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CoD: BO First Look, Part IV, "Slaughterhouse"
After reviewing the SP level 'WMD', Treyarch Studio head Mark Lamia picks up the threads of the next level he wants us to see:
Lamia: "Slaughterhouse" takes place within
an historical context in the ancient city of Hue. The battle for Hue
kicked off the Tet Offensive, a major North Vietnamese attack and a big
surprise to South Vietnam and to everyone. They (the NVA) took over the
MAC-V compound, you guys are in the MAC-T compound: Military Assistance
Command - Treyarch (our meeting room, turned bunker).
<laughter>
The North Vietnamese (NVA) took it over (it was over run)
as well as a bunch of installations, for a little while. As a matter of
fact (the U.S.) didn't even call in the big guns because they were
afraid they'd destroy the city, which was for the Vietnamese people, a
city with a lot of cultural importance.
But at some point the casualties got too heavy and the big guns came in.
This is around the time when our story begins. We're on the hunt for a
Soviet general. There's some critical intelligence inside the MAC-V
compound, which is where the CIA had their headquarters there.
And is where the CIA ran operations with the Studies and Operations Group (SOG).
So you're going into this environment, that has been totally overrun, to get this intelligence. We present: Slaughterhouse"
Slaughterhouse
Shrouded in darkness, an SOG force of heavily armed UH-1
Iroquois helicopters pours from the sky into the city of Hue. This is
an urban level and the street fighting promises to be intense.
You are Mason, the level's protagonist and your team
will try to ingress the MAC-V, enemy controlled compound in Hue city
and retrieve secret CIA documents found within.
You attempt to rappel down to the ground, but your chopper "Hotel6" is
hit and explodes. You are flung miraculously through a window into one
of the buildings.
You regain your senses as your buddy Woods, hands you a SPAS12 with incendiary rounds.
This is the "Dragonsbreath" that we have been hearing about. Shoot an enemy with this puppy and they snap backward like they
were hit with a sledgehammer and shockingly, they then catch fire.
As well, AK47's, RPK's, nades, Crossbows, .50cal's all get ample usage.
Sitreps reveal the NVA are all over the place. A UH-1appears outside the building and hoses the enemy.
One of the men can be heard on the radio telling HQ, "This compound is a slaughterhouse".
The group has made it to the entrance of the building's "safe room".
<"American soldier, put down your weapons, this is not your war. We
wish you no harm. The People's Army of Vietnam is here to liberate
you"> can be heard in the background.
Much of what we see has already been reported by gaming magazine OXM.
An interesting event occurs when the protaganist cradles an NVA against
his body and uses it as a shield against incoming fire.
The AI on this level appear to have different characteristics. Some
rush. Some hang back and support.
"Marine, give me that radio....priority one ordnance on my command",
Mason, your character, speaks!
A Huey comes out of nowhere, down on the deck and just rips into the building you are designating.
<fade to black>
Nine minutes of this level later, Mark makes a reappearance:
Lamia: "That's playing at 720p right there, 60fps. But we can upscale
that on the PC. Basically, after World at War, we kept working on the engine. Obviously
we did a lot with fire and water and came up with 'Jungle Tech 2.0'.
Character development
One of the things we wanted to do in this game is have strong character
development. The game will take place over a long period of time. So you'll get to know these
characters over time...they will change over time...let's say decades, we won't reveal the exact amount
time.
Rich Story
We wanted to tell a rich story. We've gone pretty story heavy on our
Teaser Trailer. And the Reveal Trailer, we started talking about some themes. There's a rich storyline
that we'll be revealing. For the first time, there'll be a player voice in the game. If you were part
of SOG, you took command over a battle scene. These guys were leaders. When SOG steps on the
scene, they take over the battle.
They could commandeer a general's jeep. Unquestioned. When they were
around, they had priority. We felt if we're trying to tell a deep story, it was important for you
to be able to respond. It's something new and a challenge we wanted to take on.
In CoD Zombies, we tried player voice and we have some experience with
that. But we've never done it in the campaign.
Call of Duty Black Ops is meant to be an intimate story."
Mark now takes questions from audience members:
1Q. Are levels all real gameplay?
1A. Yes. Bugs and all. The game is still being worked. (A few audio cues
were missing from the Dragon's Breath animation and Mark alluded to those bugs).
2Q. How long will SP be?
2A. I can't tell you yet because there is no target. We just try to make
the best experience. And we're not done yet.
3Q. Will players take over any other vehicles, aside from what we
witnessed?
3A. We're going for awesome combat encounters and expect to see all
sorts of things. We're going to keep things fresh.
4Q. For 4-person co-op, will it be campaign co-op like CoD:WW?
4A. It is not campaign co-op. It is co-op mode made for you blasting
with your friends on the couch.
5Q. What is the primary locale for the game?
5A. It'll be in a variety of places. SE Asia in particular, especially
near Vietnam, taking place in the jungle and urban environments. We're going for fresh and variety.
6Q. Did you guys mo-cap (motion capture) snow animation?
6A. Like when they step on the snow pack and they went down? That
particular one, my guess is some mo-cap, but it was hand touched as well. But one thing we do a lot of is
performance capture, which I'll explain later when we go around to individual desks.
7Q. On the crossbow. Was that intended (blurred) distortion around the cross-hairs?
7A. Yes, the designers wanted to give you a fish-eye look around the
crossbow.
8Q. Will there be different AI scripts?
8A. Yes. We have rushers and even within that class there are guys that
will be tracking you. Lots of new scripts going in. Our animation team is working on new AI types. And
our Spetsnaz soldiers work differently than the VC.
9Q. Is the XBox, PS3 and PC version developed concurrently?
9A. We are demonstrating the game today on the 360. But...what we do is
create all our assets (except for the Wii) and this is gross oversimplification, if you want to build
it on the PC, the PS3, 360, then the assets are ported over and then teams that maintain those
engines and interfaces and we do modifications. But as far as PC...we have PCDev to talk about it....
...additional articles will follow
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