Q. Could you give us some details about the characters, abilites and gear in the game? (classes, maps, weapon set, etc)
We are really pleased with the asymetric class-based design in the game. The two factions have a very different playstyle and this extends replay substantially. I'll give some specific examples:
There are two factions, the noble BDI, and the evil Scorched. Each faction has 5 classes: Heavy, Assault, Support, Flyer and Runner. In addition to class attributes like hitpoints, speed, size, and elemental vulnerability, each character has two special abilties that help it serve it's role.
Where it gets interesting is the class abilites are different by faction. So while the Heavy BDI class "Robo" has the abilites of a single-target disarm, and a Mass Disarm, the Scorched counterpart "Magmor" has Rockshield which is a Resist-all damage by 90%, and a Colossus mode where you supersize and then crush all opponents. So taking advantage of the Heavy class will require a different playstyle depending on your faction.
Another example would be the Runner class: The BDI side "Eidolon" has Flashbang and Cloak, while the Scorched side "Pett" has Burrow (sort of a temporary immunity) and Dizzy Spores, an area-denial toxic-gas burst which affects enemy movement.
Weapons follow the same model, so for example the range-superiority weapon on the Scorched side is the Riffer while the BDI side has the Beamer:
* The Riffer's elemental firing modes are cold and heat. Cold mode fires a 3-round volley which also slows the enemy, this weapon is great in a support role because you can make the enemy an easy target for your allies. Its Heat mode is a close range, high-caliber incindiary pistol which can be fired as fast as you tap the trigger.
* The Beamer's elemental firing modes are energy and impact. The energy mode is a railgun style ionizing beam that persists in the environment a few moments and does afterburn damage - it is a great lone-wolf style weapon. Its Impact mode is a supression-style weapon which fires a volley of Mini Missles but has a huge kickback.
Exploring the faction differences and finding good combinations is a ton of fun and I think will give players interesting gameplay for a long time.
Q. Talk to us about the multiplayer features of the game
It's easiest to break down multiplayer into Coop, Avatar and PVP modes.
* Coop has been covered above. It's worth mentioning that the game difficulty scales based on the number of players connected - so you will encounter the toughest enemies by choosing to play 4 player coop on Hard. To me this mode feels a lot like an arcade version of Resistance 2 Coop mode (from the Playstation 3), and it is just inherently fun playing with allies and chewing through tons of enemies and making progress, so I think players will replay this mode a lot.
* Avatar modes let you play in a free-for-all as your XBox Live Avatar head. What we are finding playing this mode is that players really take advantage of the personalization options for XBox Live Avatars, and you see some really funny or surprising heads in the game. One of our testers has configured himself to look like a geisha princess Leia head with red warpaint. Another guy has made his head look like a big white skull with spikes on his scalp. It's really fun to see players express themselves creatively by putting head parts together that you would never expect. In terms of gameplay details, we wanted to embellish the mode with some design to keep it from being too vanilla. What we added was that players have the ability to do jetpack jumping, and as you earn kills in this mode your head will grow up to 300% larger - so you make more of an impression on others and become a bigger target. It's a great mode to blow off steam and laugh at other player's Avatars.
PVP modes - theres quite a few to go through. We support 16 player matches and have 21 hand-crafted maps. The modes are Skirmish, Team Skirmish, Capture the Flag, and the game's namesake: Invasion game mode.
* Skirmish mode is a score-based free for all. To keep the mode original, we have multipliers dropping off enemies you take out - collecting them boosts your scoring ability as long as you survive, so there is a real incentive to prolong your lifetime and collect those. Protip: Close range weapons are really good for this mode. Players can mix and match gear from either faction in this mode as well.
* Team Skirmish mode was a favorite of the prequel (Babo Violent 2) and we really see the class synergies working well in this mode. Multiplier collection is also in effect but the multipliers dropped by a player can only be collected by the enemy team. There is also a MVB "Most Valuable Ball" on each team whom drops additional multipliers when taken out.
* Capture the Flag is that familiar set of game rules that's just easy to play over and over. Area-denial special abilities like the Jenkins' Nuke and Aceu's acid barf play off brilliantly against breach classes like Magmor and the Flyer's ability to bypass walls. This mode is about flag captures, so there's no multipliers to collect.
* Invasion mode is an original design we are really proud of. It's a really interesting combination of Domination and Defend & Destroy gameplay on a map that is never the same way twice. Players on each team build a map by placing tiles much like in the excellent XBLA game Carcassone. Then each side votes for the location of their base and control points. The system then builds the map in real-time and players start battling on their new map. I don't think I have seen any other game do this so I think it's really innovative. If you steal the other team's control points, it exposes their Base to damage by taking down it's shields. Players can also reinforce control points with rocket towers or healing stations which makes them much harder to convert. As far as map layout strategies, it's been interesting. Some players prefer to bury the control points at the back of their territory which puts the base on the front lines for an early team rush. I think we will see some emergent strategies evolve in map building and base placement as the community grows.
Another multiplayer feature that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is the Prestige Ranks. As you unlock characters and gear you earn ranks. These ranks are displayed next to player names in the Lobby for the game and in the Summary and Ingame scoresheets. At certain points you can trade in your current prestige rank and all your unlocks to earn prestige at a new tier. There are five ranks per tier and these go through bronze, silver and gold levels. So if you see a Gold rank player at the top of the scoresheet, you will know he has played through the game a ton.
