Full Auto 2: Battlelines - Cars 'n Guns Profile Part 2

November 1, 2006 7:43PM PST

By Staff

Sega shows off some more rides and weapons from its upcoming vehicular combat game for the PlayStation 3.

Gameplay Footage

Check out some of the new cars and weapons in this official movie.

Currently scheduled for release in North America alongside the PlayStation 3 hardware on November 17, Full Auto 2: Battlelines is the sequel to the Xbox 360-exclusive Full Auto. The upcoming game promises to build upon its predecessor with numerous gameplay tweaks, as well as the addition of new multiplayer modes, new vehicles, and new weapons. Sega and developer Pseudo Interactive recently sent over a ton of information on some of the new toys that you'll be playing with in the game and some of the improvements being made to the game for the PS3. So, without further ado:

PS3 Improvements for Battlelines

Destruction
With all of the new environment updates, we have been spending an extensive amount of time making destruction work more for the player. We started with the basics that worked in Full Auto, which we grew to love, and built outward from there. Propane tanks and ambient cars became a staple of the last game, so with FA2 we tried to outdo ourselves with bigger and more spectacular destruction moments.

Why use a single propane tank to cross the road and take out a player when you can bring down a whole build to crush your pursuers? In every level, we have added more layered destruction--from large oil drums to more explosive traffic. When it comes to the new arena tracks, we were able to empower the players with course-altering destruction elements that promote exploration and new experiences without sidelining the main focus: combat.

Audio
For FA2, we created a bunch of new weapons and six new cars for the game. For us, the main and subcharacters in Full Auto are personified as cars and the weapons you load on to them. These characters need their own distinct voices and personalities. They have to be visceral and satisfying for the player. And as an extra bonus, creating distinct personalities allows you to create texture, tonality, and dynamics within the sonic mix. And you still want to remain true to the real world. For example, a car should sound like a car, and all of the weapons should sound close to their real-world counterparts while exaggerating their kinetic power and energy for the gameplay experience. Sony opted for tilt instead of rumble on its PS3 controllers, which means audio needed to really sell the feeling of getting hit and hitting your enemy. We had this in Full Auto, but the experience was too buried. In FA2, we pushed it further--from the launch of the weapon to its flight and subsequent impact--and I would like to explore this even further in future games.

The tricky part is doing all of this in a combat racing game where everyone is driving, shooting, exploding, and colliding while buildings and various other structures are tumbling all around you. If you play a deathmatch event, you will see and hear what we mean. Speaking of which, in career mode, some of the events take place in a deathmatch arena. You are up against a rival who blares his theme (licensed music) from his car. The only music you will hear in a career deathmatch event that also features one of the uber-boss rivals will be diagetic music. The music comes from the rival's car and is situated in 3D space. If you succeed in killing the rival, then the music also dies, and you are in a world of sound design. But don't worry--the world will still be full of sound. You won't feel lonely.

The cars in Full Auto 2 look noticeably better than those in the previous game.

Vehicle Visual Upgrades
There are several systems and techniques that we have upgraded for Full Auto 2 to improve the look of our cars when they are pristine and shiny, but also when they've been smashed to pieces. All of the cars in Full Auto 2, including the ones brought over from the first game, benefit from these new systems.

Enhanced Car Paint Shader--Perhaps the greatest enhancement to the look of the cars in Full Auto 2 is the creation of a new, custom-built car paint shader. This new system gives the cars more realistic reflections, better lighting and shadows, richer and more varied colors, and such multiple paint types as matte, clear coat, and metal flake.

Remodeled Wheels for More Geometry Detail--For Full Auto 2, the wheels on all of the cars were re-created from existing high-resolution geometry so that the rims are fully 3D geometry instead of planes that rely on large normal maps for detail. This greatly improves the look of the wheels.

Remodeled and Retextured Engine Parts--The engine parts under the hood are often seen up close when the player is in hood cam, and they take enough damage for the hood to break off. For Full Auto, these parts were not built with an adequate level of detail for this view. For Full Auto 2, we have created three new high-detail engine configurations, which are customized to fit snugly in each car chassis.

Third Skins for More Customization--All of the rival and challenger cars in Full Auto 2's career mode were given their own custom paint jobs to match the character of that rival. Once the player defeats a rival in the career mode, he can unlock that skin for his own use in solo and multiplayer games.

Car Damage System Upgrades
One of the core pillars of Full Auto was the car destruction system. For Full Auto 2, we wanted to push the car destruction gameplay experience even further. We enhanced several aspects of the destruction system to achieve this goal.

Destroyable Engine Components--In Full Auto 2, we brought the system that we use for blowing large chunks out of buildings to destructing the insides of the cars. Now when a car is destroyed, all of the lovingly modeled engine, transmission, and suspension parts break up and spill onto the asphalt.

Extra Vehicle Debris--For Full Auto 2, we wanted to exemplify the violent forces that occur when large pieces of cars are ripped from their sockets. To do this, we added extra particle effects that are spawned at the locations where parts detach.

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MetalMonster360 5 pts

Great comments for this one. Tons of great weapons, great cars, and great modes. I really feel like everything I wanted from Full Auto will actually *BE* in Full Auto 2 and that's just awesome! December can't get here fast enough!

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