!
Jason Hough - It just seemed to us the license was ready made for it. You have three distinct, interesting sides all thrown into the same universe.
HomeLAN - What sort of locations and settings will be seen in the game?
Novak - The 3 concurrent campaigns all take place on the same planet, which was designated LV-742 by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. LV-742 has vast craggy wastelands with jutting rock cliffs and nasty, deeply cut chasms like you see in the first couple of Alien movies. There's also a belt of lush jungle like in the first Predator movie. We also have desert mining towns, remote posts, dark weird caves, and various types of Marine base installations, underground laboratories and a few new locations unique to our game that you'll discover as you play.
HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the Colonial Marine Units in the game?
Peter Green - We've got everything fans have come to expect from the franchise, including Synthetics, Pulse Rifle Infantry, CommTechs (like Hudson in Aliens), Flamethrower Marines, Smartgunners, SADAR Troopers, Sentry Guns and Exosuits (plus a few more). When they aren't upgraded, they're pretty much straight to the license, as fans would expect. But when the player upgrades his units, that's when we take off into new territory. Much of what we've tried to do there is to map real-world combat systems that are currently in development onto the AvP universe, in order to update it somewhat. Military technology has changed in some interesting ways since Cameron's original vision made its debut back in 1986. As far as characterizing the Marines as a whole goes - they are all about projecting withering firepower at range.
HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the Predator units in the game?
Peter Green - The Predators are the only side with a balanced choice of both melee and ranged units. As fans might expect, many of the Predators are quite good at hunting other species and have a range of special abilities that support activities like sniping or close-range assassination. Unlike other AvP games, where a single Predator brings a broad assortment of weapons to the battlefield, we've created an array of Predators that have specialized abilities with a single weapon. We pretty much had to do that, given the game's RTS roots, but the good news is that it has really enabled us to imbue the individual Predators with strong, distinctive personalities. It has also enabled us to take the Predator weapons the fans know and love to the next level with the Predator upgrades. At this point, it's also probably worth mentioning that AvP:E marks the debut of the Predator military. These are not guys you mess with lightly - a single Military Predator can take down an entire Marine platoon in very short order if the circumstances are right.
HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the Alien units in the game?
Peter Green - Well, we've had some fun there. The core issue is this - if we stuck with the standard Aliens - the Egg, the Facehugger, the Warrior and the Queen, we'd have a species that was ultimately true to the license and utterly boring to play. Even if we stayed straight on the Aliens that have been added to the franchise over time, like the Praetorian, the PredAlien, the Runner and the Drone, we'd still have a side that was all just typical melee units. You just can't compete with the latest generation of RTS games like that. So, while we have all those units, they're back with some new abilities. Let's take the Runner as an example - as fans are well aware, it's basically the fast-moving 'dog' Alien from the third movie. Well, in AvP:E, it's got a range of additional abilities: 1) it can leap at enemies so hard it knocks them back, 2) it has a hypercharged metabolism that enables it to regenerate faster than probably any other unit in RTS history, 3) its skeleton shatters into a hail of biological shrapnel if the creature is overheated (for which there is some measure of precedent in Alien 3), and 4) it emits spores. I'll leave that last one hanging, except to say that in AvP:E, we finally explain how Aliens have such an uncanny ability to track prey they can't even see. J And then there's the Runner's upgrade, which basically turns the unit into a rabid, high-speed pit viper… The global point is that there are quite a few new features of the Aliens' “combat ecosystem” for the players to explore, and all of them are about making the species more vicious, more parasitic and more hard core then ever before.
HomeLAN - What sort of weapons and upgrades will be featured in Extinction?
Peter Green - Well, as you might guess from one of the earlier answers, the Marines have pretty much every weapon a fan would expect from the AvP franchise, plus some new ones. Let me illustrate the point I made earlier about updating the Marine weapons systems with modern weapons technology. The upgrade for the USCM Sentry Gun is called the “Huntbuster Revision”. Say you're the Marines and you keep losing men to these vicious sniping attacks from creatures you can't even see. What do you do? You bolt a counterballistics scanner and a sniper rifle on the standard issue Sentry Gun, so that the thing can calculate the trajectories of incoming Predator fire, automatically derive the point of origin, and then deliver some payback. Maybe back in 1986 this was sci-fi, but it's something the AH-64 Apache gunship does today. Given the technology involved, it doesn't seem that far fetched to see this kind of ability migrating to infantry-scale combat in the (near) future.
