GVK: Blending action with a detailed plot can always be tricky, how have you attempted to create this element, and will scripted events be a part of the game?
RY: Yes, there are scripted events, but there are no conventional cutscenes as such. The entire game is in first person, including all the narrative stuff. We want players to feel trapped in the situation, locked inside the head of Shane Carpenter. Some pretty horrible stuff takes place in the story, and we want players to feel complicit in it all, and maybe even feel a little guilty about it all.
GVK: The scope of the game sounds amazing, what are some of the biggest obstacles you see in creating the game, and what are your biggest goals for the game?
RY: The biggest challenge is balancing two totally different sides, particularly in multiplayer. If we can nail that one – and we will! – the replay value will be pretty much infinite.
GVK: Can you describe how the Drug use works in the game and what special features players will have as a result?
RY: As a Mantel trooper, taking Nectar give you a whole bunch of useful abilities:
Nectar Perception: This allows you to see the bad guys who’re hiding in the dark or in camouflage.
Nectar Focus: A sniping aid. It tweaks your aim for the perfect head shot from a mile out.
Nectar Foresight: This allows you to see danger before it happens – if a grenade is going to go off by your feet, or if someone is going to melee you from behind, for instance, you’ll see a ‘ripple’ effect from the source of danger, giving you enough time to get out of the way.
The Melee Blast: When you’re on Nectar, punching a rebel will send them flying like they’ve just been hit by a race car full of anvils.
Nectar also makes you able to take more damage, and dish more damage out. But, like I said, the twist is that if you take too much you’ll Overdose and kill your friends – even in multiplayer and the four-player co-op modes.
As a Promise Hand rebel, your best weapon against Mantel is finding ways to force them to Overdose on Nectar. Here’s how:
Get a clean hit on the Nectar pack on the back of a Mantel trooper.
Make a ‘Nectar grenade’ by ripping off a nectar pack and taping it to a grenade. When it goes off it’ll make a huge cloud of Nectar gas that’ll drive any Mantel troopers in it crazy.
Smear Nectar on the blade of a knife – so, if you slash someone or throw it at them, it’ll make them Overdose.
As a rebel, you also get a bunch of new abilities:
Play Dead – Apart from giving Mantel troopers extra skills, Nectar also censors their perception of reality, so they can’t see death or blood. So, by pretending to be dead, a rebel’s body will fade out just like a corpse in a videogame. It’s a great way to get out of trouble.
Disarm – if a rebel can get up close to a mantel guy, he can whack him in the face, pull the gun right out of his hands and turn it back on him. It’s the perfect way to even the odds.
Dive / Dodge – Without the heavy mantel armour to protect them, rebels need to be more nimble to survive. They’ll dive, roll, anything they can do to avoid being hit.
Scavenge – Rebels can recalibrate the ammunition from one gun to fit another. So, instead of throwing away an empty minigun, for example, you can refit the bullets from a pistol or rifle to keep using the better weapon.
Traps – rebels can rig grenades, both Nectar ones and regular ones, and hide them under the dirt like mines. Anyone foolish enough to step there is going to lose their feet, or get a face-full of Nectar gas.
And finally! I can’t stress this enough – all those skills and Nectar effects exist not only in the single player and four player co-op, they also exist in the Versus maps in multiplayer. So, the multiplayer isn’t about choosing red or blue, it about choosing a faction that suits your playing style. If you’re sneaky and like to mess with people’s heads, be a rebel, but if you like to ball in there and shoot the place up like a loon, be a Mantel trooper.
