Moo
31-01-2005, 11:02 AM
http://games.tiscali.cz/clanek/screen.asp?id=8141
for pics.
If a portal to Hell ever opened up in your backyard and bad things started popping out, you'd probably relocate post-haste without much thought of coming back. However, that's not the thinking behind the DOOM 3 expansion pack, entitled Resurrection of Evil. Being created by Nerve Software along with DOOM 3 developer id Software, this pack is betting that gamers aren't just eager to return to Mars for a second go-round with Hell's minions, but are looking for a return trip to Hell itself. We got the lowdown on the expansion, due later this year, from id Software designer Matt Hooper.
The expansion picks up about two years after the end of DOOM 3. The UAC has covered up everything that happened on Mars (blaming it on a reactor malfunction), cancelled all operations and cleared out. However, their satellites are still orbiting the planet, and when a strange beacon signal is picked up, the decision is made to put together a team and send them down to investigate. And that's where the fun begins.
While your character remains nameless, you're no longer the same space marine who survived DOOM 3. This time, you play a combat engineer working under the command of Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, who worked alongside the nasty Dr. Betruger on Mars but was sent home as she began to suspect Betruger might be up to no good. "In the original DOOM 3 storyline, you can find bits and pieces of McNeil throughout," Hooper explains. "She's actually the whistleblower -- she saw all the things Betruger was trying to do and called Swann and Campbell to come down. In the original DOOM 3, you'll see emails from her to Swann, and if you run across her office, there are little bits and pieces in there."
When you land on Mars, your team makes its way down to Site 1, the excavation site for the ancient civilization that you find towards the end of DOOM 3. When you do, you discover the beacon is coming from a strange artifact, but when you pick it up, it flashes and it soon becomes clear to the player that the gateway from Hell to Mars has once again been opened. Worse, the "new" Dr. Betruger (you'll understand if you've finished DOOM 3) will do anything to get that artifact back, and unleashes three special demons to that end, who track you throughout the expansion. You see, while DOOM 3's Soul Cube was the ancient civilization's ultimate weapon against the forces of Hell, this artifact was Hell's counterpart... and they want it back. Bad. "It's Hell's ultimate weapon," Hooper explains, "and you have to get it to the surface."
This artifact and the three demons -- called "Hunters" -- represent a central component of Resurrection. Each of the Hunters has its own special ability, and the artifact is able to "steal" these abilities once each Hunter is defeated, so you can add it to your own arsenal. The first Hunter has an ability called "Hell Time," where everything in the world but you slows down. There's an obvious parallel to "bullet-time" from the Matrix movies and the Max Payne games, although Hooper points out that it's not quite the same, since your character still retains his normal movement speed. "You have complete freedom of movement -- you can dance around fireballs, or run up and peg creatures with a shotgun blast." Hell Time won't be just to run around and kill zombies, either -- you'll need it to solve a few puzzles throughout the game. "There are certain puzzles that you'll have to slow down time to get through, and other places where it's really beneificial." Defeating other Hunters will give you the ability to go berserker or invulnerable for periods of time, which will come in extremely handy as enemies get tougher later in the game.
As in most expansions, Nerve and id have some new enemies and gadgets planned for Resurrection of Evil. Among the new enemies is the Vulgar, which is sort of imp-like, can crawl around quickly, and has a projectile-like weapon. The Forgotten is another type of Lost Soul (the floating skull thingies) that should remind DOOM veterans of a similar enemy from the original classic. There's also a big guy appropriately called the Bruiser, along with several new zombie types.
On the weapons side, the expansion will give you access to the double-barreled shotgun, which holds a special place in the hearts of many old-school DOOM fans. Although it uses standard shotgun shells, it's a unique weapon that once belonged to Sarge, which you'll come across fairly early in the game. There's another new weapon that might raise a few eyebrows: the Ionized Plasma Levitator, also called the Grabber. It performs a function similar to that of Half-Life 2's gravity gun, taking advantage of DOOM 3's advanced physics system to let you pick up objects, move them around, and even use them as weapons. If you've played Half-Life 2, you'll find a few differences: you can grab projectiles from enemies and fling them back, or even pick up small enemies and toss them at each other.
It would be easy to treat the weapon as a knockoff of the gravity gun, but -- as was the case with Half-Life 2 -- the gadget was borne out of something the team had already been using during the creation of DOOM 3. "It's one of those things that's just fun, and we've had it around in our engine," Hooper explains, "we actually used it as a tool throughout development where we'd grab physics objects and place them around the world." While there was some thought to adding the gun to DOOM 3, the team decided against it. "We talked about that quite a few times, but we had such a big arsenal of weapons, and so many other cool things going on, that it was just one of those things that never made it in."
On the multiplayer side, support will officially be raised from four to eight players, and four new deathmatch maps are planned for the expansion. Threewave Software has also been recruited to bring a new version of Capture the Flag to DOOM 3, along with four new CTF maps, so fans of the old-school CTF may find a little extra to cheer about on the multiplayer side. But will the Grabber appear in any of the multiplayer modes? Hooper hesitates a second, before answering "there's a chance." After laughing for a second, he elaborates, "it's something we've talked about and we've actually tried, but it's not officially in multiplayer right now."
As always, the id Software guys are reluctant to say anything about a release date for Resurrection of Evil, citing the old "when it's done" party line. However, it's doubtful that the wait will be anywhere near as the one for DOOM 3 -- the expansion has already been in the works for some time, and we could see it as soon as a few months from now. Opinions were somewhat split on DOOM 3, but that didn't stop it from selling through the roof; it's a good bet that the line for this trip back to Hell is already forming.
for pics.
