Shogmaster
Member
I hung out quite a bit at the back of the X360 area where guys from Monolith was demoing Condemned. I got to talk to both the lead designer and the lead programmer (Lead Designer - Frank Rooke, Lead Programmer - Joe Waters. Thanks Oxy)
The game look much better in person than in videos. Even with the alpha kit, the game's doing FXs that would make HL2 blush in 720p and with solid 30fps. However, to have it playable at the show, they turned off FXs features already implimented into the engine (namely soft shadows and high res textures). Also, the game as shown at the show is sans AA due to lack of muscle on the alpha kit.
The gameplay was described as CSI meets first person Resident Evil with healthy portions of melee action. Say wha? No, it's pretty cool. Really. CSI espect comes in with plenty of gadget aided detective work and investigating to drive the plot forward. More than just scanning for blood via black light and find clues was promised to me. He said the invastigation espect was much more complex and integral to gameplay.
The fp RE espect is weapon play with limited ammo to highten tension and suspense. It will not be find shotgun and then mow them down gameplay. You can't carry a huge arsenal up via a magic storage pouch up your ass either. One weapon at a time, plus the stun gun is what you can carry.
And I'm sure the most obvious espect from the available video that everyone got is the melee action with whatever you find in your immediate environment. From rebar, to 2x4s to metal locker door, axes, etc., there's alot of variety to what you can club your enemies with. And there is a definite heiarchy to the effectiveness and durability of the melee weapons. 2x4 is faster than a rebar with chunk of concrete and may pack a better wolop per minute, but is far less durable. Alot of variety is promised. And when ammos dry, you can use your shotgun to whack away as well, but beware that prolonged use will make the weapon useless when you find additional ammo.
AI of the enemy are all code driven and not scripted. If one sees you with a better cludgeon than what he currently has, he might drop it and grab for something better to compensate. If he sees you with a shotgun, he might run for a cover and try to ambush you instead of coming at you straight on.
I got to asking a bit about the state of affair with the dev kits and I found out that they are still waiting for the beta kit, and that limited exposure they had with R500 was a low clocked prototype MS provided to check for unintended glitches in the graphics with the code they have going. He said even though the pressure of working in such tight schedule is not ideal, MS have been quite helpful in providing all the info necessary to make the process painless as possible. They were optimistic about hitting the launch window and the final quality of the game.
Unfortuanately, there will not be any multiplayer espects for the shipping game, such as co-op through LIVE and such. They are concentrating on getting a great single player experience that last solid 12~15 hours.
This could be a nice launch surprise, kids.
The game look much better in person than in videos. Even with the alpha kit, the game's doing FXs that would make HL2 blush in 720p and with solid 30fps. However, to have it playable at the show, they turned off FXs features already implimented into the engine (namely soft shadows and high res textures). Also, the game as shown at the show is sans AA due to lack of muscle on the alpha kit.
The gameplay was described as CSI meets first person Resident Evil with healthy portions of melee action. Say wha? No, it's pretty cool. Really. CSI espect comes in with plenty of gadget aided detective work and investigating to drive the plot forward. More than just scanning for blood via black light and find clues was promised to me. He said the invastigation espect was much more complex and integral to gameplay.
The fp RE espect is weapon play with limited ammo to highten tension and suspense. It will not be find shotgun and then mow them down gameplay. You can't carry a huge arsenal up via a magic storage pouch up your ass either. One weapon at a time, plus the stun gun is what you can carry.
And I'm sure the most obvious espect from the available video that everyone got is the melee action with whatever you find in your immediate environment. From rebar, to 2x4s to metal locker door, axes, etc., there's alot of variety to what you can club your enemies with. And there is a definite heiarchy to the effectiveness and durability of the melee weapons. 2x4 is faster than a rebar with chunk of concrete and may pack a better wolop per minute, but is far less durable. Alot of variety is promised. And when ammos dry, you can use your shotgun to whack away as well, but beware that prolonged use will make the weapon useless when you find additional ammo.
AI of the enemy are all code driven and not scripted. If one sees you with a better cludgeon than what he currently has, he might drop it and grab for something better to compensate. If he sees you with a shotgun, he might run for a cover and try to ambush you instead of coming at you straight on.
I got to asking a bit about the state of affair with the dev kits and I found out that they are still waiting for the beta kit, and that limited exposure they had with R500 was a low clocked prototype MS provided to check for unintended glitches in the graphics with the code they have going. He said even though the pressure of working in such tight schedule is not ideal, MS have been quite helpful in providing all the info necessary to make the process painless as possible. They were optimistic about hitting the launch window and the final quality of the game.
Unfortuanately, there will not be any multiplayer espects for the shipping game, such as co-op through LIVE and such. They are concentrating on getting a great single player experience that last solid 12~15 hours.
This could be a nice launch surprise, kids.
