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Last year when we saw Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, it needed work. The concept was there, but it was going to take time to iron out the kinks. And although the ironing process hasn't stopped -- and won't until the multi-platform simultaneous release this summer -- Unleashed already looks to be poised to be one of the better Star Wars games of recent memory.
To reach this potential, the developer has a few complex technical systems under the hood. Havok is the physics tech, which translates rules for objects on-screen, essentially telling a box to act like a box when it's thrown against a wall. Euphoria is the artificial intelligence tech, which lets the enemies in the game have a behavioral matrix which, hopefully, dictates a desire to stay alive and on their feet by ducking or grabbing ledges. And then there is Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) which makes things like plants, glass and wood behave and react like their real life counterparts. Theoretically, with all three systems "talking" to each other, the developer can concentrate on other aspects such as combat, story elements...and merchandising.
We already knew that principle characters from the Star Wars films will be involved in Unleashed's story -- Vader, Leia, Shak Ti and even Bail Organa -- and that the game will take place between Episode III and Episode IV. As it turns out, the developer is following George Lucas' rules of story telling: love interest, a mentor, redemption, a robot side-kick, etc., so you can expect all of those staples to make an appearance. Your character will also undergo trials and tribulations as Vader's secret apprentice, leading you to become instrumental in certain events which occur in the classic films. We don't know much, other than the fact that your character is involved somehow with the rebellion, but you can probably surmise the rest from there.
The action approach to the game is a step away from the combat in the Jedi Knight games, which some (including yours truly) were making obvious comparisons to when the first details began to arrive. Now after seeing Unleashed in action and nearing completion, there look to be more similarities with recent third-person action button-masher franchises. But third-person action is no stranger to the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars: Battlefront took its cues from the Battlefield series, and that turned out to be one hell of a game. For Unleashed, it looks like the cues are coming from God of War.
The game has quicktime events a-plenty during a rancor battle on the planet Felucia. With the correct combination of buttons, a cinematic shows the hero tossing his lightsaber into the eye socket of a rancor, bringing it to the ground (think Cyclops battles from GOW). You can upgrade abilities (think Athena's blades in GOW), which we didn't get a chance to see in action, by collecting force points when you destroy opponents. At the end of each level you can invest these points into a variety of traits: force powers, combos, talents, increased damage, and extra health, to name a few.
And these upgrades will help a lot, considering force powers will be the meat of the gameplay. Of the many powers available to your character, there are two abilities we've seen the most of: force push and lightning. Push -- as you can see in some of the gameplay videos -- uses the force to literally push a variety of objects, hurling crates (or sometimes stormtroopers) towards enemies. Lightning seems to be the more devastating of the two, especially during the rancor battle -- you can pick up a Felucian native, shock him so full of lightning that he turns into a bomb, and then hurl him at the huge beast.
Other levels, like a TIE fighter construction facility or Raxis Prime (a planetary junkyard), each have their own take on the physics engine's rules. On Felucia, a force push causes the mushroom-like trees to wave back and forth or you can cut them all down. The TIE fighter construction facility allows you to grab TIE fighters out of the air and toss them at enemies, and Raxis Prime has broken engines lying around which you can pick up, use force lightning to reignite, and use as a propellant weapon. But until we get the controller in our hands to find out just how much interactivity there really is in each level, whether these objects are Unleashed's version of Half-Life 2's plethora of explosive barrels, with nothing physics-related happening unless triggered with these specific items, remains to be seen.
It's also hard to gauge the difficulty of the game or the intelligence of the A.I. at this point. Sure, enemies have behavioral patterns in the coding, but in gameplay demonstrations, they don't look to serve as much more than fodder for your character -- which, granted, we've only seen in god mode -- as he travels towards the next quicktime event or level boss. We have yet to see a complete level from point A to B, so how linearly the levels progress is not currently apparent. And with no mention of multiplayer components from the developer, Unleashed still has plenty of curiosities to put to rest before its release.
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GameInformer
EA Games today unveiled Battlefield Heroes, an all-new free-to-play cartoon-style shooter that will bring Battlefield-style gameplay to an all new mass audience. Available for download at battlefield-heroes.com this summer, Battlefield Heroes is EA's first title that is offered for free, and features a built-in matchmaking system for fair play. Developed by DICE in Stockholm, Battlefield Heroes is EA's new web-focused free to download, free to play business model which generates revenue through
advertising and micro-transactions.
"Online gaming garners a massive audience," said Gerhard Florin, EVP Publishing Americas-Europe at EA. "People want to play games in new ways, with easier access that is quick to the fun. With Battlefield Heroes, EA brings its first major franchise to North America and Europe with a new distribution model and pricing structure adapted to the evolving way that people play."
Battlefield Heroes is a brand new game from the team behind Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2. It has a very cartoon-style of graphics similar to Evil Genius and Team Fortress II and gameplay will attempt to cater to all skill levels. Although a free game is never a bad thing, we can’t help but wonder why DICE is not “working” on Battlefield 3 (they have two other titles in development). There was a rumor this summer with some leaked specs (80 players online!) as well as possible announcement in January 08. It’s hard to believe this is that announcement, but completely possible. Don’t hold out on us EA!
Battlefield Heroes will be released for the PC as a free download in summer 2008.
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