GAMECENTER:
It's been announced
that there will be 12 weapons, but we haven't seen 12. What other kinds of devastation can
we look forward to, and how can we cause it?
G. B.: Currently there are 10 weapons: sword; shurikens; Uzis (you can
have two of those at a time); quad-barrel shotgun; three-mode rocket launcher with
single-fire, heat-seeking, and mass-firing (up to 10 rockets at one time) settings;
grenade launcher; and rail gun. Sticky mines are proximity activated and stick to ANYTHING
in the game: ceilings, walls, floor, enemies, and so on. Then there's the heart and the
head.
GAMECENTER: When in one of the vehicles--the boat, the tank, or the
forklift--are there defined areas you can travel? Or can you get on the forklift, say, and
go all over the game?
G. B.: There are defined areas, but we plan to have enough space to
allow for some really cool fights in multiplay. We hope to have enemies driving some
vehicles, so you have to take them over before you can use them. Vehicles will be able to
run over enemies, break down walls and other obstructions, take damage, and even stop
working. They can even be repaired with a toolkit. We are still tweaking it all, but I
don't think any game has gone this far yet. It should add a new dimension to 3D games, if
we can pull it all off in a fun way that makes sense.
GAMECENTER: Along the same lines, how much of the environment can be
destroyed--set areas or all of it?
G. B.: Set areas, but you can expect more action than we had in Duke
Nukem 3D, due to the higher PC requirement. Shadow Warrior will require a Pentium and 16MB
of RAM.
GAMECENTER: I know it will be "ready when it's ready," but
there are some rumors going around. Is the shareware version ready and waiting for the
Quake excitement to abate before coming out? Hey, that's what I heard...
G. B.: No. Quake's release has NOTHING to do with it. The game just
isn't done yet. We want Shadow Warrior to surpass Duke Nukem 3D in features and gameplay
and that's a TALL order. So we are still working on the game. We do expect a release
around the first of 1997. We are trying for a shareware release prior to Christmas '96,
but I doubt that will happen, and we won't rush the game just for a deadline. In the end,
we intend on delivering more of everything people have come to expect in 3D action games.