If a portal to Hell ever opened up in your backyard and bad things started popping out, you'd probably relocate post-haste without much thought of coming back. However, that's not the thinking behind the DOOM 3 expansion pack, entitled Resurrection of Evil. Being created by Nerve Software along with DOOM 3 developer id Software, this pack is betting that gamers aren't just eager to return to Mars for a second go-round with Hell's minions, but are looking for a return trip to Hell itself. We got the lowdown on the expansion, due later this year, from id Software designer Matt Hooper.
The expansion picks up about two years after the end of DOOM 3. The UAC has covered up everything that happened on Mars (blaming it on a reactor malfunction), cancelled all operations and cleared out. However, their satellites are still orbiting the planet, and when a strange beacon signal is picked up, the decision is made to put together a team and send them down to investigate. And that's where the fun begins.
While your character remains nameless, you're no longer the same space marine who survived DOOM 3. This time, you play a combat engineer working under the command of Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, who worked alongside the nasty Dr. Betruger on Mars but was sent home as she began to suspect Betruger might be up to no good. "In the original DOOM 3 storyline, you can find bits and pieces of McNeil throughout," Hooper explains. "She's actually the whistleblower -- she saw all the things Betruger was trying to do and called Swann and Campbell to come down. In the original DOOM 3, you'll see emails from her to Swann, and if you run across her office, there are little bits and pieces in there."
When you land on Mars, your team makes its way down to Site 1, the excavation site for the ancient civilization that you find towards the end of DOOM 3. When you do, you discover the beacon is coming from a strange artifact, but when you pick it up, it flashes and it soon becomes clear to the player that the gateway from Hell to Mars has once again been opened. Worse, the "new" Dr. Betruger (you'll understand if you've finished DOOM 3) will do anything to get that artifact back, and unleashes three special demons to that end, who track you throughout the expansion. You see, while DOOM 3's Soul Cube was the ancient civilization's ultimate weapon against the forces of Hell, this artifact was Hell's counterpart... and they want it back. Bad. "It's Hell's ultimate weapon," Hooper explains, "and you have to get it to the surface."
This artifact and the three demons -- called "Hunters" -- represent a central component of Resurrection. Each of the Hunters has its own special ability, and the artifact is able to "steal" these abilities once each Hunter is defeated, so you can add it to your own arsenal. The first Hunter has an ability called "Hell Time," where everything in the world but you slows down. There's an obvious parallel to "bullet-time" from the Matrix movies and the Max Payne games, although Hooper points out that it's not quite the same, since your character still retains his normal movement speed. "You have complete freedom of movement -- you can dance around fireballs, or run up and peg creatures with a shotgun blast." Hell Time won't be just to run around and kill zombies, either -- you'll need it to solve a few puzzles throughout the game. "There are certain puzzles that you'll have to slow down time to get through, and other places where it's really beneificial." Defeating other Hunters will give you the ability to go berserker or invulnerable for periods of time, which will come in extremely handy as enemies get tougher later in the game.
As in most expansions, Nerve and id have some new enemies and gadgets planned for Resurrection of Evil. Among the new enemies is the Vulgar, which is sort of imp-like, can crawl around quickly, and has a projectile-like weapon. The Forgotten is another type of Lost Soul (the floating skull thingies) that should remind DOOM veterans of a similar enemy from the original classic. There's also a big guy appropriately called the Bruiser, along with several new zombie types.
On the weapons side, the expansion will give you access to the double-barreled shotgun, which holds a special place in the hearts of many old-school DOOM fans. Although it uses standard shotgun shells, it's a unique weapon that once belonged to Sarge, which you'll come across fairly early in the game. There's another new weapon that might raise a few eyebrows: the Ionized Plasma Levitator, also called the Grabber. It performs a function similar to that of Half-Life 2's gravity gun, taking advantage of DOOM 3's advanced physics system to let you pick up objects, move them around, and even use them as weapons. If you've played Half-Life 2, you'll find a few differences: you can grab projectiles from enemies and fling them back, or even pick up small enemies and toss them at each other.
It would be easy to treat the weapon as a knockoff of the gravity gun, but -- as was the case with Half-Life 2 -- the gadget was borne out of something the team had already been using during the creation of DOOM 3. "It's one of those things that's just fun, and we've had it around in our engine," Hooper explains, "we actually used it as a tool throughout development where we'd grab physics objects and place them around the world." While there was some thought to adding the gun to DOOM 3, the team decided against it. "We talked about that quite a few times, but we had such a big arsenal of weapons, and so many other cool things going on, that it was just one of those things that never made it in."
On the multiplayer side, support will officially be raised from four to eight players, and four new deathmatch maps are planned for the expansion. Threewave Software has also been recruited to bring a new version of Capture the Flag to DOOM 3, along with four new CTF maps, so fans of the old-school CTF may find a little extra to cheer about on the multiplayer side. But will the Grabber appear in any of the multiplayer modes? Hooper hesitates a second, before answering "there's a chance." After laughing for a second, he elaborates, "it's something we've talked about and we've actually tried, but it's not officially in multiplayer right now."
As always, the id Software guys are reluctant to say anything about a release date for Resurrection of Evil, citing the old "when it's done" party line. However, it's doubtful that the wait will be anywhere near as the one for DOOM 3 -- the expansion has already been in the works for some time, and we could see it as soon as a few months from now. Opinions were somewhat split on DOOM 3, but that didn't stop it from selling through the roof; it's a good bet that the line for this trip back to Hell is already forming.