Here's the review, there are hints to the games length so read between the lines.
After concentrating on platform games like Spyro The Dragon and more recently the Ratchet and Clack series for the past several years, developer Insomniac Games is going in a different direction with Resistance: Fall of Man, a first person shooter that will be one of the launch titles for Sony's Playstation 3 console. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with Insomniac's head man Ted Price about the game as well as some other topics.
FiringSquad: First, Insomniac Games was in the top five best small and medium sized companies to work for the second year in a row. How does it feel to have such an honor and why don't more game developers do the kind of things that you guys do?
Ted Price: It’s especially gratifying to be included on that list this year. It’s been a challenging year for us in many ways. We’re developing on a new platform. We’re making a re-entry into a genre we haven’t focused exclusively on for 10 years. We’ve completely revamped our production pipeline and are still making major changes. These are the kinds of things that can throw a company into turmoil but our team has hung in there and, in my opinion, really thrived in the face of some pretty overwhelming odds. Being on that list is partially the result of anonymous employee satisfaction surveys our guys take and I think the fact that we’ve been picked for this honor says that despite the stress and challenges we’re facing, we’re definitely doing more things right than we are wrong.
And as far as other developers go, I think that there are many who do the kinds of things we do as far as creating a collaborative environment, listening to and acting on suggestions from the team, and providing great perks. Indies like Day 1 Studios, Bioware, Sucker Punch, Pandemic, Valve and many others have reputations for having tightly-knit teams and awesome creative environments. And I think being independent is key because your team, not a larger corporate entity, has control over how your culture evolves. The problem is that there just aren’t many independent studios left in the industry and so there isn’t much press about what we’re all doing to create great working environments.
FiringSquad: You also gave a heartfelt legal brief against the recent law in Louisiana that would ban games with violent content to minors. Why get involved with this law, especially since a similar law was passed in California, the home of Insomniac?
Ted Price: I actually am involved in the fight against the law in California and have participated in the fight against similar laws in other states. I can’t talk about specifics because some of the laws are in litigation. But in general I feel very strongly that videogames should enjoy the same first amendment protection as other forms of expression and am committed to doing whatever I can to help the cause. I think what we all can and should do is write our representatives and let them know how we feel about anti-video game legislation being passed in our states AND legislation being considered at the national level. It’s our right as citizens to speak out and it really can make a difference.
FiringSquad: Most people believe that Resistance: The Fall of Man was the star of Sony's PS3 E3 display. As a PS3 launch title is there any added pressure to make the game as memorable as you can?
Ted Price: First of all, thank you very much for the compliment on our E3 showing. We put a lot of hard work into that demo and it’s been great to hear all the positive feedback. That said, we can’t wait for people to see the final game because we’ll have had even more time since E3 to further polish the weapons, environments, characters, AI, effects and gameplay in general.
To answer your question, I don’t think we feel any additional pressure simply because Resistance: Fall of Man is a launch title. We’ve always been focused on making great, memorable games, period. With that in mind we never really looked at Resistance as a launch title even though yes, it is a launch title. Sound strange? Here’s what I mean: Usually when people think of a launch title they think “port” or “short development cycle” and all that comes from those limitations. Our goal was to create a big, well crafted game, ignoring the inevitable challenges of dealing with a new console. For example, if we had been more conservative (and perhaps more sane) we wouldn’t have multiplayer and we would certainly have a much smaller game with less variety. It’s been painful but as we play the most recent builds I can say that this philosophy has paid off. The game is shaping up to be the largest (in terms of gameplay and geography) that we’ve made to date.
FiringSquad: We know the game is set in an alternate history in the UK, but aside from that the E3 demo didn't really make that distinction clear. Will we see more differences in this alternative world in the full game?
Ted Price: Hmmm, the overturned red phone booths on the Manchester battlefield weren’t enough? Joking aside, the alternate 20th century history that sets the foundation for Resistance is very important to the game’s storyline, and we’re focusing heavily on giving more background during our story sequences to establish the franchise. We’ll also be revealing an extensive historic timeline in the coming months which will help players understand where the world in Resistance deviates from the “real” world.
