Hands onRTX Red Rock

We recently had a chance to play LucasArts' futuristic third-person action game RTX Red Rock at a company press event. In the game, you play as E.Z. Wheeler, a radical tactics expert dispatched to Mars to investigate the loss of communication with an Earth colony. The game was first unveiled at E3 and shown in rough playable form. However, at today's press event, the game was playable on both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 for the first time and let us get a feel for what the game is going to offer.

The gameplay is varied and includes traditional third-person action sequences, exploration--such as puzzle solving--and straight-out combat. In addition, you'll be able to take control of vehicles, machinery such as cranes and jetpacks, and smaller robots that you'll use to gain access to the interior of the colony. But Wheeler has a problem: he'll have to confront plenty of hazards on Mars, including a sizable contingent of aliens, who are still a bit upset about their recently aborted invasion of Earth, and will be on hand and eager to impede his progress.

However, Wheeler won't be defenseless. His military training and the cybernetic enhancements to his eye and arm will prove invaluable toward success in his mission. His eye will grant him five viewing modes to examine his surroundings. Wheeler will be able to use thermo scan to read heat signatures, navi scan to read maps of his surroundings, electro scan to detect energy signatures, and bio scan to read life signatures, in addition to his normal vision. Wheeler's arm is an upgradable device that will offer a variety of uses based on items you find in the game. You'll find a wide arsenal to use in battle including a taser, a broad array of guns, a grappling hook, a sniper rifle, and butane tanks you can detonate from afar, to name a few. The game will offer two types of targeting, a basic auto-target that focuses on nearby enemies and a lock-on that will let you focus on one enemy. However, the most useful item Wheeler can use is his personal digital assistant IRIS, which offers hints during the game, interfaces with computers in the game to get maps of levels, and lets Wheeler take control of robots in the game.

In addition to the game's story-driven single-player mode, RTX Red Rock will offer some multiplayer modes such as robot racing, a deathmatch mode in which one player will play as an alien while the other plays as Wheeler, and other modes that have yet to be revealed.

Graphically, the game is looking pretty sharp on both systems; it has a high level of detail and a plethora of colored lighting and particle effects. The frame rate seems a bit rough at this point, but the game has yet to be optimized. The current target frame rate for the game is 30 frames per second on both consoles. As far as differences between both consoles go, it looks as though the GameCube version may gain a slight technical edge with the inclusion of progressive scan support, although final features of that nature for both games have yet to be finalized.

RTX Red Rock is slated to ship this March on the GameCube and PlayStation 2. Look for much more on the game soon.