Primal Q&A
We talk to Chris Sorrell, creative director at SCEE's Studio Cambridge, about the upcoming PlayStation 2 action game.
Primal is an upcoming third-person action game for the PlayStation 2. The game is being internally developed by SCEE's UK-based Studio Cambridge, which has been working on the game for quite some time. We caught up with the creative director of Studio Cambridge, Chris Sorrell, to find out how the game is coming along.
GameSpot: We first covered Primal on GameSpot back in May 2001. Could you tell us how the game you're working on now compares to the original vision?
Chris Sorrell: The very first vision for Primal was a little different from the game we're now completing. It was more grounded in mythological themes and structured around tarot--essentially it was well summed up by its original working title of "Fable." As real development began and we started to really define the game's look and feel, we realized it would work better to make things a little less magical and a lot more physical. Inspired by the attitude and themes of TV series like Buffy, Angel, and Dark Angel, we introduced the idea of the demon races and gave Jen, our heroine, the ability to transform into them. All of this happened a long time back now, and from that point forward (once the vision really became clear), we've stuck pretty closely to it.
GS: How is the game structured? Will players be required to complete levels in a set order, or do they explore at will, uncovering missions as they do so?
CS: The gameworld consists of four different demon realms and a fifth hub area that joins them. The storyline follows Jen from initial events in the real world and onwards into the demon realms. Along the way she learns secrets about her past, acquires the ability to shift into four different demon forms, and evolves into a true action hero responsible for restoring balance to the four realms and turning back the Chaos that has been unleashed upon them. So the game is certainly very story driven and essentially linear; however, each world is pretty vast, and the flow of events within them is pretty complicated--you have plenty of freedom to explore.
GS: What can you tell us about Jennifer Tate? How does she come to be charged with battling the forces of Chaos?
CS: She starts as an ordinary person. This is quite important because we've tried to ground the game in reality, to inject real life and emotion into the characters and to make the environments believable and consistent. To make this possible we felt it was important to introduce the more fantastical aspects of the game gradually--to take the player on the same journey as Jen is undertaking herself (in the same way a good superhero film like Spider-Man introduces Spidey only after establishing the character and motivations of Peter Parker). Jen's change begins when she and her boyfriend are attacked by a huge demon as they're leaving a nightclub. Jen is smashed to the ground, and her last, fading vision is of her boyfriend Lewis being carried away by the monster. The game begins with Jen in hospital where her spirit is awoken by a small stone gargoyle--Scree. He leads her off into a realm called Oblivion where the forces of Order and Chaos are in eternal conflict. She discovers that Chaos is starting to prevail, and Oblivion, not to mention our own world, will suffer terrible consequences if this is allowed to continue. Jen is somewhat cynical of the notions Scree is presenting to her, but when he mentions that Lewis may be here, she immediately latches on to this. By the time she learns that she is half demon herself, she is well and truly caught up in Scree's cause--to restore Order to the realms.
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- GameSpot Score7.9good
Check Prices: $4.99 – 28.99
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Primal Video Review
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- Mar 24, 2003
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