Plus we haven’t shown any Chimeran architecture yet. During the game you’ll see a heavy Chimeran influence throughout England. This is one of the biggest visual distinctions between Resistance and games that take place in or around the same time period.
FiringSquad: The E3 demo was certainly fast and frantic in its gameplay, especially compared to the Ratchet and Clank and Spyro series. Was it hard to get into a first person shooter state of mind while designing Resistance?
Ted Price: Not as much as you’d might expect. As you may recall, both Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Ratchet: Deadlocked offered FPS gameplay mode options. In addition, our first game, Disruptor, was an FPS for the original PlayStation. All of our games except for the Spyro series have focused heavily on “shooter gameplay.” (Though one of the Spyros did have a FPS minigame). And even though Ratchet & Clank had a pretty humorous approach we still learned a lot about balancing weapons and creating challenging combat situations.
FiringSquad: We have seen a couple of interesting weapons in Resistance already. Can you give us any more hints about weapons that haven't been seen yet?
Ted Price: While we can’t get into additional specifics just yet, I can tell you that the variety of weapons and their multiple functionalities in Resistance: Fall of Man should satisfy even the most jaded FPS gamers. Rooting our universe in a Chimeran-infested 20th century freed us up to do some cool non-traditional stuff. Not only do we get to play with Chimeran technology (unlimited opportunities here), a lot of the human technology that you’ll experience has features you won’t see in other shooters. We hope this will further distinguish Resistance: Fall of Man from the deluge of WWII shooters available. And while some human weapons may look like standard FPS fare, once you start digging into the alt-fire modes you’ll uncover some additional capabilities that add a lot to the weapons strategy. For now, let’s just say that you can do a lot more with our bazooka than just firing a standard rocket.
FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the variety of enemies we will encounter in the game?
Ted Price: Unfortunately, we can’t really dive into specifics here either. We wish we could though. To give you a general idea, our E3 demo showed less than one-third of the total enemies featured in Resistance: Fall of Man. One huge differentiating factor for us is that this is not a game where you’re fighting against humans. The enemies in this game come in all shapes and sizes. Some are humanoid, some aren’t. Some use weapons, some don’t. But all have their own unique personalities and combat strategies.
FiringSquad: We were happy to hear about the co-op mode in Resistance, which few FPS have. How hard is it to get that kind of design into the final game?
Ted Price: Fortunately, we have some prior experience implementing co-op gameplay. For example, Ratchet: Deadlocked featured co-op through the entire story mode. So we were able to apply the lessons we learned there to Resistance. We’re currently in the process of fine-tuning co-op gameplay, so ask us again soon.
FiringSquad: What other elements will make this game stand out from the other first person shooters out on the market?
Ted Price: That’s a fair question. First, it’s important not to discount the variety of weapons and their alternate fire modes. That is going to be a big differentiator. In addition, our “Hero Moments” were very popular at E3. These occur when special Chimeran attacks give players an opportunity to either save their comrades or watch them die in really entertaining ways.
From there, we’d point to the sheer size and flexibility of the game. Resistance: Fall of Man will feature a meaty single-player mode with a combination of human and Chimeran-influenced environments. Players will engage in solo, squad and battlefield missions. We’ll offer co-op gameplay throughout the entire story mode, playable vehicles and four-player split screen offline multiplayer action. On top of that, expect a highly customizable and competitive online mode with dozens of players. We really haven’t revealed many details about online yet, so stay tuned in the coming months.
FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Resistance: Fall of Man?
Ted Price: I’d like to add that at Insomniac, many of us are hard-core FPS fans. We know what makes a kick-ass FPS game, and we know what it takes to make a kick-ass FPS game. We’re very excited about Resistance: Fall of Man and think that come PS3 launch time, Firing Squad readers will be too.