As for the Predators, they have the wristblade, spear (combistick), spear gun, disc and plasma caster everyone has seen before, but back badder then ever before. For instance, the upgraded disc has a “Nanovibronic Edge” that is essentially a molecular-scale chainsaw used to tear through hardened armors. The upgraded disc-wielding Predator can embed multiple nanovibronic discs in his enemies and then send them into “haywire mode”; needless to say, there are few entities in the universe that fare well with multiple hyperactive ripping machines embedded in their internals.
And then there are the Aliens. One thing we've tried to do is make their acid into something really scary, since it's such a core element of the franchise. In AvP:E Alien acid is just hell on enemy units - it inflicts damage over time, it reduces the effectiveness of armor, and causes hideous scarring on organic creatures that is very difficult to heal. Some of the Aliens also have armor-penetrating claws - like the Ravager, which is an all-new unit that some of the fans may have noticed in the first batch of screen shots we released. The Ravager is the Aliens' biological response to the heavy armor deployed by some of the advanced species they parasitize. Now, on one hand, this unit is a fairly standard “Alienized” version of the archetypical “dreadnaught alien” with huge cleaving blades. But let me tell you, it resonates with people, particularly since this unit towers over everything else on the battlefield and has a habit of rapidly decapitating pretty much anything it comes in contact with. Never mind its upgrade! The upgrade gives the thing armor so thick that even medium caliber projectiles just bounce off, and then, if you DO manage to bring it down, you'd better keep at it. It has the ability to rapidly repair itself - even in death - if it is not utterly destroyed. All of which contribute to this unit being a lot of fun to use. I mean, what fine, upstanding, been-there-since-the-beginning AvP fan wouldn't want to control the ultimate _expression of Alien ferocity?!
HomeLAN - How do players control the various units in the game?
Jason Hough - Our interface was designed from the beginning to be console friendly. The chief concern was eliminating the mouse cursor style of interface that most other console RTS games have used (because they were ported over from the PC). This is because it's just too hard to try and hold an analog stick at a specific position while you try and issue commands. So what we've done is created a cursor that always stays centered in the middle of the screen. Instead of moving the cursor around, you move the camera around. When you want to select a unit, you simply move the camera until that unit is centered on the screen press the select button. Since it's centered, the analog stick can be released without fear of moving the cursor away from the unit you wanted. If you want to select multiple units, you just hold down the select button and a “selection circle” will grow out from the center of the screen. Let go of the select button when the units you want are inside the circle. There are also additional selection methods for more precise needs.
Issuing orders is done the same way. More advanced commands are cleverly mapped onto the buttons when the left or right triggers are held down.
All in all this system has worked out great. We've yet to have anyone struggle with learning the controls, even seasoned PC strategy fans.
HomeLAN - What other gameplay elements will Extinction have?
Jason Hough - Apart from the tactical aspects of controlling your units, there are a variety of goals, subgoals, and general tasks the player must accomplish to advance through the game. In one Predator mission, for example, you must use stealth to sneak deep into a Marine compound and assassinate a high-ranking officer. Tripping too many alarms results in failure so the player must rely on cunning and timing rather than brute force.
Novak - Or the Marine mission where you must kill the Alien Queen to stimulate the gestation of a Royal Cocoon, as retrieving this Cocoon is the mission's ultimate objective.
HomeLAN - What differences, if any, will there be between the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game?
Jason Hough - Actually the two versions are virtually identical.
HomeLAN - Finally, what is the status of the game's progress and when will it be released?
Arkin - We are nearing the final stages of development and will be wrapped up in time for a fall release.
fonte: homelanfed.com
HomeLAN - How did the idea come about for AVP Extinction and why make it a tactical strategy game?
