True Crime: SOLA custom soundtracks
Interview
Please introduce yourself and Luxoflux to us.
My name is Peter Morawiec and I'm the Lead Designer on TC, as well as one of the founders of Luxoflux. The company was started in 1997 by Adrian Stephens (Lead Technologist) and myself. Our first few titles were the Vigilante 8 series and Star Wars: Demolition. For the past 3 years, we have been developing our PS2 engine and working on TC. The TC team has grown to about 20 people - still quite small for this sort of undertaking.
Give us a summary of who the main character is and what gets
the game going when gamers load it up in their Xbox.
Nick Kang is an ex-LAPD cop, who gets recruited by his old Chief into a new unit (the EOD), formed to deal with some the toughest crimes in L.A. The game begins at a local firing range, with the Chief pressuring Nick to take the job. Luckily for all of us, he does!
Can you give us some examples of how alive the world of Streets of L.A. is and how gamers will be able to interact?
Most of player's free-roaming interactions within the city involve civilians and perps - Nick can frisk any civilian for contraband (guns) and can commandeer civilian vehicles at will. The coolest interactions involve street crimes -- as in any large city, crimes occur all the time in LA, and the player is free to pursue them during any driving mission. There are dozens of different crimes -- anything from pickpockets and domestic disturbances to armed heists, weapon smuggling…
What type of weapons will gamers be enforcing the law with?
Nick begins his quest carrying two .38 revolvers, as appropriate for an officer of the law. He is able to fire both weapons simultaneously, at different targets. Throughout the game, the player can gain several upgrades e.g. aim-assist, fast reload, scope, laser sight, as well as move up to .41s, .45s, and ultimately .5s! In addition, Nick is able to collect and use any weapon found within the game, including several variants SMGs, machine guns, shotguns, even a grenade launcher.
What type of vehicles will Nick Kang find himself cruising in?
Nick starts off with his old Caddy-inspired retro convertible. By completing all episodes at 100%, Nick is allowed to participate undercover in illegal street races, where he can win much sportier rides - three additional cars with increasingly improved specs can be unlocked, all derived from real-world cars. Of course, Nick is also free to grab any wheels he sets his sights on.
How much of the game will take place behind the wheel?
This is very much up to the player. Players enjoying roaming freely within the city could end up spending majority of play time driving. For those set on completing the game, driving will represent about 40-50% of gameplay.
Hand to hand combat is playing a big part in True Crime. Can you talk about why a big emphasis is being placed on melee attacks and what type of work went into creating those moves?
We've always wanted a reasonably deep and dynamic fight model for TC. Nick is an 'action hero', so it was important to equip him with a large number of visually cool, yet realistic kick-ass moves. Having compared our early hand-animations with motion captured moves, we've decided to go with the latter for its ability to perfectly retain the subtleties of real human movement. Even though the data required significant amount of editing, the technology allowed us to bring in Hollywood stunt and martial arts talent and ultimately yielded great results.
How many different combat moves will appear in True Crime? Can you describe a few?
Nick starts off with six basic moves (two punches, two kicks, two jump-kicks), three grapples, three finishing combos, and a block. On top of that, the player can unlock a dozen more attacks e.g. running attacks and ground attacks, and new finishing moves bearing such names as Tiger Sweep, Tiger Claw, Flying Dragon etc. By taking part in combat trials against masters of various styles, Nick can also earn special grapples e.g. the Arm Buster, Whirlwind Throw, or the Dirty Boxer - as for what they are, I'll let the names speak for themselves
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