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XboxGamers
04-14-2002, 04:51 PM
Sounds sweet!!



PUBLISHER Electronic Arts
DEVELOPER Warthog
GENRE FPS/ Space Action
RELEASE DATE Autumn 2002.
PREVIEW ADDED ON Apr 13, 02
PREVIEWER Ure "Vader" Paul


These days the world of FPS games seems to be evolving at great speed and more and more games have been elevating the genre through a lot of innovative aspects of gameplay. Coming from the creative team at Warthog, Crave Entertainment, and EA, Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter definitely has the potential to become such a game, as it blends space action with the essentials of a classic FPS. Basically, the game has everything, from a cool and exciting plot for players to involve themselves in, to loads of features that are going to enhance gameplay. The game's powered by the so-called Tusk engine and… well, I think you'll learn enough in the following interview.

Mike Arkin, the Executive Producer at Crave Entertainment, shared a whole bunch of info on their approaching PC/Xbox action game. Have fun!

Action Trip: To begin with tell us more about Mace Griffin and the story surrounding his character.

Mike Arkin: He is an elite law enforcement officer, called a Ranger, who has been framed for the deaths of his colleagues. He gets thrown in jail and on his release sets out to find the people who framed him and hand out some payback. The plot he gets drawn into is a bit more than he expected!

AT: Give us a more in-depth look into the available races and their involvement in the story.

MA: Human Settlers - Nearly all humans who come to the Vagner System do so with the same goal: make a new start, forge a new life, and find wealth. Most have little fortune but their skills and grit, and find a place mining or farming for one of the large corporations. Dress in the Vagner System is mostly plain and functional - there is little room for luxury in their lives. With their technical know-how and willingness to tackle the toughest challenge, human settlers tend to work in the engineering side of the colonization effort.

Jaldari Settlers - Significant numbers of Jaldari have made their way to Vagner from their home planet of Datrakan, in the Hasali system. Physically they are much stronger and hardier than either humans or Valleakans, and accordingly they are usually employed as manual laborers. Despite their natural size and strength the Jaldari are not naturally aggressive or warlike, although when roused they are fearsome. On their own world, the Jaldari live in sparse rural settlements, and even in the mines and grubby spaceports they walk with the quiet dignity of a proud, independent people. Their culture is a spiritual and mostly peaceful one; in the Vagner system they have grown fond of human beer and classical music.

Valleakan Settlers - Travellers in the Vagner system may frequently see a Valleakan handling scientific or financial affairs. This small, agile species originates on the planet Y'trage in the Dela system, where they dwell in small communities in the wetlands. Among spacefarers there is admiration for Valleakan technology and intelligence, but little respect for their ethics - trickery and shrewd trading are valued among the Valleakans in ways that other species (particularly the Jaldari) find difficult to understand. Despite their size, no one should underestimate Valleakean ferocity - these are natural carnivores, and are capable of aggression in both word and deed. In the chaotic, every-humanoid-for-itself Frontier, the Valleakans are thriving.

Arachnid - No one ever properly named these loathsome spider-like pests, and no one knows their exact place of origin. It must lie somewhere in the Vagner system, because shortly after mining began, settlers began discovering them in every ship that traveled in-system, like rats on old sailing ships. Even full depressurization won't always clean a ship out. Their sole virtue is that they feed on ****roaches.

Korattan Leviathan - Far below the icy surface of Korath, there are pockets of water; subterranean lakes kept liquid by dissolved salts. Most of Korath's biomass lives in these dark spaces. The Korattan leviathan is the most enigmatic of these, a huge life form that now feeds mostly on Korattan snapper, scooping them up as it swims. Despite their 20-meter size they are rarely aggressive, but a few hunters and prospectors have been attacked after coming too close to one. Some xeno-biologists have argued that given the leviathan's brain mass, it may well be sentient, but there is no direct evidence to support this.