Peter Green - In some ways, it was sort of a no-brainer - no one has done a tactical strategy game in the AvP universe before, and it's certainly the case that fans have wanted to see that kind of thing. Well, now's their chance!
Jason Hough - It just seemed to us the license was ready made for it. You have three distinct, interesting sides all thrown into the same universe.
HomeLAN - What sort of locations and settings will be seen in the game?
Novak - The 3 concurrent campaigns all take place on the same planet, which was designated LV-742 by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. LV-742 has vast craggy wastelands with jutting rock cliffs and nasty, deeply cut chasms like you see in the first couple of Alien movies. There's also a belt of lush jungle like in the first Predator movie. We also have desert mining towns, remote posts, dark weird caves, and various types of Marine base installations, underground laboratories and a few new locations unique to our game that you'll discover as you play.
HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the Colonial Marine Units in the game?
Peter Green - We've got everything fans have come to expect from the franchise, including Synthetics, Pulse Rifle Infantry, CommTechs (like Hudson in Aliens), Flamethrower Marines, Smartgunners, SADAR Troopers, Sentry Guns and Exosuits (plus a few more). When they aren't upgraded, they're pretty much straight to the license, as fans would expect. But when the player upgrades his units, that's when we take off into new territory. Much of what we've tried to do there is to map real-world combat systems that are currently in development onto the AvP universe, in order to update it somewhat. Military technology has changed in some interesting ways since Cameron's original vision made its debut back in 1986. As far as characterizing the Marines as a whole goes - they are all about projecting withering firepower at range.
HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the Predator units in the game?
Peter Green - The Predators are the only side with a balanced choice of both melee and ranged units. As fans might expect, many of the Predators are quite good at hunting other species and have a range of special abilities that support activities like sniping or close-range assassination. Unlike other AvP games, where a single Predator brings a broad assortment of weapons to the battlefield, we've created an array of Predators that have specialized abilities with a single weapon. We pretty much had to do that, given the game's RTS roots, but the good news is that it has really enabled us to imbue the individual Predators with strong, distinctive personalities. It has also enabled us to take the Predator weapons the fans know and love to the next level with the Predator upgrades. At this point, it's also probably worth mentioning that AvP:E marks the debut of the Predator military. These are not guys you mess with lightly - a single Military Predator can take down an entire Marine platoon in very short order if the circumstances are right.
HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the Alien units in the game?
Peter Green - Well, we've had some fun there. The core issue is this - if we stuck with the standard Aliens - the Egg, the Facehugger, the Warrior and the Queen, we'd have a species that was ultimately true to the license and utterly boring to play. Even if we stayed straight on the Aliens that have been added to the franchise over time, like the Praetorian, the PredAlien, the Runner and the Drone, we'd still have a side that was all just typical melee units. You just can't compete with the latest generation of RTS games like that. So, while we have all those units, they're back with some new abilities. Let's take the Runner as an example - as fans are well aware, it's basically the fast-moving 'dog' Alien from the third movie. Well, in AvP:E, it's got a range of additional abilities: 1) it can leap at enemies so hard it knocks them back, 2) it has a hypercharged metabolism that enables it to regenerate faster than probably any other unit in RTS history, 3) its skeleton shatters into a hail of biological shrapnel if the creature is overheated (for which there is some measure of precedent in Alien 3), and 4) it emits spores. I'll leave that last one hanging, except to say that in AvP:E, we finally explain how Aliens have such an uncanny ability to track prey they can't even see. J And then there's the Runner's upgrade, which basically turns the unit into a rabid, high-speed pit viper… The global point is that there are quite a few new features of the Aliens' “combat ecosystem” for the players to explore, and all of them are about making the species more vicious, more parasitic and more hard core then ever before.
HomeLAN - What sort of weapons and upgrades will be featured in Extinction?
