With one month and counting to the release of Halo 2, Xbox owners have gotten themselves in a tizzy about the pre-Thanksgiving release. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Ghost Recon 2, among others, are also on their way, so amid the hubbub of November release dates, Xbox owners seem to have forgotten about one of the most impressive games at E3 2004: MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf.
Scheduled to release in December, MechAssault 2 was one of the most surprising games, both visually and gameplay-wise, in the Xbox booth this year. The graphics showed a level of polish not seen in the original, a fact that was augmented by the new gameplay ability to hop out of your ?Mech and run around the crumbing landscape looking for a new ?Mech to ?jack. The scale, the strategy, the Xbox Live support ? it was all there at E3, and we praised it accordingly.
But since the annual show in May, the MechAssault 2 team has been rather quiet, briefly announcing the game?s support for Xbox Live 3.0 yet remaining mum about the rest of title and its development progress. With that in mind, we ?jacked an interview ?Mech and barreled our way into Fasa Studios HQ. ?It?s time to talk,? we said. And lo and behold, with our 200-ton reporter?s pen waving in their face, they gave in to our demands. And gave us two exclusive screens, to boot.
Below are the spoils of our interrogation of the MechAssault 2 development team. Read, learn and get excited for this game, because Halo 2 and the other November games are just the beginning. MechAssault 2 is going to have a huge hand in the Xbox having what appears to be the best holiday lineup in 2004.
DailyGame: How did the decision to implement ?Mech jacking and the ?small human? perspective evolve? Was it something you considered in the first MechAssault and didn?t have time to do, was it a focus-group development, or was it an idea that just came up late one night?
Many of us working on BattleTech games over the years have wanted to get out of the ?Mech and experience the battle from other perspectives. During the development of MA1 we would frequently play with the camera position to watch the building destruction from street level? then a MadCat would stomp by? and it was so cool! We knew we had to bring gameplay to the character level in the sequel. This opened up the opportunity to change vehicles and bring a bunch of new game dynamics to MechAssault. Since then the tactical choices have just multiplied in the game.
Click on the images below to enlarge them to super-high resolution.
The first MechAssault had an arguably brief single-player mode, and it sounds like you?ve beefed up the single-player campaign for MA2. Given the Xbox Live push, you?d think it ?d be the other way around. Was this ?beefing up? a decision you made out of consideration for non-Live gamers, or is the team just in more of a story-telling phase now?
MA1?s single player mode received solid reviews, but lived in the shadow of the superlatives given to MA1?s ?Live? play. When we made a decision to push the single player experience harder it was to make sure we exceeded our customers expectations for the entertainment value of MA2 as a whole. A sizable number of our customers focus on the single player campaign. Simply put, we want them as rabid about the single player campaign as our ?Live? fans are about the on-line play. And don?t worry about multi-player; MA2 completely embraces all of the new features of Live 3.0
With the number and varying capabilities of vehicles in MechAssault 2, how important will strategy/teamwork be to emerging victorious from Live and split-screen games?
Solid strategy will be key to winning in the multiplayer battles. Teammates will have to choose the best vehicle for their personal likes and skills, and everyone will have to work together to smash the other team. A great example from recent play testing comes to mind ? Our team was a mix of ?Mechs, VTOL, Tanks and BattleArmor (the ultimate hit squad) and we wanted to create a ?harasser? to really annoy our opponents. So, we had a tank go Null Sig, after a VTOL placed him on a unreachable ridge (for everything except the VTOL). Suddenly, we had an invisible sniper, armed with the devastating cannon. The tank just sat up there doing what it does best, knocking ?Mechs off their feet.
Following on that, how balanced will the ?Mechs and vehicles be? If one team took all VTOLs, for example, would they be doomed to failure, or would victory still be feasible, if not very likely?
In multi-player the ?Mechs and vehicles (including VTOLS) are selected on the maps themselves. Not everyone can choose the same ?Mech or vehicle. Many maps only have one VTOL. If you want another VTOL, you better go steal it from the enemy. Shoot down the enemy VTOL and make sure you or a team member are waiting for the re-spawn at the enemy base. When the VTOL re-spawns, grab it. Congratulations! You control the air space and you are a desirable target. The enemy will be seeking you out. I promise.
If a player jacks an enemy?s ?Mech in the single-player game, will the AI realize that its former ?Mech ally is now an enemy, or can players ?play it cool? and sneak around unbeknownst in their 200-ton ride?
Cool idea, but naw? if you jack a ?Mech the enemy will start hunting you. After all, you ejected their pilot to ?jack? their ?Mech and he calls out when you do it.
OK then, in a multiplayer game (Live or otherwise), will a jacked ?Mech suddenly show up on radar as an enemy, or will the opposing team initially think that all is well?
In multiplayer play, a ?jacked ?Mech first just shuts down, waiting for a new pilot. If the new pilot happens to be from the other team, the ?Mech will immediately take on the paint/color scheme of the team that has captured it. So there?s not much room for a stealthy invasion of ?jacked ?Mechs.
Please tell us about the logistics behind teamwork over Xbox Live. Will everyone hear your voice, will there be an option to talk only to teammates, can you get out of your ?Mech and swap with a teammate mid-match? Also, tell us more about the ?clan? functionality
Yes, you can talk to just your team or taunt the enemy. And absolutely you can swap ?Mechs with your teammates anytime during a battle. You can even steal enemy ?Mechs camped at their base. Of course you should kill their protective turrets first. Be careful, being out of the ?Mech or vehicle is a very vulnerable feeling.
Create a Clan, invite your friends and play for glory. It?s all there. Now you?ll have stats to back up your bragging. All of the game info is pushed to the MechAssault web site and displayed in the game. Anyone ranked within three positions of you can call you out in a challenge. All the stuff our players have been clamoring for.
We?ve also just announced a new Conquest mode, which is the first time a semi-persistent universe will be available in an Xbox Live game. In Conquest mode, teams will play as one of the five ?houses? from the BattleTech universe. If a house wins a significant number of multiplayer online battles on a planet, their house takes over the planet. Real-time progress is displayed on the dedicated Web site.
With the new jacking gameplay mechanic, will players in a multiplayer game who are killed respawn and be able to scrounge around looking for ?Mechs to rejoin the game?
[O]ne game type we shipped in MA1 ? was last man standing. All other game types caused a dead player to re-spawn. Unless you are playing in last man standing mode you will always re-spawn.
MechAssault 2 is bound to be mentioned in the same breath as Halo 2. With that said, Bungie claims it can fit all the geometry from the first Halo in just one deep valley using Halo 2?s graphics engine. How much of a graphical jump can MechAssault 2 players expect to see when compared to the first?
Being mentioned with Halo 2 is very flattering? thank you. With MA1, we were a new studio and we had to keep one eye on moving our code to other (inferior) platforms. With the success of MA1 we forged a relationship with Microsoft that allowed us to solely focus on the Xbox and maximize our engines performance on the platform. The results are amazing.
We used some of the newfound performance for dramatically improved lighting, some very interesting weapon effects, more multi-player players per session, improved AI etc?
With the new vehicles in the game, what?s your personal favorite, and why?
Can I say, ?Depends on what my enemy is doing?? I love getting in the BattleArmor and hooking up with a teammate in the VTOL. Riding around under the VTOL all powered up, raining hell down on the enemy? or going in stealth to have my flying buddy drop me for a surprise ?jack.?
But if you pushed me and said, ?ya? gotta pick a ?Mech,? I?d grab the Gauss-toting, jump-capable Belial.
Thanks to the development team at Fasa Studios for not shooting us on the way out in our broken ?Mech.