Korattan Snapper - Snappers dart through Korath's underground lakes and rivers in schools of 20, and will devour anything foolish enough to cross their path, short of a healthy leviathan. These small, carnivorous fish were introduced on Korath to add mass to its biosphere, but Tallan eco-engineers only succeeded in making a generally nasty eco-system nastier. The main beneficiaries were the ice-beasts, who prey on them by scooping them out of the water with a paw.

Sandgill - Sandgills spend most of their lives beneath the surface of New Colorado. Like oversized, fanged worms they wriggle blindly through the shifting sands, sucking up trace amounts of moisture. They track their prey by sensing the vibration from its movements, and emerge to strike with extreme swiftness. Sandgills are extremely dangerous, and have been known to decapitate a miner with a single bite. They were once a rare species, the top end of New Colorado's sparse food chain, but when humans arrived on New Colorado their tiny population bloomed with the influx of moisture and biomass. Some biologists theorize that the incessant underground vibrations from mining operations have driven them into hyperactivity.

Ice Beast - On Korath, the Ice Beast fills roughly the same ecological niche that a polar bear does on earth. These nine-foot-tall shaggy bipeds hibernate throughout most of the day, emerging from their caves to feast on Korattan snappers or any other small prey they can find. On the hunt an ice beast is virtually invisible, and they have been known to pull an ice miner from his post without leaving a trace, beyond a flicker of white motion on a security camera. Their pelts are much prized, but only the bravest will hunt them on the ground.

Gado - Since ancient times, the Jaldari have bred and eaten Gado on their homeworld in the Hasali system, and generations of domestication have made them the perfect cattle. Each of these beasts weighs seven tons, and nearly all of their body mass can be eaten or utilized in some other way, as their skeletal material is extraordinarily strong. Most of their energy and intellect goes toward eating enough grass to sustain their enormous metabolisms. They are now cultivated on dozens of planets and planetoids. Gado ranching requires fast reflexes and strong nerves - even on a good day, their sheer size and clumsiness makes them dangerous, and a panicked gado could easily lay waste a city block.

Spearleg - Three-legged beings are relatively rare in explored space, but the spearlegs have proved highly successful in their native biosphere. Moving very quickly on three legs, they are capable of outrunning most prey on the wide-open plains. Their staple diet is a small rodent-like creature that moves among the grasses and burrows in the soft ground, but even a lone spearleg will not scruple to prey on humans, which is one of the reasons gado ranchers go armed.

AT: Can you perhaps give us an example of some of the mission scenarios and how they will be carried out?

MA: Here are some examples: Save a mining settlement from having it's atmosphere destroyed, Reset a mind control computer to pacify hundreds of itinerant religious followers, Protect a Crimelord on a Nebula cruise liner, Sabotage a corporate headquarters, Stop rustlers from stealing 25m tall alien cattle. The player must use various combat techniques from brute force to stealth, exploration, investigation, and deduction. They will interact with a wide range of hostile and friendly NPCs, and also have to navigate physical puzzles and routes.

AT: In such a game that provides players with so many different features (space-flight and first-person combat on the ground), it is obvious there will be quite a lot weapons included. Name some of them and the way they function.

MA: An example of a space weapon is the Sniper Laser. This can be used from a distance to knock out targets up to a mile away. An interesting ground weapon is the sonic cannon. It can cause tightly focused fatal damage or be used as a 'battering ram' to knock people over.

AT: Your recent announcement states the player will be able to upgrade his space craft. Is it possible to buy new ones? And, how does the whole weapon and vehicle purchase system work?

MA: You cannot 'buy' new craft, but the missions require you to steal different ones. There are 7 examples of these, from exotic alien fighters to huge carriers. The main player ship will be upgraded automatically with weapons and things like faster engines as the player completes more missions. The upgrades are part payment for the work he does.

Get page 2 here: http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/macegriffinbountyhunter_i_2.phtml

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Laxeph
04-14-2002, 08:44 PM
Sounds pretty sweet, I'll check it out.

khaos2005
04-14-2002, 08:46 PM
Darn! You beat me to it. I was just going to post about that, since I hadn't heard of anyone talking about it. Seemed new to me, guess it is. Good work though.