Peter Green - Well, as you might guess from one of the earlier answers, the Marines have pretty much every weapon a fan would expect from the AvP franchise, plus some new ones. Let me illustrate the point I made earlier about updating the Marine weapons systems with modern weapons technology. The upgrade for the USCM Sentry Gun is called the “Huntbuster Revision”. Say you're the Marines and you keep losing men to these vicious sniping attacks from creatures you can't even see. What do you do? You bolt a counterballistics scanner and a sniper rifle on the standard issue Sentry Gun, so that the thing can calculate the trajectories of incoming Predator fire, automatically derive the point of origin, and then deliver some payback. Maybe back in 1986 this was sci-fi, but it's something the AH-64 Apache gunship does today. Given the technology involved, it doesn't seem that far fetched to see this kind of ability migrating to infantry-scale combat in the (near) future.
As for the Predators, they have the wristblade, spear (combistick), spear gun, disc and plasma caster everyone has seen before, but back badder then ever before. For instance, the upgraded disc has a “Nanovibronic Edge” that is essentially a molecular-scale chainsaw used to tear through hardened armors. The upgraded disc-wielding Predator can embed multiple nanovibronic discs in his enemies and then send them into “haywire mode”; needless to say, there are few entities in the universe that fare well with multiple hyperactive ripping machines embedded in their internals.
And then there are the Aliens. One thing we've tried to do is make their acid into something really scary, since it's such a core element of the franchise. In AvP:E Alien acid is just hell on enemy units - it inflicts damage over time, it reduces the effectiveness of armor, and causes hideous scarring on organic creatures that is very difficult to heal. Some of the Aliens also have armor-penetrating claws - like the Ravager, which is an all-new unit that some of the fans may have noticed in the first batch of screen shots we released. The Ravager is the Aliens' biological response to the heavy armor deployed by some of the advanced species they parasitize. Now, on one hand, this unit is a fairly standard “Alienized” version of the archetypical “dreadnaught alien” with huge cleaving blades. But let me tell you, it resonates with people, particularly since this unit towers over everything else on the battlefield and has a habit of rapidly decapitating pretty much anything it comes in contact with. Never mind its upgrade! The upgrade gives the thing armor so thick that even medium caliber projectiles just bounce off, and then, if you DO manage to bring it down, you'd better keep at it. It has the ability to rapidly repair itself - even in death - if it is not utterly destroyed. All of which contribute to this unit being a lot of fun to use. I mean, what fine, upstanding, been-there-since-the-beginning AvP fan wouldn't want to control the ultimate _expression of Alien ferocity?!
HomeLAN - How do players control the various units in the game?
Jason Hough - Our interface was designed from the beginning to be console friendly. The chief concern was eliminating the mouse cursor style of interface that most other console RTS games have used (because they were ported over from the PC). This is because it's just too hard to try and hold an analog stick at a specific position while you try and issue commands. So what we've done is created a cursor that always stays centered in the middle of the screen. Instead of moving the cursor around, you move the camera around. When you want to select a unit, you simply move the camera until that unit is centered on the screen press the select button. Since it's centered, the analog stick can be released without fear of moving the cursor away from the unit you wanted. If you want to select multiple units, you just hold down the select button and a “selection circle” will grow out from the center of the screen. Let go of the select button when the units you want are inside the circle. There are also additional selection methods for more precise needs.
Issuing orders is done the same way. More advanced commands are cleverly mapped onto the buttons when the left or right triggers are held down.
All in all this system has worked out great. We've yet to have anyone struggle with learning the controls, even seasoned PC strategy fans.
HomeLAN - What other gameplay elements will Extinction have?
Jason Hough - Apart from the tactical aspects of controlling your units, there are a variety of goals, subgoals, and general tasks the player must accomplish to advance through the game. In one Predator mission, for example, you must use stealth to sneak deep into a Marine compound and assassinate a high-ranking officer. Tripping too many alarms results in failure so the player must rely on cunning and timing rather than brute force.
Novak - Or the Marine mission where you must kill the Alien Queen to stimulate the gestation of a Royal Cocoon, as retrieving this Cocoon is the mission's ultimate objective.
HomeLAN - What differences, if any, will there be between the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game?
Jason Hough - Actually the two versions are virtually identical.
HomeLAN - Finally, what is the status of the game's progress and when will it be released?
Arkin - We are nearing the final stages of development and will be wrapped up in time for a fall release.
fonte: homelanfed.com
